Glossary

1st Party – the individual workplace

Standalone solutions usually have a direct connection between the telephone and computer, which can also be established via LAN.

3rd Party – the network solution

In network solutions, the telephones and their assignment to users are managed and controlled on a central server, which usually has additional intelligent services in addition to applications for convenient administration. These provide the basis for team collaboration and thus create new benefits and considerable added value compared to stand-alone solutions.

ProCall has an extremely powerful and scalable 3rd party CTI implementation that works with all VoIP, hybrid or classic TDM telephone systems, provided their interfaces support CSTA or Microsoft TAPI.

All-IP

All-IP refers to the conversion of the previous transmission technology in the telecommunications network to the Internet protocol. The previously widespread ISDN transmission technology will then no longer be available in the public telecommunications network. However, this does not mean that companies will no longer be able to use their ISDN-based telecommunications systems: All that is required is a VoIP gateway, which is installed between the PABX and the PSTN. Internally, ISDN can continue to be used, for example for interaction with the ixi-UMS Unified Messaging Server.

ASP (Application Service Provider)

The Application Service Provider (ASP) is a service provider that offers an application (e.g. an ERP system) for the exchange of information via a public network (e.g. the Internet) or via a private data network. The ASP takes care of the entire administration, such as data backup, installing patches, etc. Unlike application hosting, the ASP service also includes a service (e.g. user support) for the application. The required software is not purchased, but rented for use via the data network if required. With the help of ASP services, companies can outsource entire administrative areas or process steps and thus concentrate on their core business.

Screen sharing

Depending on the available technical and administrative conditions, call partners can use ProCall to enable the other party to view their own screen and, if necessary, allow control via mouse and keyboard. For example, the call partners can view or work on a document together, even if they are not in the same office. Telephone calls, audio chats or video chats can take place in parallel with the conversation partners. Appropriate mutual authorizations are required for this and can be specified administratively.

CEBP (Communication Enabled Business Processes)

Communication Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) refers to the integration of communication functions into existing IT applications. This business process integration allows the processes of the value chain, which are already automated or supported by various leading applications such as CRM, ERP or other industry solutions, to be linked with communication processes within the company.

For example, information such as name, customer number and last orders from an ERP system are already displayed to a user during an incoming telephone call. During the call, functions such as taking an order can then be activated directly in the ERP system with just one click.

The benefits of business process integration include time savings, reduced workload, error prevention, ease of working and easier access to information. For a company, this is particularly evident in an improvement in productivity and an increase in customer and employee satisfaction.

For the analysis of an individual customer scenario in advance and the identification of suitable interfaces, estos offers accompanying technical services as Professional Services.

Chat

Depending on the technical and administrative conditions available, chats can be conducted via ProCall in different ways.

TextChat: Exchange of text messages with display of Sent, Delivered, Read. Emojis can be used as an accompaniment
AudioChat: Telephony from the chat
VideoChat: Video chat with sound and image, text chat and screen sharing

Collaboration

Collaboration describes the various tools that are made available to people within an organization so that they can work together optimally. These tools, which enable work groups or teams to work together even though they are separated from each other in terms of space or time, are referred to as collaboration tools or collaboration functions. Examples of this would be functions such as writing e-mails, the mutual visibility of calendars, the shared use of a wiki or blogs within the company. estos offers numerous collaboration functions such as desktop sharing or audio/video chats with ProCall.

CSTA

CSTA is the abbreviation for Computer Supported Telecommunications Applications. This standardized protocol specification is used for data traffic between a telephone system and computer programs. ProCall Enterprise can interact with the various PBXs via this specification.

CTI (Computer Telephony Integration)

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) describes the linking of information technology (IT) with telecommunications (TC). CTI makes it possible to automatically make, answer and end calls directly from computer programs. CTI also offers functions such as consultation calls, call forwarding and setting up conference calls. Modern CTI applications display the status of the telephone terminals. It does not matter whether they are permanently installed or mobile devices.

