AVST UM Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our brief online Unified Messaging survey. We plan to incorporate these type of surveys into our community on a regular basis so we can continue to monitor how you, OUR CALLXPRESS CUSTOMERS, are actually using AVST products and services.

First things first… Read more

AVST.com Website Enhancements

Check out our New Look!

At the End User Conference in August, many of you were asking for access to more product information…well, your wish is our command!

Here are just a few highlights in terms of what we’ve done to enhance your user experience on www.avst.com.

Read more

AVST Launches Blogs to Community

It’s been two months since we officially launched the AVST Community and CallXpress User Forum and today we are taking another step in extending the community with the launch of AVST Blogs, a place where AVST thought leaders and industry experts will come together to discuss issues and offer opinions pertaining to the communications marketplace.

Our goal with AVST Blogs is simple – to foster two-way communication between AVST product experts and CallXpress end users.  In doing so, we hope to cultivate an environment where CallXpress users can not only learn from AVST thought leaders and share information with their peers, but they can also contribute to the development of AVST products. 

To support the community, AVST has put together a number of different resources to meet the needs of AVST users globally. 

The ultimate goal of these resources is to help you, the Callxpress User.  As you read through the AVST Blog and other CallXpress related resources, we encourage you to participate in the community and make your voice known in the AVST community. 

Once again, welcome to the official launch of the AVST Blog and we always look forward to hearing from you.
 

CallXpress Supports Symantec Enterprise Vault

This solution will archive voicemail messages and store them in Symantec Enterprise Vault. It will then allow administrators to quickly and efficiently locate and listen to voicemail messages related to a certain time period and/or user.

Related Links:

• Solution FAQ
• Symantec Enterprise Vault
• Vault Solutions

New rack-mount servers for CallXpress

AVST just released (October 14, 2008) two new rack-mount servers E-6000 R3 and C-2400 for CallXpress

The E-6000 R3 Server and the C-2400 Server are both certified for use with CallXpress Advanced Messaging, CallXpress Unified Messaging, CallXpress Speech Server (E-6000 only) or RightFax®.

Related Articles:

• NEI
• CallXpress Server Family Datasheet

Message Archive for Compliance

Over the last few years, compliance, electronic discovery, regulatory inquiries, and retention policies have become common topics within the business environment. In fact, in December 2006, new US procedures went into effect that mandates all electronically stored information (ESI) is discoverable. Although there has been some debate on whether voicemail is included in this, companies must have a well defined electronic document creation, retention, and destruction policy for all forms of ESI.

AVST isn’t here to hand out legal advice on this issue. That’s what lawyers are for. However, AVST does spend a lot of time determining what we can provide within our products to help our customers solve these types of issues. In this case, we have elected to integrate with software designed for this purpose.

There are many products designed to help companies meet their compliance obligations. One such product is Symantec’s Enterprise Vault, the industry leader in e-mail and content archiving. Message archiving is already a common practice with e-mail systems. When companies deploy unified messaging (UM) in a server-based configuration, these archives can also include voicemail. However, many customers don’t deploy UM in this manner, or will want or need to archive voicemail with unique retention policies, separate from e-mail. To that end, AVST has worked with Vault Solutions to provide message archive functionality through integration with Symantec Enterprise Vault. The integration is provided by Vault Solutions’ Archive Accelerator product. With this combination, CallXpress voice messages are stored in the “vault” for future access.

To learn more about Archive Accelerator and support for CallXpress message archiving, contact Rick Ganis at rick@vault-solutions.com.

Related Articles:

• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)
• The Impact of the New FRCP Amendments on Your Business – An Osterman Research White Paper
  

A Bit of AVST History from Doug Murray

AVT’s first computer had a 8088 processor, 768K of RAM, a 20 MB hard drive, two 8 inch floppy drives and three telephony boards from a long defunct company named Computalker Consultants. We paid extra for the classy wood case. It was purchased in early 1983, which was before the IBM PC XT (which had a 10 MB hard drive) was announced. 

