Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PBX Design
A PBX has traditionally been set up in the following manner.
The organization has a main telephone number, sometimes end-
ing in a double or triple zero (for example 635-5300). When this
telephone number is busy, the calls roll over to the second line
and then on through the hunt group as we described with a square
key system.
With a PBX, there may be a greater number of outside lines
and these lines do not appear on every telephone. Instead, they
are answered by a central position known as the switchboard
or attendant console. The caller tells the switchboard operator
or attendant the name of the person called. May I please speak
to Linda Storaekre? Then the operator extends the call to that
person by dialing an extension number assigned to the called
persons telephone.
To place an outgoing call, the same group of outside lines is
used. Since the person placing the call has only an extension
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number on his telephone, it is necessary to press the button for
that extension number and dial an access code, usually 9. In
doing so, a free outside line is selected and the person can then
place a call. If all lines are in use, as with a square key system,
callers to the main telephone number hear a busy signal. People
trying to place outgoing calls, when dialing 9, will also hear a
busy signal (sent from the PBX, not the local telephone com-
pany central office) indicating that all lines are in use.
It is important to understand that the total number of tele-
phone calls in progress, whether they are incoming or outgoing,
cannot exceed the total number of outside lines. If you have ten
outside lines and receive four telephone calls at the same time as
six people are placing outgoing calls, the next caller to your tele-
phone number will hear a busy signal. Outside lines are also called
telephone numbers, dial tone lines, trunks and POTS lines (plain
old telephone service).
What we have described above, with all calls coming into a
switchboard operator, is a traditional telephone system design
(Figure 2.3). With the increasing use of Voice Mail and Auto-
mated Attendant, many systems are being set up differently. For
example, a type of outside line called a Direct Inward Dial trunk
may be used. This allows each person using the system to have a
separate telephone number to give to callers so that their specific
extension may be called directly without the intervention of the
switchboard operator. If the directly-dialed extension is not an-
swered or is busy, the call may then go to the switchboard operator
or it may be answered by Voice Mail. The caller hears the voice
of the person called. This is Christine Kern. Im not at my desk
right now, but please leave a message and I will return your call,
or dial 0 for immediate assistance. The caller may then leave a
message that will, in turn, activate a message waiting indicator
on the telephone of the person called (Figure 2.4).
An Automated Attendant can take the place of the switch-
board operator answering the main telephone number with an
announcement such as the following: Thank you for calling CMP
Books. If you know the extension of the person you are calling,
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Traditional Telephone System
Incoming Call A call comes in on a combination trunk and is answered by the switchboard attendant. Caller is then sent to
the correct extension.
Outgoing Call Extensions dial 9 to get dial tone from the combination trunk for placing an outgoing call. Switchboard
attendant is usually not involved in this process.
Combination Trunks For
Incoming And Outgoing Calls
Telephone
Extensions
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
Switchboard
Attendant
Console
PBX
Figure 2.3
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Figure 2.4
Telephone System With DID Trunks and Voice Mail
Incoming Call In this scenario, calls are placed directly to the telephone extension, bypassing the switchboard attendant.
When the extension is unanswered or in use, the calls forward to Voice Mail.
Outgoing Call Extension dials 9 and selects a combination trunk.
Combination Trunks For
Outgoing Calls Only
DID Trunks For Incoming
Calls Only. Every Extension
Can Be Dialed Directly
From The Outside.
Telephone
Extensions
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
PBX
VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL
This is Beth Cockrell.
Im not at my desk
right now. Please leave
me a message and
Ill call you back.
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Answered
Telephone
Unanswered
Telephone System With Automated Attendant and Voice Mail
Incoming Call The PBX, Automated Attendant and Voice Mail are housed in the same room and sometimes within the same
cabinet. The call movement is controlled by the system software. Callers answered by the Automated
Attendant direct their calls to the correct extension.
Outgoing Call Extensions dial 9 to place outgoing calls on combination trunks.
This is Rich Laino. Im not at my
desk right now. Please leave me
a message and Ill call you back.
Thank you for calling. If you know
the extension number you may dial
it now. For sales, press 1
VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL VOICE MAIL
AUT AUT AUT AUT AUTOMA OMA OMA OMA OMATED TED TED TED TED
ATTEND ATTEND ATTEND ATTEND ATTENDANT ANT ANT ANT ANT
Figure 2.5
PBX
Combination Trunks For
Incoming And Outgoing Calls
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
The Telecom Handbook 41
CHAPTER 2
please dial it now. To order a book, dial 1; to place advertising,
dial 2; for a company directory, dial 3; or please wait for assis-
tance. You still need a live person at some point to handle callers
who do not know what they want or who do not wish to use the
automated system (Figure 2.5).
PBX Functions (Also Called Features)
Way back when, some enthusiastic PBX salesperson decided
to call PBX operating capabilities features. These are the ca-
pabilities that enhance the systems ability for you to process
telephone calls.
Outgoing Calls
Placing a telephone call to an outside location: On most
business telephone systems (PBXs) you dial 9, wait for an outside
line dial tone, and dial the telephone number. You then hear a ring-
ing signal that is sent to you from the local telephone company
central office to let you know that the other end has not yet an-
swered. You are not hearing the actual ringing of the telephone
you have called. On other systems (smaller Key Systems), when
you pick up the handset you already have an outside line dial
tone and need only dial the telephone number, without dialing 9.
Dialing 9 has become an accepted convention. There is not a
technical reason that a telephone system cannot be set up to dial a
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CHAPTER 2
different digit for dialing out, provided it has not been used for any
other function.
Incoming Calls
Receiving a telephone call from either outside or inside
the office: If someone is calling you, you answer by picking up
the handset and saying Hello. Some systems enable you to an-
swer by just pressing a speaker button and saying Hello without
lifting the handset. Other systems enable you to just say Hello
without touching anything (seldom used but has application in
environments where the recipient cant lift the receiver himself).
Incoming telephone calls may provide the telephone number or
name of the caller with Caller ID providing your system in
equipped to accept and display the number (or name) of the per-
son calling.
On Hold
Putting a call on hold: Many telephones are equipped with
a button, often red or orange in color, which enables you to put a
call in progress on hold. This means that the call is still at your
telephone. The caller cannot hear you, so you are free to do other
things such as call someone else, take another call, search for a
file or gather your wits. Multi-line telephones almost always have
a hold button. Some single-line telephones have one as well.
Some telephones have hold recall, which signals you with a
ringing or other sound when you have left someone on hold
too long.
Other telephones have individual hold, or I-hold. This means
that if you put a call on hold at your telephone, no one else in the
office that has the same line or extension can take the call off
hold from any other telephone.
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When a call is on hold, the light on the telephone where the
call is holding rhythmically flickers to distinguish it from a call
in progress (usually a steady light) or a new ringing call (light
flashing on and off). Most systems also provide the ability to
distinguish a call you put on hold from a call someone at another
telephone put on hold it you both have appearances of the same
extensions or outside lines on your telephones.
Call Transfer
If you wish to send a call to another telephone within your
office and the extension the call is on does not appear on that
other telephone, you must transfer the call. Most telephones are
equipped with a transfer button that you press prior to dialing the
extension number to which you want to transfer the call. You
announce that you are going to transfer the call to the person at
the other extension, and when you hang up, the call is transferred.
If you do not announce the call and the extension to which you
have sent the call does not answer, the caller may end up back at
your desk, at the switchboard or in Voice Mail. This depends
upon how the system is programmed.
Conference Calls
Most telephone systems are equipped with a conference but-
ton on the telephone. This enables you to set up a conference
among three or more people, connecting people within your of-
fice to others outside the office. Systems vary in the number of
inside and outside callers that can be conferenced. Typically, it
becomes hard to hear on a conference call with more than three
participants unless you are using specialized conferencing equip-
ment that is separate from the telephone system.
For conferences of more than three or four people, it is advis-
able to use special conferencing equipment (called a conference
bridge) or an outside conferencing service. It is important to know
how to drop off one of the conferees from your conference call
without ending the call. Not all systems can do this. If you have
46 The Telecom Handbook
THE PBX
set up the conference call from your telephone and you hang up,
you may disconnect the other call participants.
Call Forwarding
If you are not going to be at your desk, some telephones en-
able you to forward calls to another telephone either within your
office or at an outside location. Many systems can forward your
The Telecom Handbook 47
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calls to different destinations depending upon whether your tele-
phone is (1) unanswered or (2) busy, and whether the caller is (3)
inside the office or (4) outside.
Some telephones are set up with a button that, when depressed,
will send your calls directly to Voice Mail if you are not at your
desk. This prevents the caller from having to wait for your tele-
phone to ring several times before going to Voice Mail. Off-system
call forwarding enables you to forward your office telephone to
your cell phone or home telephone.
Call Pick Up
This function enables you to answer another ringing telephone
in your office even though the extension number that is ringing
does not appear on your telephone. This is usually accomplished
by pressing a button on your telephone labeled call pick-up. If
you have a display you may see the name of the person whose
call you have picked up, which will enable you to answer appro-
priately, Rose Bodins office, rather than just saying Hello.
Group call pick-up lets you answer any ringing telephone in your
pre-selected group. Directed call pick up requires you to know
the extension number that is ringing and to dial it after pressing
the call pick up button.
Privacy
In business telephone systems, it is customary for more than
one telephone to pick up the same extension number or outside
line such as a secretarys telephone being able to answer the boss
extensions. Privacy prevents someone else who has the same line
or extension from inadvertently cutting in on your conversation.
If you want to let him in, you may do so if you have a privacy
release button. Not all telephone systems are automatically
equipped with the privacy feature.
Some systems have automatic privacy, while others require
that a separate button on each telephone be activated to ensure
privacy. A separate button called privacy release can let a person
48 The Telecom Handbook
THE PBX
at another telephone in on a conversation if you want him to join
you or listen in.
f ff ff RELEASE
Most telephones working with a PBX have a release button.
When you press it, the effect is the same as if you hung up the
receiver and then lifted it up again. Pressing release disconnects
a completed call and gives you back the dial tone to place an-
other call.
f ff ff DO NOT DISTURB
When the Do Not Disturb button is depressed, on most sys-
tems, you will not receive internal calls or intercom calls. This
button often overlaps in function with a button that, when de-
pressed, sends callers directly to your Voice Mail box without
ringing your telephone.
f ff ff CALL PARK
This enables you to ask a caller to wait, place the call in
limbo in a numbered parking place in the system (the call
will no longer appear on your telephone when parked). You
can go to any other telephone on the system and retrieve the
parked call by dialing the parking place number. This is also
used by switchboard attendants who park calls and then an-
nounce over the office paging system, Tom Taylor, dial 23.
23 is the parking code.
f ff ff CALL WAITING OR CAMP-ON
If you are on a call and do not have a second extension, a
second call may still get though to you using Call Waiting (also
called Camp-On in older systems). You will hear a tone indicat-
ing a second incoming call and may press a button or the switch-
hook to answer the second call without losing the call youre
already on. The first caller cannot hear your conversation with
the new caller.
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CHAPTER 2
All of the previous capabilities are features of the PBX ac-
cessible from the desktop telephone, usually accessed by pressing
a specifically programmed button on the telephone, but some-
times requiring the dialing of a numeric access code as well.