Levels of integration

The integration of IT and TC can take place on several levels:

Integration of data services: Voice and data services are merged.
Integration at application level: Telephony is integrated into software applications (e.g. CRM systems).
Integration into user interfaces: User-friendly operation directly in the software.

CTI architectures

There are two main types of CTI architecture, of which mixed variants are possible:

1st-Party CTI: This variant is designed for individual workstations where telephony is connected directly to the PC.
3rd-Party CTI: This solution is suitable for networked workstations where a central server controls telephony for several users.

ECSTA

As a TSP (Telephony Service Provider), the ECSTA software from estos provides a TAPI interface. This middleware is used for data traffic between TC infrastructure with telephone system, telephone, provider/cloud PBX on the one hand and IT infrastructure with TAPI-capable communication applications such as UCServer, ProCall or other TAPI applications on the other. This allows Windows applications to work together with different PBXs via ECSTA and provide CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) functions, e.g. for resolving contact data from an ERP/CRM system during a call or for dialing from Microsoft Outlook contacts.

Federation

The federation concept enables companies to network with suppliers, partners and customers beyond their own company boundaries on the basis of open standards and secure protocols. In terms of communication and collaboration, the SIP/SIMPLE and XMPP protocols provide the basis. Federation networked servers, e.g. ProCall, Microsoft Skype for Business, Cisco Jabber or IBM Sametime, can be used to exchange information such as instant messages, presence or audio/video. The instant message address, which can be a SIP or XMPP address, for example, is used as the address of the participants, similar to an e-mail address.

The benefits for users in terms of addressing are comparable to those of e-mail – however, several media (multimedia) can be included in the communication. The steps required to successfully set up a federation are comparable to setting up an e-mail system.

H.323

H.323 is a standard defined by the ITU for controlling real-time voice transmission and video conferencing via IP-based networks such as LAN, WAN or the Internet. The ITU – International Telecommunication Union – is a special organization of the United Nations and deals officially and worldwide with technical aspects of telecommunications. ixi-UMS uses the H.323 standard to work together with IP-based telecommunications systems.

Home office and mobile working

In times of smart working, more and more people are working from home. Technical conditions and access options are different in the home office than in the office at work. ProCall offers many ways to stay in touch with colleagues and business partners while working from home, to communicate easily and to work together. Unified communications functions such as audio/video chat, group chat, screen sharing and softphone are helpful here. For companies that do not want to or cannot set up secure accessibility from outside the company’s own network for connecting remote workstations themselves, estos offers ProCall Mobility Services via UCConnect, which make it easier to set up mobile working and home office workstations.

IM Instant Messaging

Instant messaging (IM) is a method of communication characterized by short text messages. Also known colloquially as chat or chatting. With this method, two or more people communicate directly with each other in real time – without any recognizable time delay, comparable to a regular conversation. Chats are often used for an uncomplicated and quick exchange of information where a prompt response is helpful or even necessary.

IVR

Companies can use an IVR system to provide their customers/prospects with uncomplicated and automated access to information. And simply by telephone. By calling an IVR system, a telephone information system, the caller interactively receives the relevant information, for example tariff information or the status of an order. The information is output to the caller dynamically and automatically according to predefined processes: depending on the caller’s choice, for example, a database query is executed in the server system for authentication or to search for the appropriate order number. The caller does not need any special technical equipment apart from a telephone.

How does IVR work with ixi-UMS Enterprise?

With the ixi-UMS communication solution from estos, companies have the option of setting up automated information systems for telephone inquiries in addition to unified messaging. Depending on the technical equipment, information can be transmitted not only by telephone, but also by fax, SMS or e-mail.

The basis for the realization of such an information system is VoxML.

LDAP

How does IVR work with ixi-UMS Enterprise?

The basis for the realization of such an information system is VoxML.

