Telephone solutions planned for NetWare
NOVELL and AT&T are being joined by 24 leading developers of telephony solutions to bring the power of computer-telephone integration to desktop computers in the NetWare environment.
The 24 vendors have joined the Novell/AT&T Telephony Service Early Implementers' Program and have committed to provide solutions that work with the Telephony Services for NetWare product offerings being developed by Novell and AT&T.
''As a result of the relationships we have formed with these developers, by the first quarter of next year customers will be able to choose from a wide variety of telephony solutions for NetWare networks - everything from basic auto-dial programs to sophisticated call-centre applications,'' said Novell regional director Andrew Lai.
Telephony Services for NetWare provides a telephony infrastructure for NetWare computer networks. It consists primarily of a Telephony Server NetWare Loadable Module (NLM), which links a private branch exchange or business communications system and a NetWare server, and a set of client-server application programming interfaces (APIs).
Developers in the Early Implementers' Program are using the NLM and APIs to create applications that provide control and access to telephone functionality from any personal computer on the network.
Server-based call control opens up many possibilities for enhancing business productivity. For example, developers can create applications that will enable users travelling away from their office to forward automatically both calls and any computer filesassociated with those calls to other people in the office.
Novell and AT&T have relied on industry input for the design of their Telephony Services API (TSAPI). Based on Computer Supported Telecommunications Application (CSTA), an international standard established by the European Computer Manufacturers' Association for messaging in computer/telephony applications, the Telephony Services for NetWare specification has been reviewed by more than 100 developers since March.