There are also features that have to do with the physical
makeup of the telephone itself such as the display and the speak-
erphone. See the chapter on The Telephone for a description of
these physical characteristics.
Expense Control Function of the PBXs
Every time a telephone call is made, money is being spent.
Many of the PBX functions help an organization to control
this expense.
Toll Restriction
Toll restriction enables you to program the telephone system
so that each extension has what is called a class of service. Each
class of service designation enables the extension to call certain
areas and restricts it from calling others. The most sophisticated
systems can be programmed to restrict the dialing of specific
telephone numbers. Others can restrict by area code or by area
code and exchange. Figure 2.6 shows a typical scenario.
You may also use class of service to give each extension ac-
cess to certain system functions and restrict it from using others.
You may hear the term six digit toll restriction, meaning that
the first six digits dialed (the area code and exchange) can be
restricted through programming. Ten digit toll restriction enables
you to restrict dialing to a specific telephone number.
Call Accounting
Most telephone systems also have the capability to provide
information on the calls being made through the system. This
includes the time the call was placed, the duration of the call and
the telephone number dialed. This is called SMDR (Station Mes-
sage Detail Recording) output, Call Accounting output, CDR
(Call Detail Recording) output, or AIOD (Automatic Identifica-
tion of Outward Dialing), an out-of-date term seldom used. Its
important to understand that the PBX provides the raw data only.
In order to do anything with the data, it must be captured and
processed into a usable format.
In many organizations, the SMDR output is stored in a buffer
device that then is polled by a call accounting system, usually
on site. Call Accounting is usually PC-based. It accepts the call
information from the PBX. It then assigns a cost to each call
that approximates the true cost of the call and sorts the calls by
extension number. The costs for each extension may also be
grouped into department reports, often provided to each depart-
ment manager.
Calls may also be sorted by account codes, numbers associ-
ated with certain clients or projects of the company. Thus, a law
firm will know how much is being spent on each client and may
use the information for billing call charges back to the client.
Under these circumstances, the PBX requires the dialing of an
account code before each outgoing call is made. The PBX keeps
the account code associated with the call and sends this informa-
tion to the buffer device.
52 The Telecom Handbook
THE PBX
Traffic Study
Most PBXs provide information on how the outside lines in
the system are being used (call volume on each outside line).
This is called a traffic study. Although the call accounting sys-
tem is capable of providing a traffic study, it is not always set up
to do so. Instead, the telephone installation and maintenance com-
pany is customarily called upon to poll the PBX for a period of
time, often a week, to provide the traffic information. When re-
questing a traffic study, it is important to be very specific about
the information you want and what your objective is.
You may have had a new telephone system installed with 20
outside lines for which you are paying $30 each per month (20 x
$30. = $600). Now its a year later and you want to find out if
you really need all of those lines.
A traffic study runs for one week and tracks all incoming
and outgoing calls. The results indicate that at the busiest times
of the day, no more than 10 of the lines are ever in use. Being
conservative, you decide to leave 15 lines in place and remove
the other 5 (5 x $30 = $150), thus saving your company $150
per month.
Note: When you remove outside lines, remind your telephone
installation and maintenance company to reduce your mainte-
nance cost, since it is often based upon the number of ports used
for outside lines. You must also have your telephone system re-
programmed so that it will not be looking for the missing lines
when someone dials 9 or, in the case of your DID trunks, when a
call comes in.
Heres another situation for which you may wish to run a
traffic study. Callers to your organization complain that they are
reaching a busy signal. The one-week traffic study shows that all
20 outside lines are in use ten percent of the time, confirming
that during this time callers cannot reach your company. You or-
der 5 more local outside lines from the local telephone company
and have them connected to your system by the telephone instal-
lation company. You may need to buy an additional circuit board
The Telecom Handbook 53
CHAPTER 2
for the system to accommodate these new lines. Several weeks
later you run another traffic study that shows that at the busiest
times of day, no more than 22 lines are in use. Callers cease to
complain about busy signals.
The traffic study also measures call volume on T-1 circuits.
Its a good idea to have a traffic study run on your telephone
system at least once a year. You may negotiate an annual traffic
study as a part of your PBX maintenance contract. Or you may
learn how to run the traffic study in-house with your call ac-
counting system.
System Specifications
Please base your pricing on the following requirements:
f One digital PBX.
f Two T-1/PRI circuit board for each 24 DID (direct inward
dial) and both-way trunks.
70 The Telecom Handbook
PURCHASI NG A PBX
f One T-1/PRI circuit board for access to a long distance
carrier.
f Growth capacity in cabinet for a third T-1/PRI
f 20 Combination trunks (growth capacity in cabinet to 60)
f Two attendant consoles with DSS/Busy lamp field.
f 250 Multi-line digital display telephones with a minimum of
ten buttons which can be programmed for line appearances
and system feature access (Note: Line Appearance refers to a
button on which a PBX extension is located)
f 50 Multi-line digital display telephones with a minimum of
twenty buttons which can be programmed for line appear-
ances and system feature access
f 8 Digital single line telephones
f Growth capacity in cabinet to add 40 multi-line telephones
f One system administration terminal and printer
f A call back modem to prevent unauthorized access into the
remote maintenance port
f One Voice Mail system integrated with the proposed PBX.
8 ports (Growth capacity in cabinet to 16 ports)
f One Voice Mail system administration terminal and printer
(Please state if the same terminal and printer can be used for
PBX system administration)
For the above-described system, provide a total price and the
components, showing how the price was computed.
Once we have agreed upon the extent of recabling or reuse of
existing cabling, please provide a separate price for all cabling
related work, separating materials from labor.
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CHAPTER 3
Routing
f ff ff INBOUND CALL ROUTING
The heart of any inbound Call Center operation is Inbound
Call Routing. There are two phases of inbound call routing:
routing to a group, and then routing to a specific agent within
78 The Telecom Handbook
THE ACD
a group. Inbound Call Routing uses intelligent programming to
recognize and accommodate Call Center traffic and agent per-
formance. The system may have the flexibility to:
f Anticipate changing traffic and performance patterns, re-
spond to unanticipated changes in traffic or agent
performance and play announcements at any point.
f Route callers to voice processing devices such as IVRs,
Fax Servers or Voice Mail equipment, always providing
the caller the option to return to his place in queue.
f Recognize priority callers.
f Advise callers of the number of callers ahead of them or
anticipated time before they will be answered.
f Put a pause in inbound routing until some predefined event
occurs or some period of time passes. Queue calls to
multiple groups simultaneously, including groups at re-
mote centers and agents at home.
f Permit supervisor, administrator or management to make
changes as needed.
f Most Call Centers try to distribute calls evenly among all
agents within a group. However, there are instances where
some agents are better prepared than others. For example,
when new agents are added to a more experienced group,
management wants the better-qualified agents to handle
more calls than the new agents. Several different schemes
can be used for selecting an agent within a group:
1. Top down/bottom up
2. Longest idle
3. Agent priority (based on experience or skill set)
4. A combination of longest idle and agent priority
5. Performance Parameters & Thresholds
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CHAPTER 4
f ff ff SKILLS BASED ROUTING
In some incoming call centers, instead of routing the callers
to the agent who has been idle the longest, routing is affected by
the agent skills required to handle the call. Callers can be sent to
the agent best qualified to help them, according to a set of pre-
defined parameters. The callers needs can be determined by what
number he called, what number he is calling from or what option
he selected from an automated announcement menu presented to
him before being sent to an agent. If a caller waits too long for a
specifically skilled agent to be available, the system may be pro-
grammed to send him to a less qualified person, rather than waiting
indefinitely. Skills based routing is routinely used in Help Desk
Call centers where callers are looking for help with the operation
of software programs. The ACD attempts to route the caller to
the agent most skilled in the program with which they need help.
f ff ff OVERFLOW
Overflow is a feature that recognizes when agents in one group
are backlogged, then reroutes calls to another group that may
have fewer calls waiting. In the best implementations, the call
volume/performance analysis is done automatically and continu-
ally in real time, freeing supervisors and management personnel
from minute-by-minute monitoring of each groups call volume.
f ff ff NIGHT SERVICE
The majority of Call Centers, including those that work a 24-
hour day, notice a significant difference in traffic between normal
office hours and the night shift. If the center is open at all, it may
rely more on automated response systems and will have fewer agents
in place to handle calls. Predefined inbound call routing schemes
must be modified to accommodate the late hours environment.
An intelligent Call Center system shifts to a night service
inbound routing scheme based on time of day. Individual super-
visors may also invoke night service manually. When invoked,
calls may be routed to another inbound routing scheme, to an an-
swering device, another location or callers may just hear ringing.
80 The Telecom Handbook
THE ACD
f ff ff DEFLECTION
The cost of calls to an 800 number mounts rapidly as
callers wait for an agent to answer. To decrease the cost of
callers waiting in queue for an answer, deflection decreases
hold times by having callers reach a busy signal or by rout-
ing the calls to another destination. This happens when the
system recognizes that a management-defined threshold has
been reached. Deflection is typically based on the number
of calls in queue. A more effective parameter offered by some
systems is time in queue. In this case, a caller receives a
busy signal when the longest call in queue has been in queue
over x minutes or seconds as defined by management.
f ff ff INTERFLOW
This provides automatic transparent traffic rerouting based
on predefined times/days or traffic thresholds. This is useful for
multi-site Call Center networks where call volumes and hold times
may be high in one location while there is idle time at another
location. Or a business may span several time zones and man-
agement may want to avoid overtime in one zone by routing calls
to another location. Interflow helps Call Centers attain optimum
agent productivity while controlling toll costs.
Performance Measurement
To be successful, Call Center management must set perfor-
mance objectives, and then measure performance against these
parameters. Real time displays and historical reports should show
actual performance as compared to these criteria. A list of per-
formance objectives might include average:
f Time to answer
f Talk time
f Hold time
f Work time
f Idle time
f Time in queue
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CHAPTER 4
Agent Capabilities
Sign-On/Off
Agents may serve more than one group and may rotate
among several workstations during a shift or during a week. In
order to monitor and evaluate agent performance, it is impor-
tant to be able to track which agent is at which telephone. Each
time agents make a change, they are asked to sign on and sign
off the group they are serving. Automatic sign on/off processes
save time and prevent abuse of the system. Using screen-based
software programs, supervisors may also move agents from one
group to another.
ID/Password
Agents may sign on using an identification number, with or
without a password. The ID and password should be viable from
any agent workstation, freeing agents to work at any desk during
any shift. When agents serve multiple groups, tracking require-
ments will determine whether or not the agent uses the same or
different ID and password for each group served.
Call Alert
Work conditions in a busy Call Center would be unbearable
if all telephones rang with every incoming call. Silent room con-
ditions (where telephones do not have an audible ring) improve
morale and productivity. Alternative means of alerting agents to
incoming calls include:
f Audible ring, ring-beep, zip tone (sounds a like a zipper be-
ing opened quickly, heard only by the agent) for agents with
a headset.
f A brief announcement, which may relate to call origin or may
prompt the agent for a unique greeting. Also used for agents
with a headset.
f Visible indicator such as a flashing lamp or phone display,
typically with incoming line or caller information.
Wrap/Work
Call Center managers must be careful to balance pressure for
agent productivity against increasing agent stress and frustration.
