System iNetwork

January 27, 2009

iMessaging Offers Native Telephony Integration to IBM i Clients and ISVs

iMessaging Systems is teaming with IBM to deliver its first software-only telephony integration solution to help ISVs and small and medium business clients add IBM i-based telephony services, including IP telephony functionality, to existing applications for the i. This means one-stop shopping for i folks seeking a simple way to phone home.

As part of its new relationship with IBM, iMessaging has optimized its iNspire Telephony Integration Suite to operate with IBM's IP telephony offerings from Nortel and 3Com as well as other Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony and traditional PBX phone systems. IBM customers, business partners, and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can use iNspire to integrate any business application for the IBM i operating system with traditional or IP telephony systems.

AMI Partners reports that in the current economic climate, small and medium businesses are seeking projects such as VoIP and Unified Communications (UC) to help reduce costs and provide a clearly identifiable return on investment. As a result, the UC market will likely grow to $17 billion in annual revenue by 2011, AMI predicts.

The iNspire Impact

"iMessaging iNspire will allow more applications for IBM i to easily connect and participate in UC, making iNspire an important component of IBM's UC strategy--a significant area of investment for IBM," says Mark Shearer, vice president of marketing, communications, and sales support for IBM Business Systems. "IBM i customers and ISVs now have a simple, effective way to integrate telephony with their core business applications. This will also provide IBM with a new route to market for its IP telephony offerings through ISVs."

IBM i customers and the more than 1,000 ISVs who develop applications for IBM i can now use iNspire to integrate business applications with telephony functionality to provide intelligent call routing with screen pops, ACD queuing, caller self-service, automated dialing, and interactive voice response. CRM application provider VACAVA used iMessaging's iNspire solution to build VACAVA Customer Care--a telephony and call center-enabled solution requiring minimal effort to implement. Other ISVs planning to use iNspire to add IP telephony functionality to their IBM i applications include KMR Systems and VAI.

"A key advantage of IP Telephony on IBM i is the potential to integrate data, applications, and telephony services on a single, consolidated platform," said Karen Sedlar, CEO of iMessaging Systems, which is the leading provider of telephony integration and enablement solutions for IBM's Power Platform. "We believe iNspire's integration capabilities and flexibility will differentiate IP Telephony and represent important capabilities within IBM's overall UC strategy. iNspire's i-based integration is a unique offering and delivers the value that IBM customers are demanding. Imagine being able to give your internal and external customers realtime access to i applications and data via the phone."

Sedlar also points out that this new, software-only solution follows the Session Integration Protocol (SIP) standard for live communications used in setting up and tearing down voice or video calls on VoIP-based telephone systems.

iMessaging President Rich Ollari says he expects a positive reaction from the i community to the new native telephony integration. "This also gives IBM a foot up on the competition," he notes. "When you look at this holistically, IBM now has the ability on one single platform to be able to run not only business applications but also the telephone system."

The ISV Slant

Ollari says that ISVs will benefit greatly from iNspire’s i-based design. "Because iNspire is API-driven, ISVs can easily integrate telephony into their existing solutions with developer skills already on staff. This means ISVs can enhance their applications with telephony and bring them to market very quickly. What's more, an ISV doesn’t need to worry about the telephony idiosyncrasies because iNspire handles that automatically."

The iNspire solution services a variety of telephony integration requirements from simple dialing to fully integrated call centers. Additionally, using iNspire, clients can migrate from older telephone systems to modern VoIP systems with virtually no programming changes.

iNspire will now have IBM product IDs and be included in IBM's configurators. iNspire solutions for Power Systems range from entry-sized basic integration needs to larger, more formal call center environments. Pricing for the iNspire Telephony Integration Suite starts at less than $12,000.

iMessaging Systems reports that the iNspire suite can improve caller experience, handle higher call volumes, facilitate the use of IT skills to build and maintain telephony services, reduce IT infrastructure costs, provide realtime access to application data, and protect technology investments.

"We will continue enhancing the product in a variety of ways, including graphical interfaces," Ollari says. "Right now we interface with i-based applications only. However, we are looking to enable iNspire within other environments in the near term."

Vicki Hamende, application development and database editor

Posted by vhamende at January 27, 2009 10:18 PM