LiveChat

LiveChat from estos offers companies the opportunity to offer customers and interested parties direct contact on their own website. LiveChat provides so-called interactive touchpoints for this purpose: Website widget, contact portal, multimedia business card. This makes it easy and uncomplicated to reach a company’s employees. Availability (presence status) or workload of employees can be taken into account by LiveChat. Areas of application for LiveChat are, for example, individual answers to questions about products, customer advice, video advice and support. The main advantage of the LiveChat options is that contact is made by the visitor themselves without additional plug-ins when required or interested (pull principle) and picks them up at exactly the right point in the customer journey. The visitor can choose the desired communication channel (text chat, video chat, telephone, email) for contacting you from the available options.

LoadBalancing

Load balancing is used to distribute requests across several servers, which appear to the outside world as a single server. If one of these servers fails, the other servers take over its task.

MetaDirectory

MetaDirectory is an LDAP server for fast access to contact data. It merges different databases into a single, company-wide, consistent LDAP directory. This means that relevant data such as telephone numbers and other contact details are available to all employees. The intelligent preparation of the data enables simple searching and fast presentation of the results – even with large databases. ProCall and ixi-UMS can use the data prepared in the MetaDirectory.

MWI (Message Waiting Indication)

ixi-UMS Unified Messaging Server supports MWI/Alert functions. The Message Waiting Indication signals incoming messages in the inbox by means of an info text, illuminated button or a lamp on the telephone.

Partner program

The estos partner program offers resellers, system integrators and solution providers the opportunity to specialize according to their business model and respective competencies:

estos Bronze Partner – the easy entry: As a newcomer, partners at this level get off to an uncomplicated start with estos products. No sales target, no costs, including access to the estos academy and the partner portal. For a maximum of 12 months.
estos Silver Partner – the stepping stone to the top: At this level, partners specialize in customer-specific UCC, UCaaS and CTI solutions and move up to the next level as value-added resellers (VARs). More know-how, higher turnover and more benefits.
estos Gold Partner – the sales booster: At this partner level, partners combine our UCC solutions with extensive network and database connections. The best prerequisites for larger projects and more turnover.
estos Platinum Partner – welcome to the champions: Partners at this highest level are also at the highest product and sales level. They master large and complex installations from the Eff-eff. In return, they can expect exclusive benefits.

Product-specific training, regular recertification and continuous dialog at eye level make it possible to acquire new customers and successfully develop existing customers together.

The Registration as an estos reseller via the online form is the prerequisite for successful participation in the estos partner program. After authorization by estos, certification in the various partner levels can take place on this basis.

Presence management

Presence is described as a state of a person or resource that can be available, busy, not disturbing or absent, for example. Presence helps to recognize whether a contact is available or busy. This means that a form of communication adapted to the situation can always be selected, e.g. instant messaging, telephone or email.

In a professional presence management system, the calendar status or the status of the telephone are also included in a person’s presence in addition to individual settings, thus enabling an even more precise statement about availability. If a contact is in a meeting, this is indicated in the presence by “busy – in appointment”, for example. Presence management is a component of real-time communications. More information on presence management.

PSLA (Premium Service Level Agreement)

The Remote Office function is a way for mobile ProCall users to initiate calls via their business telephone even outside the company’s own network and without the telephone at their workplace. In the so-called One Number concept, the business phone number is signaled to the called subscriber. This means that business calls can be made from any phone, such as a private smartphone or from the home office, using the “Remote Office” phone number or incoming calls to the business number can be automatically forwarded to the “Remote Office” phone number.

Backward search

A reverse search, inverse search or CLIP search is a search method that searches for contact details linked to the phone number or Internet address (e.g. name, address, customer data, order status).

Extensive contact databases must be used for a complete reverse search. These contact databases are usually telephone directories, directory services (e.g. LDAP, Microsoft Active Directory) or CRM/ERP and industry solutions. These contact data are often available in varying quality, i.e. the original stored data cannot always be evaluated programmatically. This is where MetaDirectory comes into play. MetaDirectory collects data from various databases and then prepares it in such a way that a reverse search is possible.