Wrap and Work are features that allow the agents some period of
time between calls to complete call-related paperwork.
Management may predefine the wrap period, or may allow
agents to invoke Wrap as needed.
Work is a similar feature, allowing agents time to complete
call-related tasks. Unlike Wrap, Work is not an automatic fea-
ture. Agents place themselves in and out of Work as needed. While
some systems may combine these two features, they should be
defined and reported/displayed separately for better evaluation
of agent performance.
Transaction Code
In addition to any database information agents may enter into
the callers profile, there may be a need to collect other call-
related information. For example, agents may collect information
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CHAPTER 4
on method of payment, how caller heard about the company
or offering, etc. This information may be used for specific re-
ports to evaluate marketing activities, meet accounting
requirements, etc.
Agents are able to enter transaction codes at any time during
or after the call. Codes should be flexible, allowing for multiple
fields, and should provide a display so that the agent can verify
the input before completing the data.
Emergency Record
Some Call Centers are susceptible to harassing or threaten-
ing calls. Its important to be able to document these calls without
alerting the caller. Agents should be able to immediately confer-
ence-in a centralized recording device as soon as they recognize
a call of this type.
Supervisor Alert
When agents receive threatening, harassing or other problem
calls (difficult question, hostile caller) they may need supervi-
sory assistance. With Supervisor Alert, agents are able to get their
supervisors attention without interrupting the call in progress.
Supervisor Alert may have these features:
f Transparent to caller.
f Alerts designated supervisor; then, if not available,
hunts for first available supervisor in management-de-
fined sequence.
f Informs supervisor of agent calling and reason for the alert.
Agent at Home
Just as management may want to send calls to remote Call
Centers, they may want to send calls to individual agent homes
or small storefront locations. This capability is particularly
applicable for accommodating employees with special needs.
In addition, it may be useful in disaster recovery situations.
The work at home solution should be nearly transparent for
both agents and supervisors, meaning they have the same fea-
tures, regardless of location.
Supervisor Capabilities
Groupings
Any one supervisor may typically be responsible for 10-15
agents, even though the entire group serving a particular func-
tion may be much larger. Supervisors may be able to identify
agent information for their specific agents without scrolling
through the entire group display. Similarly, supervisors may be
able to display a subset of agents from several different groups,
if necessary (for example, in evaluating trainees throughout the
Call Center). This super group/ sub group capability is very im-
portant in larger Call Centers.
Reports
In addition to real time information used for daily supervi-
sory functions, historical reports are necessary. These identify
trends and are vital to planning.
Reports may include information about individual agent and
group performance, trunk usage, transaction codes, emergency
recording and alerts. In addition to standard reports, systems may
permit supervisors or administrators to develop custom reports,
unique to their own Call Center requirements. Raw data is stored
for some management-defined period of time, and is available
for additional reports for a period of at least a week, up to one or
more years.
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Monitoring
Displays and reports tell only part of the story of agent per-
formance. To really evaluate agent performance and to assess
the quality of service provided, supervisors must be able to listen
to agents in actual telephone conversation with callers. This has
traditionally been accompanied by a supervisor walking to the
agents desk and listening to the call by plugging a second head-
set into the station set. This approach has become an accepted
part of Call Center culture for many organizations. However, the
same result can be achieved with silent and split/silent monitor.
Silent monitor allows the supervisor to listen, undetected,
to both the agent and the caller. If necessary, the supervisor
may join the call as an active participant at any time. Split/
silent monitor allows the supervisor to listen, undetected to
both the agent and caller, but if necessary, the supervisor may
prompt the agent and remain undetected by the caller. This is
particularly useful in training situations, or where threatening
or harassing calls are anticipated. Typically silent monitor is
invoked on demand, or it may be timed, or it may rotate through
the group as calls are terminated.
Forced Answer
When supervisors notice that the number of calls in queue
is rising, they may wish to artificially improve the average
time to answer (decrease caller time waiting in queue) by forc-
ing agents to answer new calls as soon as prior calls are
terminated. This is done by forcing a group-wide override of
the wrap/work features.
Move
In the past, supervisors watched Call Center traffic, then
physically moved agents to the groups that were most active.
Today, it is no longer necessary to move the agent to the call.
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Sophisticated, intelligent systems now bring the calls to the
agents. Nevertheless, Call Center supervisors want to retain
the option of moving agents between groups should the need
arise. Thus, systems offer an agent Move command that al-
lows agents to be moved even while busy on an incoming/
outbound call. At the end of the call, that calls statistics ap-
ply to the original group. Then the agent should get his or her
next call from the new group.
Messaging
When supervisors walked around the Call Center to monitor
agent activity, they could easily stop and speak to any agent at
any time. Now that Call Center systems have eliminated the need
to actually go to the agents work station, supervisors must find a
new way to talk with their agents: hence, supervisor-to-agent
messaging. Supervisors can send text messages to agent telephone
displays. These messages may be predefined: Good job! or
Waiting time down 15 minutes or may be created as needed.
Alternatively, the supervisor may be authorized to send messages
using a wall mounted display unit. Unlike display phone mes-
saging, the wall-mounted display message is visible to everyone
in the viewing area.
Caller Support Capabilities
Intelligent Queuing
This provides an announcement to the caller stating the esti-
mated time he will have to wait before the call is answered.
Frequently the anticipated hold time announcement feature is
combined with an option to leave a message, rather than wait for
an agent. Instead of estimating the waiting time, the caller may
be told how many calls are ahead of him.
Request Callback
This feature allows the carrier to request a callback. This op-
tion may be provided in conjunction with the anticipated hold
time announcement feature, or may be implemented as an op-
tion during inbound call routing.
Predictive Dialing
Many Call Centers are designed to both take incoming calls
and place outgoing calls. The same group of agents may be re-
sponsible for both sales and collections. The sales calls are
primarily incoming, and the collections calls are placed during
lulls in incoming traffic.
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Outbound calls may be placed automatically using predic-
tive dialers. Predictive dialers analyze incoming call traffic and
agent activity, then automatically place outgoing calls when agents
are about to be available. These predictive dialers help manage-
ment increase agent productivity by decreasing idle time. When
you receive a call during dinner and there is a slight delay before
a telemarketer comes on the line, a predictive dialer was used to
place the call. When the system detects that you have answered,
it sends the call to the telemarketer.
Some Call Centers may focus primarily or totally on these
outgoing calls, known as telemarketing. In these cases, less so-
phisticated dialers can be used. Regardless of the Call Center
orientation (incoming, outgoing or a combination) management
require similar features to assure optimal functionality.
Screen Pops
Screen Pops can shave seconds from many if not all calls.
Using a computer-to-PBX/ACD interface, Screen Pop brings the
caller profile to the agent at the same time a call arrives. This
saves the agent from having to ask for the callers name, account
number or other relevant information, keying in a data request
and waiting for the screen to appear.
Some systems use ANI (automatic number identification of
the calling number) to initiate the database inquiry and screen
transfer, while others use an IVR (Interactive Voice Response
System) to ask the caller to input identifying information that
will in turn be used for database access and a screen transfer.
Fax Server
Routine requests for information can frequently be
handled by a fax server. Order confirmation and general in-
formation can be provided very quickly with integrated fax
response functionality.
These features give the caller an element of control over
the way the call is handled. By using automation to eliminate
the ambiguity and frustration of long hold times, Call Centers
can increase customer satisfaction without increasing staffing
levels.
Perspective
There is more to designing and managing a Call Center than
selecting and implementing appropriate features. Consideration
must be given to the context of the center:
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f 1. How it relates to other units within the greater enterprise,
the local job and labor force.
f 2. Customer expectations.
f 3. Competitors behavior.
f 4. Vendor relations.
Although we may think of a Call Center as an independent
entity, it does not operate in a vacuum. Businesses where the sole
function revolves around Call Center activity (example: retail
catalog sales) are the exception, not the majority. Increasingly,
Call Center functionality is being incorporated into the general
business environment (i.e.: service desk, help desk, account in-
quiries, telemarketing). Thus, the relationship between the Call
Center and the other operating units becomes an issue.
Ideally, Call Center personnel have access to all appropriate
corporate databases and telecommunications facilities. Network-
ing must be addressed, along with questions of interoperability
and administration and management of the various systems in
use throughout the enterprise.
The integrated approach to enterprise wide communica-
tions, including voice communications, data communications,
local area networks and wide area network access is appeal-
ing to Call Center managers who appreciate the impact of their
role within the larger organizational structure. In addition,
managers of other operating units may want access to the cus-
tomer communication centers real-time information. Activity
levels by group, product or function should be available at any
time to any manager who needs it. The customer support Call
Center must be an integral part of the enterprise network.
Ideally, all communications services within an enterprise
will be available to all users. Information can flow freely to
and from every desktop. This unified approach enables work-
ers to do their jobs at the same time that it facilitates system
administration and management.
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The Call Center Approach to Designing
Office Telephone Systems
Many business people are beginning to view their entire com-
pany or certain departments as Call Centers, and would like them
to have similar functions to those found on ACD. They are par-
ticularly interested in functions that provide information on the
handling of customer calls and on staff members productivity.
These systems will have to be more flexible and collect more
information than todays ACDs. They will also have to combine
functions such as multiple appearances of extensions for call
coverage with the capability to track progress and status of calls
as they move through the organization (transferred, conferenced,
put on hold, etc.). While traditional PBX manufacturers have not
been able to deliver these capabilities, newer communications
server based systems will lend themselves more easily to the de-
velopment of these applications.
For more information on setting up a Call Center see
The Call Center Handbook by Keith Dawson. Also, subscribe
to Call Center Magazine (order from 1-800-LIBRARY or
www.callcentermagazine.com).
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The Telecom Handbook 95
CHAPTER 5
Voice Mail and Automated Attendant
Voice Mail and Automated Attendant are presented together
because they are almost always functions of the same system.
They may be collectively referred to as Voice Processing.
Throughout this chapter, when we mention Voice Mail, the capa-
bility for Automated Attendant is implied.
Definition by How it Sounds to the Caller
The easiest way to define the difference between Voice Mail
and Automated Attendant is by what you hear.
Heres an example of an Automated Attendant:
Thank you for calling CMP Books. If you are call-
ing from a touch-tone phone and know the extension of
the person with whom you wish to speak, you may dial it
now. To purchase advertising, dial 1; to order a book, dial
2; for a company directory, dial 8; if you are calling from
a rotary phone or need assistance, please wait. Someone
will be with you shortly.
The Automated Attendant can be likened to a live switch-
board operator who directs calls to the appropriate extensions. It
can answer and direct multiple calls at the same time as long as
there are a sufficient number of ports (one caller ties up one port
until the call is answered at the extension, freeing up the port for
the next call.) Most Automated Attendant systems can respond
only if the caller is using a touch-tone telephone, although a few
respond to rotary dial signals. Some systems also recognize the
spoken word such as yes, no or saying a number, a name or a
phrase. This is called voice recognition. Since voice recognition
does not work 100% of the time, the system can be set up to
transfer the caller to a live person if the system does not under-
stand the words spoken.
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VOI CE MAI L & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT
Voice recognition is proving to be particularly useful in large
corporations, especially when callers dont know the spelling of
the name of the person theyre calling and do not want to listen to
a long list of options. When trying to use the voice mail directory,
saying the name can be easier. The system can be set up to look for
all possible spellings based upon the way the name is pronounced.