This computer served multiple functions for the business – software development, text editing of business documents and running PhoneXpress (the early name of CallXpress). The computer ran the MP/M operating system which supported multi-processing and time sharing which allowed us to work on four serial terminals simultaneously. We took live PhoneXpress calls on this system while we were using it for all of the other purposes; not a practice to be recommended! By the end of 1984 we had moved on to IBM XTs and were using Brooktrout telephony cards. In 1985 we graduated to IBM ATs and started using Dialogic telephony cards. We still use later generations of this technology today.

Related Links:

• AVST Corporate History: Did you know AVST was established in September 2003 from the combined businesses of Sound Advantage (established in 1997) and the AVT division (established in 1982) of Captaris, Inc.?
  
• And just for fun…the DigiBarn computer museum website has some additional photos of the CompuPro System 8/16 system

Immediate Message Notification Settings

Immediate Message Notification requires four settings in order to function:

1) A configured Dialing Plan
2) Callouts must be enabled
3) Immediate Message Notification must be enabled in the subscriber’s mailbox
4) at least one phone number entered into the Personal Call List

CallXpress 8.0 Beta Trial

• Multi-box Architecture
  CallXpress now has the capability of being deployed on a single server or across multiple servers for greater scalability and increased availability. CallXpress 8.0 supports up to 96 ports and 10,000 subscribers in a single server deployment or up to 384 ports and 40,000 subscribers in a multi-server deployment.
• Speech Recognition
  Adding Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) resources to the system allows customers to build speech-based auto attendants where callers interact with the system using speech commands rather than traditional DTMF keys. Additionally, a new Voice User Interface (VUI) allows subscribers to manage their messages and mailbox using speech commands.
• Availability and Find-me/Follow-me
  CallXpress can now control features like find-me/follow-me based on the subscriber’s availability. For example, an auto attendant transfer to a subscriber using find-me/follow-me and is "in the office", might ring their desk phone first, followed by their mobile phone. When the subscriber is "out of the office" it would only ring their mobile phone.
• Microsoft® Exchange®/IBM Lotus® Notes® Calendar and Contacts
  Using the new Voice User Interface, unified messaging subscribers can manage their calendar appointments and contacts. For example, a user can hear all of their meetings and appointments for the current day by saying "get calendar for today".
•  Web PhoneManager
  Web PhoneManager (WPM) has been greatly enhanced with JavaScript/AJAX support for much improved usability when managing messages. Also, playback of messages using streaming audio has been changed to use MP3 audio through Adobe Flash Player for faster playback, greater browser and operating system compatibility, and greatly simplified installation and configuration.
• G.729 Audio Encoding
  G.729 audio encoding provides support for remote workers and centralized voicemail where G.729 compression is used.
• Dialogic 1000 Series Media Gateway
  A Dialogic Media Gateway (DMG) can be used to integrate a local or remote telephone system to CallXpress using SIP between CallXpress and the DMG. The DMG then connects to the telephone system using analog lines with in-band signaling, analog lines with serial link signaling, or station set emulation.

What’s Your Story!

The mission of the Customer Advocate Program is to develop and sustain customer relationships to showcase how AVST solutions are used by businesses of all sizes to meet their unified communications needs.  The fundamental principles behind the program are integrity and mutual respect.  Participation in the program can include these benefits:

• Access to product teams
• Insights into product strategy and roadmaps
• Input into technology design and functionality
• Early adopter and beta program opportunities
• Visibility and recognition for your innovation

• Validate your AVST successes via direct interactions with your peers
• Showcase your unified communications solutions with a case study
• Act as media and industry analyst reference to illustrate your technology leadership
• Present your use and commitment of our products at conferences and events
• Use your company name and logo as a general reference in AVST marketing materials
• Publish a quote on the AVST website about your experiences with CallXpress, the User Group, or AVST Online Community 

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