In combination with ProCall, the search settings can be further customized – e.g. if no direct match is found, the last 2 or 3 digits of the telephone number are removed and replaced by a 0. The matching options are displayed in a selection field sorted according to the probability of a hit. In this way, callers calling from an extension in a large company can also be identified. The so-called “company search” provides an even higher hit accuracy.

SIP

SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and is a standard developed by the IETF – Internet Engineering Task Force – for a signaling protocol that can establish, modify and terminate sessions with two or more participants. ixi-UMS uses the SIP standard protocol to work with IP-based PBXs.

SLA (Service Level Agreement)

End user companies can conclude this contractual agreement with estos. The SLA regulates access to estos service and support and accompanying technical services for the purchased product licenses with a defined term.

SoftFax

SoftFax, Fax Passthrough or G.711 Clear Channel, is a method for transmitting fax messages in IP-based networks. The fax message is transmitted here as an audio data stream between the fax server and PBX. SoftFax works via the G.711 Passthrough procedure. G.711 is an ITU-T guideline for the digitization of analogue audio signals.

T.38

T.38 is a protocol described by the ITU-T for the transmission of fax messages via VoIP connections. The messages or fax information are not transmitted between the fax server and the IP-PBX as audio data, as in the conventional telephone network, but packetized as pixel data in accordance with the IP network protocol.

TAPI

TAPI is a programming interface developed by Microsoft for telephony applications. ProCall uses TAPI to work with PBXs.

UCaaS

UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) is a cloud-based solution that combines communication services such as telephony, video calls, instant messaging and email in one platform. Companies use UCaaS to make their communication more efficient and improve collaboration between teams, customers and partners.

How does UCaaS work?

UCaaS is delivered via the cloud and enables access to communication services from anywhere as long as there is an internet connection. The platform integrates functions such as VoIP telephony, video conferencing, presence displays and file sharing to ensure seamless collaboration.

Advantages of UCaaS

Flexibility: Employees are able to access the communication services from any location and with any device.
Cost efficiency: No high investments in hardware, as the services are cloud-based.
Scalability: New users and functions can be added quickly depending on the company’s requirements.
Integration: UCaaS can be easily integrated into existing IT and business applications.

UCConnect

With UCConnect, estos facilitates the commissioning of ProCall functions that go beyond the company’s internal network. These include mobile working on the move or connection via home office as well as communication via websites including audio/video chat. On the UCConnect cloud platform developed for this purpose, companies can use online services with few resources and little technical know-how. UCConnect not only simplifies set-up, but also reduces the need for adjustments to the customer infrastructure. estos divides UCConnect into two hybrid cloud modules. The ProCall Web Communication Services support companies in setting up the contact portal and the multimedia business card in ProCall. ProCall Mobility Services make it easier to set up mobile working and home office workstations. Users can access unified communications features with the ProCall mobile apps or from their home office. These include presence management, important data on business contacts, video chat and the integration of softphone functions.

UCServer

UCServer is the central server component for ProCall. The estos UCServer is responsible for controlling and accessing real-time communication services such as audio/video, softphone and CTI as well as presence, instant messaging and journaling services and the associated contact and calendar data. It is used for the administration of users and offers security through their authentication and authorization management. Log data and journals are kept in estos UCServer and central databases are connected. In addition to the existing software administration, estos UCServer offers its own technology for the automatic, central installation of workstations.

Unified Communications

Unified Communications (UC) comprises applications that make communication in companies more efficient. These applications improve the workflow, minimize errors and make recurring tasks easier. They also simplify collaboration within the team and with business partners. The core idea of classic Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) includes functions such as dialing assistance and Click2Call. This core idea is extended to other communication media. These include e-mail, instant messaging, desktop sharing and video communication. Market researcher Gartner refers to this as the “reduce the human latency” factor.

In contrast to traditional CTI solutions, which are telephone-centric, modern unified communications software relies on a person-oriented architecture. Here, the focus is on the communication partner – the “interlocutor” – which facilitates interaction across different communication channels.