Simultaneous answering of calls by an Automated Attendant
requires the capability to provide multiple announcement record-
ings so that more than one caller can hear the announcement at
the same time.
When you use the Automated Attendant to dial an extension
and that extension is not answered, after a few rings you will
hear the persons Voice Mail:
This is Harry Newton. Im not in my office. Please
leave a message at the tone, or dial 0 to reach our switch-
board attendant.
You wait for the tone and leave a personal message for Harry
Newton that only he can retrieve (by using a password). While
youre leaving the message, you are using a port. When Harry
retrieves the message, he is using a port. Thats Voice Mail.
Most larger organizations use Voice Mail to answer a direct
telephone number belonging to an individual (also called a Di-
rect Inward Dial number or DID). When that person it on the
telephone or away from his desk, his Voice Mail greeting an-
swers. Unfortunately, in many organizations, it is more common
to reach a voice mail announcement than a real person.
Physical Components of Voice Mail
and Automated Attendant
The system hardware may reside on a shelf in a PBX cabinet
or be housed in a separate proprietary cabinet or on a PC. It typi-
cally works in conjunction with a PBX or Centrex system.
The Automated Attendant and Voice Mail may also work in
conjunction with an Interactive System for Voice or Fax response.
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CHAPTER 5
Older Voice Mail systems physical makeup may resemble
that of the PBX. There are circuit boards, each having a certain
number of ports, usually two, four, or eight. These circuit boards
slide into slots on a shelf either inside the PBX cabinet or into a
separate cabinet. Newer Voice Mail systems are almost always
PC-based.
Proprietary software controls the system functions, which may
be accessed by a terminal or PC to make programming changes.
As with PBXs, no two systems work in exactly the same way, so
nothing that you learn about one system can be assumed to apply
to another. The differences are actually greater among voice mail
systems than PBXs.
Different Ways of Setting it Up
There are some systems that work only as an Automated At-
tendant, incorporating no Voice Mail capability or working in
conjunction with a separate Voice Mail system. Other systems
work only as Voice Mail although most Voice Mail systems may
be set up for Automated Attendant as well. All newer PC-based
systems incorporate both capabilities.
Historically, separate ports had to be designated for Voice
Mail vs. Automated Attendant. When this changed the ports were
Voice Mail History
The first Voice Mail system was installed in 1980
by VMX, Inc., started by Gordon Matthews, the devel-
oper of Voice Mail. VMX has since merged with Octel,
which was subsequently purchased by Lucent Technolo-
gies, now called Avaya. At first there was considerable
resistance to the idea of having the telephone answered
by a machine, but the barriers to acceptance have
dropped along with the prices.
From The Voice Mail Reference Manual & Buyers Guide
by Marc Robins
98 The Telecom Handbook
VOI CE MAI L & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT
called dynamic ports since they handled both functions. Todays
more flexible systems use available ports for either Automated
Attendant or Voice Mail functions, depending upon the require-
ments of the moment.
Some systems are set up as Voice Mail only, even though
they have the Automated Attendant capability. A PBX may en-
able callers to directly dial each individual extension (called DID
or direct inward dialing). If an extension is busy or not answered,
the caller hears the Voice Mail greeting of the person he called.
As mentioned earlier, most large organizations use direct inward
dialing and may reserve the Automated Attendant for callers to a
main telephone number or for evening hours when the live switch-
board attendant is not there.
Voice Mail systems can be connected to outside lines without
a PBX, but most work with one. Some of the major PBX manu-
facturers, such as Avaya, Siemens and Northern Telecom, sell
Voice Mail systems to work with their particular PBXs (their
marketing names are Audix/Intuity, Phonemail and Call Pilot/
Meridian Mail respectively). Although these can work with other
PBXs, they are designed to integrate with the manufacturers PBX
and often have the appearance of being part of the PBX. There are
other major players in the Voice Mail market including Captaris
(formerly AVT), ActiveVoice and some smaller companies.
The Voice Mail systems from these companies are often de-
signed in cooperation with PBX manufacturers and may integrate
with the PBXs as smoothly as the Voice Mail systems sold by the
PBX manufacturers themselves.
Most of the PC-based systems now have Windows NT operat-
ing systems and may have more capabilities at a lower cost, as
well as lower upgrade costs than the non-PC-based systems. Some
of the newer telephone systems, such as NBX by 3Com, deliver
Automated Attendant and Voice Mail at an even lower cost, since
they are packaged as an integral part of the telephone system
rather than separate systems. The important thing is to under-
stand which functions are possible and to identify those that are
important to your organization before you decide upon a system.
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CHAPTER 5
Look at the history of the product and find out whether it is con-
tinuing to be developed and improved upon by the manufacturer.
Whether the Voice Mail is made by the PBX manufacturer or
by a different company, it is still necessary to have a sufficient
number of connections between the Voice Mail system and the
PBX. These may be either analog or digital ports in the PBX,
requiring separate circuit boards.
You may also install Voice Mail if you use Centrex telephone
service where your telephone system switching and other func-
tions take place back at the central office of the local telephone
company. If you use Centrex service and choose to buy a Voice
Mail system housed in your office, you must connect it to the
telephone company central office with a circuit known as an SMDI
link (station message desk interface).
The local telephone companies also sell central office based
Voice Mail which may be rented for a monthly fee along with
each Centrex telephone number. In this case, the Voice Mail sys-
tem resides at the central office and not on your premises. The
telephone companies buy their central office based voice mail
systems from the same manufacturers as other users. You may
want to ask whose system they use and check out the manufac-
turer and model before subscribing to their voice mail service.
It may seem logical to have one telephone installation com-
pany responsible for both your PBX and your Voice Mail.
However, many companies elect to have a separate Voice Mail
integrator since they want to take advantage of some of the more
advanced features often not available with the Voice Mail sys-
tems sold by the PBX manufacturers. The integrator typically
has more experience and expertise in setting up systems with
special applications for your organization.
Automated Attendant
Some organizations use the Automated Attendant to answer
calls only if the live switchboard attendant is busy. Under this
scenario, you may want to install the Automated Attendant so
that it will only answer calls coming into the outside lines further
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VOI CE MAI L & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT
down in the hunting group. For example, the main telephone
number, when busy, rolls over to four more lines, all answered
by a live person. If the incoming calls reach the fifth line or be-
yond, and the switchboard operator does not answer within several
rings, then the Automated Attendant will answer.
Another way to use Automated Attendant is to ask callers
other than customers (such as employees and suppliers) to use a
different telephone number which is answered by an Automated
Attendant. This keeps the live switchboard attendants free to re-
spond to customers.
For example, a company may have ten incoming lines 883-
1000 through 883-1010. When someone dials 883-1000 and the
call comes in on one of the first five lines, a live switchboard
operator answers. Employees and suppliers can be instructed to
call 883-1006 which is the sixth line in the 10-line rollover group.
Callers to 883-1006 are answered by the Automated Attendant
and can direct their own calls, keeping the live switchboard op-
erator free for customer and new business calls.
Other organizations use the Automated Attendant to di-
rect all calls, sometimes calling it the poor mans DID (DID
= direct inward dial). All callers dial the main telephone num-
ber, then, when answered by the Automated Attendant, dial
the extension number of the called person. This enables ev-
eryone to be reached directly, without a live attendant
intervening and costs less than giving each employee his own
separate telephone number.
Voice Mail System Components
Voice Mail system components:
f 1. A CPU (central processing unit), which is the brain of the
system and provides the processing power. Many Voice
Mail systems are housed on robust server type PCs.
f 2. As with a PBX, the Voice Mail system uses software to
provide the intelligence controlling the system features,
including the ability to integrate with the PBX.
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CHAPTER 5
f 3. The system includes circuit boards called codecs which
convert the spoken word into a digital format for storage
and then back to an analog voice for retrieval of the mes-
sage. The rate of speed at which this conversion takes place
is dependent upon the sampling techniques used by the
manufacturer to convert the analog signal to a digital form.
f 4. Hard drives provide the storage for the Voice Mail mes-
sages and are also the repository for the announcements
and other recordings inherent in the system. PC-based
Voice Mail systems or newer telephone systems with
Voice Mail included tend to provide more hours of stor-
age at a lower cost. Some PBX manufacturers older Voice
Mail systems offer only 10 hours with a 6-port Voice Mail
system, while a PC-based system usually provides 80 to
120 hours as standard. Most circuit boards used in Voice
Mail systems today are either proprietary or provided by
a company called Dialogic. Typical circuit boards may
have 4, 12, 16 or 24 ports.
The voice mailbox itself is an electronic location in the sys-
tem on which messages are held for each system user. The mailbox
owner calls in and retrieves messages using a password entered
from a touch-tone telephone. He can listen to messages, save
them, erase them or forward them to another persons mailbox,
with his own message attached.
Voice Mail systems offer a variety of functions both for call-
ers leaving messages and for mailbox owners. They all perform
the basic operations of recording messages, receiving messages
and redirecting messages. Additional capabilities vary from one
system manufacturer to another.
Most Automated Attendants in Voice Mail systems use menus
which are treed, meaning that you select a feature from an open-
ing menu and are then branched to another menu, etc. Different
systems use different keys on the touch-tone pad to access dif-
ferent features (or, if using voice recognition, different words or
numbers are spoken).
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VOI CE MAI L & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT
Voice Mail Capabilities for the Caller
Some desirable Voice Mail system features include the following:
f The ability for the caller to listen to a message hes just left,
add to it, discard and re-record its or flag it as an urgent or
private message.
f The ability for the caller to flag his message for future
delivery.
f The ability for the caller to escape to the switchboard atten-
dant or another live person at any time by pressing 0.
f The ability for a caller to leave a Voice Mailbox and get
into another one at any time by dialing the new extension
number.
f The capability to leave a single message, but have it sent to a
group of pre-selected Voice Mailboxes known as a distribu-
tion group. This may also be called a broadcast function.
f The ability for the Voice Mailbox user to dial in to retrieve
not only voice messages, but faxes as well.
f The ability to dial out, activating the paging beeper of the
mailbox user.
f The ability to dial out for the purpose of sending the caller to
a customer service person located at another location. May
be a selection on the Automated Attendant menu.
f The capability to access a company directory if the caller
does not know the extension of the person he is calling when
encountering an Automated Attendant.
f The capability for the mailbox user to slow down or speed up
a message being reviewed.
f The capability to understand the spoken word (called voice
recognition) so that the Automated Attendant can direct calls
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using spoken directions. For example: To reach our sales
department press 1 or say Yes now.
Voice Mail System Capabilities for the
Mailbox Owner
These include capability for the voice mailbox owner:
f To reply to messages from other users of the Voice Mail sys-
tem automatically.
f To forward a message to another mailbox, appending your
own comments at the end.
f To save messages for future reference.
f To delete messages.
f To control message playback by rewinding, backing up in-
crementally, advancing incrementally, pausing, and/or
changing the speed or volume.
f To skip over messages.
f To retrieve deleted messages before hanging up.
The mailbox owner may also have the capability to:
f Change passwords and personalize greetings.
f Toggle among multiple greetings (vacation, on the telephone,
out of the office, etc.).
f Verify delivery of messages to other mailboxes on the same
system.
f Check the status of the mailbox (full, empty, etc.).
f Set up group distribution lists for broadcasting a message to
a preselected group of mailboxes.
