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http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs012709-story01.html
Messaging and IBM Team to Drive i OS-Based IP Telephony
Published: January 27, 2009
by Alex Woodie
iMessaging Systems <http://www.imessagingsystems.com> today announced
significant changes to its System i telephony products and its business
model that are aimed at making it easier and less expensive to integrate
System i applications with phone systems. First, the company eliminated
the PC hardware requirement for its iNspire suite, which is now a
software-only product running entirely under i OS. Second, it overhauled
its relationship with IBM <http://www.ibm.com>, making the IBM the sole
distributor of iNspire and opening the product up to Big Blue's vast
partner channel.
iMessaging Systems is a New Hampshire company that develops software
that connects corporate phone systems (either traditional PBX or newer
voice over IP) with i OS-based business applications. Thousands of
customer service representatives at hundreds of companies around the
world use iMessaging's software to accomplish various phone-related
tasks, including inbound and outbound call routing, 5250 screen pops,
and automatic call distribution (ACD) queuing. The software also powers
automated phone services, such as the interactive voice response (IVR)
"phone trees" that provide customer self-service from toll-free phone
numbers.
Ever since IBM started pushing System i-based VoIP solutions from 3com
<http://www.3com.com> and Nortel <http://www.nortel.com> several years
ago, the writing has been on the wall for iMessaging and others in the
computer telephony business: The days of the traditional PBX phone
system are nearing an end, and Internet-based phone systems running on
computer servers will take their place. IBM distributed a statistic from
IDC <http://www.idc.com> that says the market for so-called "unified
communications" technology is expected to hit $17 billion by 2011,
making VoIP a bright spot in IT spending forecasts.
iMessaging recognized this trend toward unified communications, and two
years ago <http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs050807-story03.html> it
unveiled a connector that utilizes Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),
one of the key standards enabling VoIP--or IP telephony as the System i
world likes to call it.
With today's announcement, iMessaging has shifted to fully embrace the
SIP model. While SIP is not without its drawbacks, the move has much
more upside, including allowing the company to eliminate the need for an
outboard PC equipped with special boards from Dialogic
<http://www.dialogic.com> that previously sat between the System i
server and a customer's phone system to route calls. Instead of this
outboard PC (or multiple PCs with dozens of boards in larger
environments), iMessaging system has developed a SIP-based call
controller in C++, which runs under native i OS.
No outboard PCs means easier integration for System i customers, and
lower cost, according to Karen Sedlar, president of iMessaging Systems.
"It's a big, big change," she says. "The cost has decreased considerably
because it's now software only. A couple of years ago, the starting
price would have been $20,000 to $22,000. The starting point now is
$12,000."
iMesssaging will continue to sell a plug-and-play gateway appliance for
customers still needing to connect System i servers to older PBX phone
equipment. While the company believes that 99.9 percent of new sales
will involve VoIP systems, having that link to older technology makes
good business sense, says Rich Ollari, a product marketing manager with
iMessaging.
"One of the key features with gateways is we can connect with our
clients using existing phone systems, even if they're older more
traditional PBX environments," Ollari says. "So with these gateways we
can connect with those environments today, but the nice thing about the
iNspire solution is, because it's API driven, we can position those
clients to move into an IP telephony environment down the road, because
the programming doesn't change. The only piece that changes if they move
from a traditional system to an IP telephony environment is we change
the telephony interface. So it gives clients a nice migration path to
get started working in telephony integration today, and position them
for voice over IP or IP telephony down the road."
And now that iNspire is an official IBM product--with an IBM product
number and accessible to all IBM business partners through the product
configurator--Sedlar thinks that sales have a real shot at increasing
considerably.
"The product now will be distributed directly through IBM as an IBM
product," Sedlar says. "It's a little different, as you know, having a
vendor offering versus something that's offered through the IBM channel.
As an IBM business partner, I have a solution that I can sell--I don't
have to go to iMessaging to get it."
One of the few hiccups in this transition for iMessaging is SIP itself.
While it's supposed to be a standard, everyone seems to have their own
interpretation of the standard, Sedlar says. For this reason, iNspire
has been tested only against the two System i VoIP systems from Nortel
and 3com, along with the popular VoIP systems from Avaya
<http://www.avaya.com> and Cisco Systems <http://www.cisco.com>, which
do not run on the System i.
Sedlar acknowledges the shift to the IBM channel is a huge change for
iMessaging. "We've always had a small direct sales channel," she says.
"We will become more of a sales support channel for IBM partners. We see
ourselves, at least initially, on calls with IBM reps, helping them with
proposals, helping them understand the telephony integration point." All
current iMessaging sales staff will be retained, she says.
The shift also provides more opportunity for ISVs to integrate with
iMessaging. "We're starting an initiative this week with IBM to begin,
in a targeted fashion, promoting iNspire to the ISV community," Ollari
says. "iNspire is a real nice fit for the ISV community, because through
existing [RPG] skills that ISVs might typically have on staff, they can
now integrate telephony into their application, really quite easily, and
offer another advanced capability in their software, and upgrade path to
their client base. For obvious reasons, we view that channel as a great
go-to-market strategy for us, because when we get the one ISV, we can
really offer this solution to their entire installed base very quickly,
once the integration is complete."
iMessaging provides training and education on iNspire's APIs, which are
written in good old RPG, through its Telephony Integration Program, or
TIP. You can find more information about iNspire and the TIP program at
the company's Web site: www.imessaging.com <http://www.imessaging.com>.
RELATED STORIES
iMessaging Adopts SIP for Call Center Software
<http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs050807-story03.html>
iMessaging Delivers a Manager's View into Call Center Activity
<http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs082906-story03.html>
iMessaging Adds Outbound Dialing to iNspire Call Center Suite
<http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs011706-story02.html>
iSeries-centric Call Center Suite Renamed iNspire
<http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs041905-story04.html>
iMessaging Boosts Support for Spanish in Interactive Voice System
<http://www.itjungle.com/mso/mso120903-story04.html>
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