For the first time, European software producer ESTOS presents a middleware to connect TAPI telephone systems to the Microsoft Live Communication Server 2005.
ESTOS software provides the management of PBX telephone functions via the Microsoft Office Communication Client without changing the TK infrastructure. This guarantees a long lasting investment. This is possible, because the ESTOS software installs directly on the TAPI and converts to the necessary standards (SIP and CSTA). In combination with ESTOS TapiServer, this solution offers additional telephone convenience as well as improved team functions.
Background:
Analysts like Gartner and Forrester foresee a great future for Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 (Instant Messaging and Realtime Collaboration) resulting in a high demand from companies of all sizes in the coming years. The compatibility of the software with other server platforms (Microsoft Exchange, SQL, Sharepoint), and Microsoft Office 2003 product series, creates Microsoft synergies, which other providers cannot fully integrate or easily accomplish.
Microsoft increases its efforts to maximize the advantage of the Live Communications Server 2005 (LCS) Platform and recommends Enterprise Client, known as Office Communicator. The Microsoft Office communicator unites telephony and data services (Chat, whiteboard, Video) in a convenient user interface for the business user and Knowledge Worker. For these services the Live Communications Server 2005 Platform offers different Gateways and interfaces
Related to the topic of telephony, Remote-Gateways for voiceover IP (VoIP), can be integrated with Hybrid and the usual telephone systems. In any case, the management and control of telephone functions happens via the Communicator Client, through the Standards SIP and uaCSTA. The LCS routs the information via the Gateways to the call participants.
Until now this integration was only available for the few SIP able telephone systems and provider services. In the meantime the large PBX producers (Siemens, Nortel, Mitel, Genesys [Alcatel]), as well as some of the smaller providers, offer systems and middleware which supports these standards. Most of the time, this means costly investment in hardware, or middleware that supports only the higher categories of telephone systems (Siemens HiPath 4000, Nortel Meridian 1, Alcatel OmniPCX 4400)
Most of the systems available on the market don’t support the Standards SIP and uaCSTA. For systems already installed the technology is simply too new. ESTOS is the first European Software producer to offer an integration between these systems and Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 and Microsoft Office Communicator. This is an inexpensive and easy-to-implement middleware which runs on all TAPI – VoIP and Hybrid telephone systems, as well as some that don’t support VoIP.
The ESTOS middleware, ESTOS Call Control Gateway, converts to the new Standards SIP and uaCSTA. Compatibility is ensured, due to the fact that nearly all enterprise telephone systems support Microsoft TAPI – Standard. This also applies to current CSTA telephone systems which don’t support SIP and uaCSTA. These systems can also be implemented on the ESTOS Call Control Gateway.
What this means for companies, is that ESTOS Call Control Gateways makes the Microsoft Server platform for Instant Messaging and Realtime Collaboration, compatible to already implemented telephone systems. Furthermore, this guarantees ESTOS Call Control Gateway as a long-lasting investment, because it negates the need for new hardware for PBX based telephone integration. In combination with ESTOS TapiServer products, multiple systems and even systems from different manufacturers can be centrally connected.
This software is available in German, and shortly in English.
Other language options will follow.
The licensing applies for every available line.
Prices begin on a sliding scale from €499 for 5 lines.
Orders can be made from the ESTOS internet portal.
A 45-day trial version is available for downloading.
With ESTOS Call Control Gateway for the LCS 2005, ESTOS confirms its leading position in the field of Computer Telephony and VoIP.
About the company ESTOS GmbH
Since 1997, based in Starnberg near Munich, Germany, ESTOS GmbH develops innovative and professional standard-software in the areas of Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) and Voiceover IP (VoIP). With technology leading products in three lines: drivers/middleware, real-time collaboration applications/CTI and directory services/LDAP, it addresses small and medium businesses, which want to improve their departmental communication capacities. More than 200,000 installations and successful strategic sales and technology-alliances with dealers, distributors and OEM-partners underline the outstanding position of ESTOS in the European market. The highly motivated ESTOS team is dedicated to technical innovation and customer satisfaction.