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VOI CE MAI L & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT
Other Voice Mail Features
f Message waiting indication. A Voice Mail system working
in conjunction with a PBX can activate a message waiting
lamp or indicator on the telephone of the mailbox owner. If
there is no capability for this, the Voice Mail may periodi-
cally ring the telephone to indicate a waiting message or
provide a distinctive stutter dial tone, heard when the tele-
phone is next used. Some Voice Mail systems can call a beeper
number. (You would be beeped to indicate that there is a
message in your Voice Mailbox.)
f Message delivery options. This enables the mailbox owner
to have his messages follow him around. It is possible to pro-
gram the system to forward messages to different telephone
numbers at different times of the day.
f Guest mailboxes. You may elect to have individuals outside
of your company (guests) have a mailbox in your Voice Mail
system (e.g., consultants, subcontractors, attorneys, accoun-
tants). The guests can send messages to mailbox owners on
the system and receive messages from them. If you plan to
use guest mailboxes, make this clear when you are setting up
the system. You may need to assign corresponding extension
numbers from the PBX.
Voice Mail Administration
Another consideration with a Voice Mail system is ease of
administration. In most instances, there is a separate PC-based
administration terminal which may sit next to the PBX terminal.
Management and administrative functions include:
f Configuring the system for the type of telephone system con-
nections required.
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f Setting up specific system functions and applications.
f Setting up mailbox parameters.
f Enabling system features.
f Updating and changing passwords, mailbox numbers and
voice prompts.
f Tracking system usage.
PC-based Voice Mail systems using a Microsoft NT or Win-
dows 2000 platform make administration easier if you already
have someone who is trained to administer a Local Area Net-
work (computer network). Telephone systems that integrate Voice
Mail within the system have common administration for the tele-
phone system and Voice Mail functions
The Voice Mail administration (like the administration of some
telephone systems) can be accessed from any computer on
the network.
Administrators can access system from a remote location to
make changes and run reports.
Administration and management features available on most
systems include:
f Connecting individual ports to DID or combination trunks,
tie lines or PBX extensions.
f Setting up company, night and other greetings for the recorded
announcements that callers hear.
f Setting up the number of digits in the mailbox numbers.
f Setting up the level of security (passwords, pass codes, etc.).
f Setting up what is called the class of service for each mail-
box. This is the length and number of messages which can
be left before the mailbox is full. Note: Newer systems
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VOI CE MAI L & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT
dynamically allocate the hours of storage, eliminating the
embarrassment of a mailbox full announcement.
f Generating statistical reports on such information as:
Use of mailboxes.
Use of the system memory.
Volume of telephone traffic through the system.
Ports in use at different times of day.
Voice Mail System Implementation and
Integration with the PBX
One of the most important issues relating to the success of a
Voice Mail system implementation is how well it integrates with
the PBX.
Order/Inventory System
This is a system that automates the process of creating
and managing work orders for telecommunications equipment
and services. It can reduce the labor associated with creating
and managing work orders and, as a by-product, automati-
cally create a detailed inventory of all telecommunications
system components. This also interacts with the company di-
rectory which is updated automatically as moves and changes
are made in the system.
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Cost Accounting/Allocation/Chargeback
This is usually the first application that is implemented. Cost
allocation has the objective of providing cost center management
with meaningful information about the telecommunications ex-
penses, facilitating the exercise of local management prerogatives
to control expenses.
This is accomplished by (1) providing detailed reports to up-
per management, (2) summarizing telecommunication costs for
all levels of management and (3) providing journal entries or
financial summary information as input to existing corporate fi-
nancial control systems, such as the general ledger. This permits
a review of these expenses in conjunction with normal planning
and budgeting activities.
Directory Systems
Directory systems objective is maintaining and making avail-
able accurate telephone and e-mail directory information. They
support three directory functions: directory assistance, directory
publishing and directory updating. The assistance and publish-
ing functions are generally straightforward. The most complex
part is the updating and maintenance activity. Information for
the directory comes not only from telecommunications, but also
from the Human Resources and Information Technology Depart-
ments.
Trouble Reporting
This application tracks outages, the response time to those
outages and a variety of pertinent statistical data which can prove
valuable in terms of evaluating how well your telecommunica-
tions vendors are doing.
Financial Applications
The financial alternatives offered by the various telecommu-
nications suppliers have created a need for sophisticated financial
management tools. Applications such as financial analyses that
provide the capability to look at disparate proposals, lease versus
lease/purchase and the returns on investment are a necessity, par-
ticularly for the large organization.
In addition, basic functions such as accounts payable and bill
reconciliation add support to the telecommunications manage-
ment responsibilities.
Cable Inventory
Cable records can quickly become outdated. Failure to keep
track of cables and pairs can result in increased expenses in terms
of how long it takes technicians to complete work installing new
telephones or other telecommunications devices.
The key to a successful computer-based telecommunications
management system is the integration of each of its parts so that
updating is automatic. For example, a directory system requires
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information that relates telephone numbers to organizational
entities while a usage cost accounting system needs the same
information in order to produce its reports. If this information is
independently updated, data inevitably do not agree and there
are inconsistencies between directories and cost accounting.
Communications Servers
As part of the trend towards convergence, there is a develop-
ing group of telephone systems, from different manufacturers,
sometimes called communications servers, suggesting that voice
communications is becoming simply another function of the com-
puter network.
As with any developing technology, different systems are be-
ing put together in different ways. Most of the communications
servers have separate desktop telephones (most still proprietary
and can only be used with one system). Some provide the tele-
phone capabilities (transfer, conference, etc.) right on the
computer screen, using the computer mouse to control telephone
functions. There has yet to be a wide acceptance of using the
computer to totally replace the conventional telephone, except in
the large incoming call center.
Larger versions of communications servers are being deployed
by telecommunications service providers to deliver advanced ca-
pabilities to their customers.
Some communications servers send the voice over the same
pair of wires as the data communications and may use IP or some
other communications protocol to accomplish this.
Softswitch Networks
According to the International Softswitch Consortium a
softswitch is a software-based entity that provides telephone call
control functionality.
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CONVERGENCE OF VOI CE & DATA
Softswitches support different protocols (sets of rules for
communicating) including MGCP, H.248, SIP, H.323 along
with CAS; SS7 ISUP, TCAP and INAP; ISDN; and TCP/IP.
(For more detail on these go to www.softswitch.org or check
Newtons Telecom Dictionary).
Signaling Gateway
The signaling gateway provides the gateway for signaling
between a VoIP network and the PSTN, whether SS7/TDM or
ATM based. It encapsulates and transports PSTN signaling pro-
tocols over IP.
Applications Server
The applications server is the application execution entity.
Its primary role is to provide the service logic and execution for
one or more applications and/or services.
The applications server provides enhanced service logic for
applications such as voice mail, a conference bridge or a pre-
paid calling card service. Other applications include delivering
services and information to an end user. It can access data net-
works such as the Internet to gain access to information systems
to provide services to the user.
The Telecom Handbook 149
CHAPTER 7
For example in a voice mail application, the applications
server instructs a media server to play the ring that the caller
hears, prompts the caller to enter the digits (touchtone) and re-
port the collected digits back to the applications server. The
applications server verifies the passcode and if the caller is a
user, it determines whether there are messages.
A Feature Server is a limited Applications Server. It uses a
proprietary API (applications programming interface) while the
Applications Server uses a standard protocol, SIP.
Media Server
A media server offers its resources to applications servers,
feature servers and media gateway controllers. Its primary role is
to operate as a server that handles requests from the applications
server or the media gateway controller for performing media pro-
cessing on packetized media streams. It supports multiple
concurrent capabilities including:
f Digit detection and collection
f Streaming of tones and announcements
f Algorithmic tone generation
f Recording of multimedia streams
f Speech recognition
f Speech generation from text
f Conference bridging
f Fax processing
f Transcoding
f Voice activity detection and loudness reporting
f Scripted combinations of the above
You may have a single media server supporting multiple ap-
plications servers, with applications such as voice mail, network
announcements (the number you have called is not in service at
this time ) and pre-paid calling cards.
150 The Telecom Handbook
CONVERGENCE OF VOI CE & DATA
A gateway takes the signal and digitizes it (if it is not already
in a digital form); potentially compresses it, depending on the
codec; packetizes it for transmission; and routes the packet to the
destination. Note that all of these steps take time. This added
time is called latency. Latency is one of the most important fac-
tors contributing to the perceived quality of the voice transmission.
Low latency results in good quality, while long latency results in
poor quality.
The gateway reverses the operation for packets coming
from the packet network ending up on the Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN). Both operations (coming and
going) take place simultaneously at each end-point, allowing
a full two-way conversation.
A transcoder takes a media stream in one codec (stands
for coder/decoder) and converts it to another. Media gateways
take voice signals from their analog form into digital signals
and vice-versa.
A softswitch network may connect to the existing public
switched telephone network (PSTN) in three different ways:
f 1. Physical media-path connections, through the circuits
that connect media gateways to circuit switches.
f 2. Physical signaling-path connections, through the cir-
cuits that connect signaling gateways to the SS7.
f 3. Logically, the softswitch may access network elements
in the PSTN for routing, billing, emergency services
and other value added services as needed by using the
physical SS7 connection to exchange messages with
other SS7-connected network elements.
The early softswitch applications were Internet offload (see
box) and toll bypass (where long distance voice traffic is trans-
ported as packets). More recent applications replicate the
functions of todays PBXs and the PSTN to which users are
The Telecom Handbook 151
CHAPTER 7
already accustomed. Even newer applications that will be
adopted depend upon the marketplace, but may include things
such as web-based collaboration and unified messaging.
Media Gateway Control Protocol
In November, 1998 Level 3 Communications, Inc.
and Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies) announced
the merger of their respective technical specifications
for a new protocol designed to bridge between the con-
ventional circuit-switched PSTN (Public Switched
Telephone Network) and the emerging IP (Internet
Protocol) packet switched networks. The merged speci-
fication, Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP)
represents a combination of the Internet Protocol De-
vice Control (IPDC) specification developed by a
consortium formed by Level 3 and made up of leading
communications hardware and software companies,
and the Simple Gateway Control Protocol (SGCP) de-
veloped by Bellcore and Cisco Systems. MGCP is a
draft specification (not a standard accepted by IETF)
for a physically decomposed gateway, i.e. a protocol
converter, the components of which may be distrib-
uted across multiple physically distinct devices. MGCP
enables external control and management of data com-
munications equipment operating at the edge of
emerging multi-service packet networks known as
media gateways by software programs known as
call agents or media gateway controllers. Examples of
media gateway controllers include voice over IP gate-
ways, voice over ATM (asynchronous transfer mode)
gateways, modem banks, cable modems and set top
boxes, soft PBXs and circuit cross-connects.
Compliments Newtons Telecom Dictionary
152 The Telecom Handbook
CONVERGENCE OF VOI CE & DATA
Feature Activation
Most business telephone systems provide over 100 fea-
tures to improve call handling. The majority of users never
use more than 4 of them! The use of computer-based applica-
tions that can be set to the users preferences unlocks the
capabilities built into the telephone system. These applica-
tions allow simple, screen-based control of features that are
otherwise cumbersome to access.