The concept of unified communications is strongly driven by SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) technologies. These technologies accelerate the convergence of telephony and software applications in the workplace. The combination of Voice over IP (VoIP) with Unified Communications has a clear goal: to help individuals, teams and organizations complete their tasks faster and more efficiently. The classic CTI is thus “optically” receding into the background, but is gaining in importance beneath the surface. It adds the telephony component to communication-oriented business applications.

Modern UC applications

A comprehensive suite of unified communications applications has developed from the classic CTI application “dialing aid”, which includes the following functions:

CTI and presence management: Displays the availability status of colleagues in real time.
Instant messaging: Allows fast, confidential communication with colleagues, customers and partners and is often used as an alternative to e-mail.
Desktop Sharing: Enables screen sharing for better collaboration.
Video communication: Supports virtual meetings and enables effective remote teamwork.

Unified communications offer user-friendly, customizable interfaces that give the user an overview and control over the various communication channels. Transparency is guaranteed on the server side, which enables seamless integration with other applications.

Unified messaging

Unified messaging processes incoming and outgoing messages and converts them into a standardized form. The fax, voice, SMS and IVR functions typical of a unified messaging system (UMS) are usually provided and processed via a single, integrated, server-based platform.

This allows users to manage all message types under one interface – directly at their workplace or on the move – on a PC, tablet or smartphone. Fax messages, voice mails and text messages are usually sent and received in the familiar workgroup client such as Microsoft Outlook or HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes).

VideoChat

VideoChat is one of the main communication functions in ProCall and LiveChat . For the exchange of information, VideoChat comes pretty close to face-to-face contact because the conversation partners can not only hear each other, but also see each other and perceive the facial expressions and gestures of the person they are talking to.

Audio/video communication with ProCall is based on the WebRTC standard and is specially designed for companies.

In contrast to the use of established and possibly free services for private use, with ProCall the communication remains within the company and is secured accordingly. The availability of call partners can also be extended to trusted networks outside the company’s own network via federation.

For interested parties and customers, companies can also be reached via LiveChat and the company’s own websites via VideoChat, for example to provide advice and support via video communication or to implement video legitimation.

VoIP

VoIP telephony (Voice over IP) is a technology that enables voice communication via the Internet or IP networks instead of via traditional telephone lines. With VoIP, the voice signal is converted into digital data packets and transmitted via the Internet. This allows calls to be made flexibly, cost-effectively and regardless of location.

Advantages of VoIP telephony

Cost savings: Lower charges, especially for international calls.
Flexibility: Calls can be made from anywhere as long as there is an Internet connection.
Integration: VoIP can be easily integrated into existing communication solutions such as Unified Communications.

Typical areas of application

VoIP telephony is used in companies for internal and external communication, for example in call centers, for mobile working and to support home office solutions.

Security and the future

Encryption and firewalls protect voice data from unauthorized access. With the spread of fiber optics and 5G, VoIP will become even more powerful in the future and offer improved voice quality.

VoxML

As an XML-based description language, VoxML enables the web server-based implementation of voice dialog applications, e.g. for an IVR system based on ixi-UMS Unified Messaging Server, which acts as a link between the public telephone network and the application logic.

WebRTC

WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is an open source technology developed by Google under the webrtc.org project. It enables real-time communication (RTC) directly via the web browser without the need for plug-ins or proprietary software. WebRTC establishes a direct peer-to-peer (P2P) connection that enables the exchange of audio, video and data in real time.

The development and standardization of WebRTC is carried out by two key committees:

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force): Responsible for the technical protocols of WebRTC.
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium): Defines the web standards that ensure browser compatibility.

WebRTC simplifies the use of audio and video calls on the internet. Users need a compatible browser, for example Chrome or Firefox, and suitable hardware in the form of a camera and a headset. The technology reduces technical barriers for developers and accelerates the acceptance of audio/video communication without the need for external plug-ins.