Using a mouse to point and click on your computer screen,
you can activate and deactivate features in the telephone system.
For example, a Personal Organizer application could set up call
forwarding for a user who is away from the office and turn off
that call forwarding when the user returns.
In another example, a Computer Telephony application could
modify call screening by a secretary on behalf of a group. The
screening would be turned off at the end of the day and calls
would be redirected to an answering service.
Other Computer Telephony Applications
IP Telephony
IP Telephony is the collective set of applications providing
PBX type services in an IP telephony environment. This can mani-
fest itself in three ways:
f a. The PBX as a piece of Customer Premise Equipment
the telephones are connected through the same network
(using the same pair of wires) as the computers whether
The Telecom Handbook 169
CHAPTER 7
it is a local area network or wide area network connect-
ing multiple sites. Administration of the telephones
(making program changes, running reports on usage, etc.)
can be done through any computer on the network (pro-
vided it is authorized to do so).
f b. IP Centrex pairs a new concept using an old term. Tele-
phone service is provided using IP from an applications
server not located on the users premises. The applica-
tions server can be located anywhere and support the
connection of multiple locations as if all were on the same
premise. This concept is also known as an ASP (Applica-
tion Service Provider).
IP Centrex applications may emulate traditional ca-
pabilities like do not disturb (no callers can reach you)
and voice mail.
For example, a company called PingTone describes
this type of service that they offer (www.pingtone.com):
The PingTone solution is based upon a comprehen-
sive managed service concept whereby IP (Internet
protocol) is provisioned to the desktop on a converged
platform. The solution is comprised of network services
such as local service, long distance, and Internet connec-
tivity, a wide array of hosted PBX functions, unified
messaging, and productivity-enhancing tools residing on
the desktop through a voice client application which in-
tegrates IP phone and PC functionality.
In addition, one can buy or download software-only
IP telephones (soft-phones) from companies such as
VocalTech, Nortel, Ubiquity, Microsoft and SIPComm.
These applications turn a PC into a telephone. In the case
of VocalTech, they combine their software telephone with
a service that not only lets you call other people with
softphones, but through their network allows you to call
virtually anywhere in the world.
170 The Telecom Handbook
CONVERGENCE OF VOI CE & DATA
This chapter captures some of the history of the convergence
of voice and data and the current environment, which continues
to develop. To keep up to date we suggest the following websites:
f www.snowshore.com
f www.softswitch.org
f www.commweb.com
The Telecom Handbook 171
CHAPTER 7
Interactive Voice Response Systems
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) refers to the use of a touch-
tone telephone to request information from a computer database.
The touch-tone signals (sounds) are converted to digital signals
understood by the computer. In turn, the digital signals coming
back from the computer are converted into a voice that speaks
the requested information. The idea is to eliminate the need for a
live person to give out information. A well-designed IVR en-
ables you to reach a live person if you need one.
For example, most banks now offer you the capability to dial
into a telephone number and enter your account number and a
password from your touch-tone telephone. This enables you to
obtain information such as your account balance and the checks
that have cleared. You may also instruct the computer to transfer
funds from one account to another.
Another example of IVR is encountered when you call to
request railroad train schedule information. The automated sys-
tem, using Interactive Voice Response will prompt you with
instructions such as the following: If youre traveling today, press
1; for schedule information tomorrow, press 2; if youre leaving
from Grand Central Station, press 1; if youre going to Grand
Central Station, press 2; enter the first four letters of the station
youre leaving from, using the buttons on your touch-tone tele-
phone; enter the time of day you wish to leave, followed by AM
or PM. Often you will be instructed to Press 1 if this is correct,
after the system has repeated your selections back to you. The
system will then speak to you, providing the information you
have requested. IVR is also widely used in Call Centers in con-
junction with an Automatic Call Distributor.
Another way to define IVR is by its basic purpose, to use the
telephone as an interface with a computer to receive or input
data. Although not all IVR applications manipulate data, most
receive and disseminate it.
172 The Telecom Handbook
I NTERACTI VE VOI CE RESPONSE
Some IVR systems enable the caller to speak responses to
the IVR questions, rather than using touch-tone signals. This is
possible due to what is called speech recognition. The system
might instruct the caller to press 1 or say sales (for the sales
department). The responses are usually simple one-word phrases.
The term IVR sometimes refers to the application, but also
refers to the system itself, which is usually PC-or server-based.
The system is also sometimes called a VRU (Voice Response Unit),
particularly the part that provides the communications between
the touch-tone signals and the computer. The most popular PC
operating systems for IVR are Windows 2000 and Windows NT.
The IVR components reside on circuit boards installed in-
side a PC, using the PC processing and information storage
capabilities. Some IVRs are separately built systems with a pro-
prietary cabinet including circuit boards, processing capability
and information storage space.
The trend is toward standardized hardware, giving the IVRs
more open architecture and lowering the cost.
The IVR may work in conjunction with a telephone system,
perhaps using an Automated Attendant, or callers may dial di-
rectly into the IVR on outside telephone lines. The IVR is typically
interfaced with a telephone system, enabling the IVR users to
escape to a live operator, if necessary, by pressing 0.
How The IVR Provides Information
A telephone call comes through the PBX and reaches an an-
nouncement asking the caller to enter or speak his five-digit
account code. Or, the call may deliver an ANI or Caller ID, iden-
tifying the caller. The PBX then repeats the information to the
IVR and keeps the caller connected to the record located in the
computer database. The caller then hears responses relating to his
account through the IVR. If the caller wants to reach a live per-
son, the PBX-to-host capability keeps the computer record attached
to the call. The caller and the record arrive at the workstation of
The Telecom Handbook 173
CHAPTER 7
the customer service representative simultaneously. The call will
be on the telephone and the record will be on the screen of a ter-
minal or PC.
There are two possible locations for data storage in an IVR
application. One is on the IVR itself, as a local database. The
other is on a separate host machine, known as a host database
that may be a PC, a mainframe computer (still used by many
banks) or, more likely, a server on the LAN. Each of these meth-
ods has advantages and disadvantages.
The simplest method of accessing data for an IVR applica-
tion involves using data that is resident on the IVR machine. The
files containing the data are stored on the hard drive of the IVR.
Any information that the caller wants to access is already on the
hard drive. Information input by the caller is then stored on the
hard drive. The information may be imported from another ma-
chine or exported to another machine for the purpose of updating
Client/Server Model
Linking computers together is best defined by the
model called client/server. The client is the screen that
you are looking at or the terminal where you are receiv-
ing the information (such as your telephone). The server
is the place from which the information you are viewing
or hearing is coming.
The term host is sometimes used to refer to a main-
frame computer. The context in which we are using it here
is to refer to the computer where the information for the
IVR application resides. Another term might be IVR server.
The expression PBX-to-host refers to the capabilities
of a PBX to interface with a computer. IVRs are more
likely to use a LAN (Local Area Network) and often oc-
cupy a dedicated server on the LAN.
174 The Telecom Handbook
I NTERACTI VE VOI CE RESPONSE
the local database, but all is resident on the IVR hard drive dur-
ing the session. The updating may be done via the LAN or using
a diskette. It can be done as needed, either real-time (as informa-
tion is changing), hourly, daily, etc.
There are several ways to make this local database informa-
tion available to the IVR applications.
f Local database access: Some IVR packages have built-in
database functions. Applications can access ASCII files
(called comma delimited) using built-in commands. This
allows the person setting up the IVR to create a file on
virtually any computer system. This may be information
such as a customer file, a parts file or an area code table. It
is imported into the IVR. The file can then be accessed by
the IVR and information can be read out or input to this
file. The same ASCII files can be exported at a later date
and used for information transfer or the generation of re-
ports. (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information
Interchange). Software programmers are writing open IVR
systems designed to interface with specific database pro-
grams. The use of ASCII for this purpose has diminished
as a new interface called DDE has been developed. Any
database that is DDE compliant can communicate with
most IVRs. (DDE stands for Dynamic Data Exchange.)
f On-Board database: Some IVRs have the ability to exchange
information with other programs that are running on the same
server. If this is the case, then the IVR must be running on an
operating system capable of running multiple applications
simultaneously, such as Windows 2000, Windows NT or
UNIX. Some IVRs can run a local database manager that
allows the users of the IVR access to local relational data-
bases for more complex applications.
f On-Board spreadsheet: In the same way that some IVRs
can exchange information with other database programs run-
ning on the same machine, they may also be able to exchange
The Telecom Handbook 175
CHAPTER 7
information with spreadsheet programs on the machine. The
spreadsheets allow data access and manipulation.
Audio Menus
The easiest way to support small Fax Libraries is through the
use of an Audio Menu system. This system prompts the caller
through a list of choices and allows the caller to select one of the
documents based upon an audio description.
A typical call scenario would go as follows:
f Caller dials the telephone number.
Good afternoon. Thank you for calling CMP Books.
If you know the extension of the party you are calling,
you may dial it now. For a catalog of our telecommu-
nications and computer telephony books, press 7.
f Caller presses 7.
For a list of books on telephone systems, press 1.
For books on transmission and cabling, press 2. For
IP telephony books, press 3.
f Caller presses 1.
For books on small systems, press 1. For books on large
systems over 200 lines, press 2. All other requests, press
0 now and an operator will be with you shortly.
f Caller presses 1.
Please enter the telephone number of your fax ma-
chine, followed by a pound sign.
190 The Telecom Handbook
FAX SERVERS
f Caller enters the telephone number of the fax machine
where he wishes to have the fax sent.
To identify your fax, enter your extension number or
telephone number, followed by a pound sign.
f Caller enters the telephone number of the fax machine
where she wishes to have the fax sent, followed by a
pound sign.
The number you entered was [System repeats the
entered telephone number]. If this is correct, press 1.
Otherwise, press 9.
f Caller presses 1.
Your fax will be delivered shortly.
Fax-on-Demand transmits the requested fax containing the
product information to the fax machine at the entered tele-
phone number. The document will have a cover sheet that
identifies the recipient of the fax as the person with the exten-
sion number or telephone number that the caller enters when
requesting the fax.
The use of Audio Menus has advantages and disadvantages:
f ff ff ADVANTAGE:
Simple for first-time callers to use. Callers have no need
to know a documents number. Following the audio menus
is straightforward.
f ff ff DISADVANTAGES:
Not suited for a large selection of documents. With a
large number of documents, this method will be compli-
cated for end-users. Fax Libraries that contain more than
10 to 15 documents are likely to be awkward to support
when using audio menus. Too many choices in a menu,
The Telecom Handbook 191
CHAPTER 9
or menus nested deeper than three levels, may confuse
and irritate callers.
Heavy Maintenance. If the Fax Library is changed of-
ten, this method requires a large amount of maintenance.
New audio greetings and call processor definitions need
to be created each time changes are made.
Document Numbers
The most common way to support a Fax Library is through
the use of document numbers. Using this method, the Fax-on-
Demand system prompts the caller to enter the index number of
the document he wishes to receive.
The typical call scenario is as follows:
f Caller picks up the telephone and dials the Fax Server
access number.
Thank you for calling DIgby 4 Group. If you know
the extension of the person you are calling, you may
dial it now. For tips on managing your telephone sys-
tems and services, access our Fax Library by press-
ing 7.
f Caller presses 7.
If you are a first-time user of our Fax Library, press
1 to have an index of available material faxed to you.
If you know the document number you wish to receive,
you may enter it now.
f Caller presses 1.
Please make your selection from the following
documents: For Dollar Saving Tips, select 11; For
Tips on Purchasing a New Telephone System, se-
lect 12; For Tips on Training Your Switchboard
192 The Telecom Handbook
FAX SERVERS
Operators, select 14; For Tips on Purchasing Local
and Long Distance Service, select 15.; For Tips on
Maintenance Agreement Negotiation, select 16; For
Telephone Bill Management Tips, select 17.
f Caller presses 16, the index number of the document re-
quested.
Please enter the telephone number of your fax ma-
chine, followed by a pound sign.
f Caller enters the telephone number of the fax machine
where they wish to have the fax sent, followed by a
pound sign.
The number you entered was [System repeats the
entered telephone number]. If this is correct, press 1.
Otherwise, press 9.
f Caller presses 1.
To identify your fax, enter your telephone number,
followed by a pound sign.
f Caller enters their extension number or telephone num-
ber, followed by a pound sign.
The number you entered was [System repeats the
extension number]. If this is correct, press 1. Other-
wise, press 9.
f Caller presses 1.
Your tips will be faxed to you shortly. Thank you.
Fax-on-Demand transmits the requested document to the
fax machine at the entered telephone number. The document
will have a cover sheet that identifies the recipient of the fax
as the person with the telephone number that the caller enters
when requesting the fax.
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CHAPTER 9
If the caller did not know the number of the document
he wanted, he would press 1 after the first set of prompts. The
system would ask for a fax telephone number and then fax him
an index of available documents.
Library Maintenance
The maintenance of the Fax Library is straightforward. It is
done from the Fax Administration screen of the Fax-on-Demand
system. The following functions are supported:
f Receive a document
f Send a document
f Copy a document
f View a document
f Fax Reports
Receive a document
Adding a new document to the library is a simple function.
The system administrator enters the Fax Maintenance screen and
selects Send or Receive a Document. After specifying which fax
port will receive the document and the name of the document,
the administrator goes to a fax machine and calls the Fax-on-
Demand fax port. The fax port answers and receives the document.
The document is now available for use by the Fax-on-Demand
system. If the fax server is on a LAN, the documents can be up-
dated from another computer on the LAN.
196 The Telecom Handbook
FAX SERVERS
Send a document
Any document in the system can be manually sent from the
Send or Receive a Document screen. The telephone number of
the destination fax machine, the recipients name, the name of
the document, and the time and date you wish the document sent
are entered from the Send a Document screen.
Copy a document
Sometimes a document is received under a name that simpli-
fies the administration of the Fax-on-Demand application. A price
list might be received as prclist.fax. In order to use this docu-
ment in an application that uses document index numbers, it is
necessary to rename it with a name containing only numbers.
The copy feature is also used to trim off the fax header for docu-
ments faxed into the library. This is easily done from the Fax
Document Management screen.
View a document
Documents stored in the Fax Library may be viewed on the
system administrators screen. The resolution may not be such
that all documents can be easily read, but the documents can at
least be identified in this manner.
Fax Reports
The Fax-on-Demand software provides management infor-
mation such as:
f Fax Call Log A log of all incoming and outgoing calls made
on the fax ports.
f Fax Error Log A log of all errors and system start-ups in-
volving the fax server.
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CHAPTER 9
Document Storage
Fax documents are stored as digital files on the hard drive of
the fax server.
Fax documents can vary in file size from 50k bytes to 110k
bytes per page. As a rule of thumb, the average fax document is
75k bytes. Ten megabytes of drive space holds roughly one hour
of voice storage. Ten megabytes of drive space holds roughly
120 pages of fax storage. A good rule of thumb for calculating
storage requirements is: Each hour of storage holds 120 pages of
fax. Storage methods are continually being improved upon to be
more efficient.
Methods of Creating and Importing Documents
Faxing Documents
The simplest way to send documents into the Fax Library
is to fax them in from a fax machine. The disadvantage of this
method is a reduction in image quality. Each time a document
is faxed, the image quality deteriorates. Horizontal and verti-
cal lines start to look rough (called jagging) and fine detail
starts to be lost. Most documents can be faxed into Fax-on-
Demand for the initial setup without a serious amount of image
deterioration. It is important to start that process with a clean,
sharp original.
Word Processing
Fax-on-Demand can also import documents from most word
processors. Any word processor that can export a document in
the ASCII text mode (Word, WordPerfect, etc.) can be used to
generate documents for a Fax-on-Demand application. These
documents are imported into the fax library by transferring them
over the LAN to the fax server.
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FAX SERVERS
PC Fax Board
The most efficient, professional way to create a Fax Library
is to use a PC fax board. These are commercially available boards
that fit into a slot inside a personal computer and allow that com-
puter to emulate certain fax functions.
Most PC fax cards can:
f Receive a fax.
f Send a fax.
f Convert received faxes into graphic files (which can be
edited and cleaned).
f Convert special files (Postscript, etc.) into faxes.
These boards can be used in a PC running a desktop publish-
ing system to create and load professional quality documents into
a Fax-on-Demand application.
Fax-on-Demand and Fax Broadcast Applications
Certain departments and functions that are found in al-
most every business can benefit from the Fax-on-Demand
applications including:
Human Resources
or Personnel:
Job postings
Payroll information
Holiday schedules
Benefits explanations
Job descriptions
Hiring application forms
Company procedures
Accounting, Payroll
and Finance:
Expense forms
Payroll forms
Capital investment or asset
acquisition forms
Outside Sales:
Product brochures
Information sheets
The Telecom Handbook 199
CHAPTER 9
Outside Sales (continued) :
Order forms
Price sheets
Contact documents
Configuration guides
Inside Sales or Order Desk:
Product brochures
Specification sheets
Price sheets
Order forms
Telemarketing:
Product brochures
Specification sheets
Company information
sheets
Technical Support:
Technical tips
Product information
Programming information
or forms
Technical Support (continued):
Wiring diagrams
Warehouse or Logistics:
Product sheets
Order forms
Marketing or Support:
Product brochures
Program information
Price sheets
Training:
Class schedules
Class descriptions
Class prerequisites
Class locations
Field Technical Staff:
Technical tips
Programming forms
Service forms
Training documents
Fax-on-Demand Cost Justifications
There are as many justifications for the Fax-on-Demand as there
are applications. Each user will place a slightly different value
on it depending on the specific business and applications. Below
are a few of the common justifications for Fax-on-Demand.
200 The Telecom Handbook
FAX SERVERS
Increased Service and Value to the Company
Using Fax-on-Demand:
24 hour access to information
Ease of access to information
Remote access to information
Increased Efficiency of Employees:
24 hour access to information
Ease of access to information
Remote access to information
Administration Time Saved:
Employee time on the phone
Employee time at the fax machine
Waiting for an available fax machine
Searching for printed documents
Time spent mailing out documents and bulletins
Time spent explaining technical documents over
the telephone
Reduced Mailing or Express Service Charges:
Money spent on sending out price sheets, etc.
Money spent on sending out brochures or fact sheets
Money spent on sending out sales promotional
literature
Money spent on sending out technical documents
Simplified Document Administration:
Price lists
Technical information
Business forms
The Telecom Handbook 201
CHAPTER 9
Configuring Fax-on-Demand
The configuration of Fax-on-Demand can be broken into
three areas:
f Hard Drive Requirements
f Fax-on-Demand Hardware Requirements
f Telephone System Requirements
Each of these areas has its own set of configuration re-
quirements.
Hardware Requirements
The Fax-on-Demand application uses fax boards for the fax
server. Each fax card requires a slot.
2
0
9
C
H
A
P
T
E
R
1
0
Combination Trunks
Figure 10.1
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
Combination Trunks Used for
Both Incoming and Outgoing Calls
EXT EXT EXT EXT EXT. 241 . 241 . 241 . 241 . 241
Incoming Call Goes to Switchboard.
Switchboard Attendant Then
Sends Caller to Requested
Telephone Extension.
Dial 9 to Select a Combination
Trunk to Place an Outgoing Call
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
210 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
a trunk will collide with someone who has just dialed 9, select-
ing the same trunk to place an outgoing call. The callers will be
able to speak to each other, although that it not what they in-
tended! This type of collision is called glare. It will not happen
on a ground start trunk.
Most groups of combination trunks have a separate seven-
digit telephone number associated with each trunk (seven digits
plus 3 digit area code). If the central office runs out of telephone
numbers, it may provide coded trunks. These trunks have no as-
sociated telephone number and are reached only by dialing the
main number and then rolling over if the main number is busy.
A combination trunk is a switched circuit. It is one type of
dial tone line.
2
1
1
C
H
A
P
T
E
R
1
0
Direct Inward Dial Trunks (DID)
Figure 10.2
212-883-1242 212-883-1242 212-883-1242 212-883-1242 212-883-1242
(1242 is the DID Extension
Number)
PBX Directs Incoming Call
to the DID Extension Number
(DID Last 3 or 4
Digits Sent to PBX
by
Local Telephone
Co.)
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
DID Trunks
Combination Trunks Used for
Outgoing Calls Only.
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
212 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
the PBX, the last 3 or 4 digits (important to specify which when
ordering sometimes known as 3-digit outpulsing or 4-digit
outpulsing) are repeated to the PBX. This instructs the PBX as to
which telephone the call is to be directed.
DID trunks in the U.S. are wink start trunks. The wink is a
signal that the PBX sends to the central office to let it know that
the PBX is ready to receive the call and the digits dialed. In Eu-
rope, DID trunks are immediate start, meaning that there is no
wink and the digits are sent immediately.
Once a call has reached the DID extension, the PBX treats it
just like any other extension. When selecting a DID extension on
the telephone instrument and dialing 9, you are not dialing out
on a DID trunk. You are dialing out on one of the combination
trunks with which your system is also equipped. DID trunks are
for incoming calls only.
A DID trunk is a switched circuit.
If DID trunks are delivered on a PRI type of T-1circuit they
may also be used for outgoing calls. See more on this below un-
der PRI T-1s.
The delivery of the DID digits to the PBX can be analog,
where the actual digits are sent using audible touchtone signals
or digital, where the digits are delivered using combinations of
1s and Os to represent the dialed digits in binary code.
Tie Lines
A tie line is a point-to-point line between two PBXs. You
may occasionally hear the term dial repeating tie line or E&M
tie line (stands for Earth & Magneto, Ear & Mouth or Emigrate
& Migrate, depending on who you ask), which is the same thing
as dial repeating. The idea behind a tie line is that you can dial
the extension of someone on a PBX at a distant location without
placing an outside call through the public network and without
talking to the switchboard attendant at the distant PBX. A tie line
may be accessed by dialing one or two digits into your PBX; for
example dial 8. Once you dial 8, you will hear dial tone (also
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Figure 10.3
ST. LOUIS
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
Tie Line
Any Telephone Can Reach
Extension 5812 in
St. Louis Over the Tie Line by
Dialing 5812 (or Any Tele-
phone Extension on the St.
Louis PBX)
EXT EXT EXT EXT EXT. 7421 . 7421 . 7421 . 7421 . 7421
Any Telephone in the NYC
Office Can Place a Local Call
in St. Louis Using the Tie Line
EXT EXT EXT EXT EXT. 7422 . 7422 . 7422 . 7422 . 7422
NEW YORK
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
Tie Line
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
(St. Louis Local Call)
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EXT EXT EXT EXT EXT. 5812 . 5812 . 5812 . 5812 . 5812
Can Dial Ext. 7421
in New York
Over the Tie Line
214 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
called drawing dial tone) from the distant PBX, you may then
dial any extension within that PBX. If the distant system is pro-
grammed to allow it, you may also be able to dial 9 instead of
dialing an extension number. This will enable you to place an
outgoing call through the distant PBX. For example, if the tie
line connects Seattle to Los Angeles, the person in Seattle may
dial through the Los Angeles PBX using the tie line and be charged
only for a local call in L.A. Tie lines usually connect separate
offices of the same organization. A single tie line can handle
only one conversation at a time. If there will be many calls going
back and forth between the two PBXs, you need a sufficient num-
ber of tie lines to handle the volume (you can put the tie lines on
a high capacity circuit such as a T-1). If you have a network
connecting more than two PBXs, you may call over several con-
secutive tie lines, taking a route through one or more PBXs before
reaching the final destination. Many PBXs are intelligent enough
to recognize the location of the three or four- digit extension num-
ber you have dialed. They send the call automatically to the correct
PBX and telephone at that site. In this case, there is no need for
you to dial an access code. The PBXs are still sending access
codes to each other behind the scenes to route the call, but this is
transparent to you. This capability to dial among PBXs on a net-
work by simply dialing the extension number is sometimes called
a uniform numbering plan.
A tie line is sometimes called a tie trunk. It is a dedicated
circuit between two points.
Off-Premise Extensions
An off-premise extension is another type of point-to-point line
with a PBX on one end and a single line telephone or a key tele-
phone system on the other. The idea is that if a call comes into the
PBX, that call can then be extended to a distant location, across
the street or across the country. To the caller, it appears that the
person is at the location he called. The person at the off-premise
extension can pick up the telephone and dial any extension on
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Figure 10.4
Off-Premise Extension
Circuit (OPX)
Directs Call to the
Off-Premise Extension
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
Caller Dials
212-883-5555
Incoming Call on DID Trunk
Telephone Rings
EXT. 5555 on the PBX
216 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
the distant PBX, just as if he was on site. He can also, if set up to
do so, draw dial tone and place an outside call through the PBX.
If the off-premise extension is on a key system rather than on a
single line telephone, it appears on a separate button on one or
more of the telephones in the key system. There may be one or
many off-premise extensions to the same or different locations.
Some local telephone companies have regulations concern-
ing off-premise extensions. For example, if you want to have an
off-premise extension from a business and have it terminate at a
residence, you must already be paying for a separate residence
telephone there.
Off-premise extension telephone sets are typically analog
(such as a plain single line telephone). Digital telephone systems
have a distance limitation in terms of how far a proprietary digi-
tal telephone can be located from the PBX control cabinet. Some
system manufacturers are designing more distributed systems.
These control components of the PBX, such as a modular shelf
with circuit boards, are still needed a distant location to provide
control for the telephones there.
An off premise extension is a dedicated circuit.
As newer IP (Internet Protocol) based telephone systems de-
velop, the ability to have a proprietary multi-line digital telephone
at an off-premise location is now possible, using the Internet or a
corporate Intranet as the means of connecting to the main office
telephone system. Since there are problems with sound quality
still being worked out, this capability is not yet widely
in use.
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Foreign Exchange Line
(N.J. FX from NYC-Based Organization)
.
Figure 10.5
Call to Asbury Park, NJ
Telephone Number
Rings on Telephone in
New York
New York City
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
Foreign Exchange Line
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
in Asbury Park, NJ
A Local Asbury Park,
New Jersey Number
732-775-5555
Caller in Asbury Park
Dials a Local Number
218 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
Foreign exchange lines are used for two different purposes.
If a company has a heavy concentration of telephone calls to a
particular city, it may cost less to install one or more foreign
exchange lines from that city into their PBX. When someone
calls that city, the PBX selects the foreign exchange line and the
call is billed as a local call since the telephone line actually comes
from the central office in the called city. Companies in some cit-
ies, such as Los Angeles, with many different area codes within
a small geographic area, may particularly benefit from the use of
foreign exchange lines.
As the cost per minute for making long distance calls has
been reduced, so has the need for using foreign exchange lines to
reduce expenses.
The more common use of a foreign exchange line is to give a
company a local presence in another city. For example, a com-
pany is listed in the Chicago telephone directory and Chicagoans
place a local call to reach it. The callers are not aware that the
calls are being answered by a PBX located in Milwaukee through
a group of foreign exchange lines. This practice is diminishing as
the use of 800 numbers increases. As more business is conducted
on the telephone, location ceases to be as important. As multiple
exchanges and even multiple area codes expand within each city,
the association of a particular exchange and area code with a geo-
graphic location is diminishing. There are too many new ones, so
callers do not recognize them as easily as in the past.
A foreign exchange line is a switched circuit.
T-1 Circuit
(Can Be Used to Deliver All of the Above Circuits)
All of the circuits described above can be delivered to your
premises separately with each trunk brought in on a single pair
of wires. Any of these may also be delivered on what is called a
T-1 circuit. The T-1 has the capability for 24 separate outside
lines, all delivered on two pairs of wires (sometimes called a
four-wire circuit). In order to work, the T-1 needs a multiplexer at
either end to separately identify the 24 conversations, break them
The Telecom Handbook 219
CHAPTER 10
down for sending and put them back together at the other end.
Sometimes the multiplexer is external to the telephone system.
The most common type of external multiplexer for voice commu-
nications is called a channel bank. Most PBXs also have the
capability for a T-1 circuit board which is a multiplexer inside the
PBX. If you have a T-1 circuit board, there is no need for a channel
bank. Use of a channel bank is becoming less common, although
many are still in use.
You may have different types of trunks combined on a T-1. For
example you can have 12 combination trunks and 12 DID trunks.
Digital services like T-1 have evolved based upon the digital
signal known as DS0 (digital signal zero) which is 64 Kbps. This
is the bandwidth for a voice grade circuit. DS1 (also known as a
T-1) is 1.544 Mbps, which is twenty-four 64 Kbps channels. There
is also a T-3, which is 44.73 Mbps (the equivalent of 28 T-1s).
On a T-1, signals are multiplexed so that two pairs of wire
can carry 24 separate voice conversations. The same two pairs of
wires would carry only two voice conversations using analog
technology. With each conversation using 64 Kbps and another 8
Kbps being used for control signals, the total T-1 capacity is 1.544
Mbps (million bits per second). (24 x 64kbps = 1536kbps + 8kbps
= 1544kbps or 1.544Mbps).
You may also hear the term Fractional T-1 which means that
you are getting a circuit with some fraction or increment of the
total T-1 capacity. For example, the circuit may provide only
twelve 64 Kbps channels. Actually, the entire T-1 is in place, but
some of the channels are turned off in the multiplexers.
T-1 Circuit Applications for PBXs
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T-1 from the Local Telephone Company Central Office
Using T-1 Circuit Board In PBX
Figure 10.6A
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
T-1 Circuit Board
in PBX
4 Wire T-1 Circuit Carrying 12 DID Trunks
and 12 Combination Trunks
(24 Channels)
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Using Channel Bank
Figure 10.6B
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
4 Wire T-1 Circuit Carrying 12 DID Trunks
and 12 Combination Trunks
(24 Channels)
DID Circuit Boards DID Circuit Boards DID Circuit Boards DID Circuit Boards DID Circuit Boards
B BB BB
A AA AA
N NN NN
K KK KK
C CC CC
H HH HH
A AA AA
N NN NN
N NN NN
E EE EE
L LL LL
Combination T Combination T Combination T Combination T Combination Trunk runk runk runk runk
Circuit Boards Circuit Boards Circuit Boards Circuit Boards Circuit Boards
12 DID Trunks
12 Combination Trunks
222 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
For example, in New York City a DID trunk costs about $75 per
month, so 10 will cost $750. For that same $750 or less, twenty-
four DID trunks can be brought into your PBX on a T-1 circuit
(This includes the cost of the T-1 and the cost of the DID).
In this instance, the other end of the T-1 is at the central of-
fice of the local telephone company. They are responsible for the
multiplexing capability at their end. Telephone companies may
give this type of a T-1 a different name for marketing purposes
such as Flexpath which is used in New York City.
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T-1 to Connect Two Offices of the Same Organization
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Figure 10.7
For calling back and forth between locations without using the switchboard operator.
Extension 2415 Rings
T TT TT-1 -1 -1 -1 -1
(Equivalent of
24 Separate Tie Lines)
NASHVILLE, TN
PBX PBX
JOPLIN, MO
Dials Extension 2415
in Nashville
224 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
the T-1 are called dedicated rates. Calls placed on regular PBX
trunks are billed at switched rates.
2
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T TT TT-1 -1 -1 -1 -1
(Carries 24 Separate Calls
May Be a Combination of Outgoing
and Incoming Toll-Free Calls)
PBX PBX PBX PBX PBX
T-1 to Your Long Distance Carrier
Figure 10.8
Dial 9 to Place an
Outgoing Long Distance
Call.
PBX Routes the Call to the T-
1 to Your Long Distance
Carrier.
226 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
number assignment or line assignment, provided by the local tele-
phone company. This is a seven digit number preceded by the
three-digit area code. The first three digits of the seven numbers
are called the exchange, the central office, or the NNX. In the
case of a dial tone line, the telephone number assignment is also
the circuit number. Other types of circuits have different types of
circuit numbers usually including letters and not in the seven-
digit format (for example 96OSNA111222).
More On Loop Start vs. Ground Start
A dial tone line may be a loop start or ground start
line. When ordering an outside telephone line, you will
be asked if the line is to be ground start or loop start. Dial
tone lines coming into most key telephone systems or,
directly to a telephone, fax or modem, are loop start. This
means that when you access the line, the physical loop
connecting you to the local telephone company central
office becomes a complete circuit for sending and receiv-
ing calls. (Tip and ring, a term used by telephone installers,
refers to the two wires that complete the talk path.) You
hear the dial tone immediately and can place your call.
PBXs work better with ground start lines where the cen-
tral office switch is looking for a signal from the PBX
before the circuit is completed and dial tone is delivered.
When you are at a PBX telephone, you may lift the
receiver and hear a dial tone. This is not the dial tone
being sent from the local telephone company, but rather
the dial tone sent from the PBX on premises. To place a
call to the outside world, you typically dial 9 and hear a
second dial tone that will be the one from the local tele-
phone company. You may then dial the outside telephone
number you are calling.
The Telecom Handbook 227
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Centrex
Figure 10.9
With Centrex, there is no PBX on site.
All connections are made through the switching equipment at the local telephone company central office.
The above illustration show Ext. 2480 placing an internal call to Ext. 2411.
(If someone from the outside dials 883-2411, the call will ring directly to that telephone.)
Local Telephone Co.
Central Office
EXT EXT EXT EXT EXT. 2480 . 2480 . 2480 . 2480 . 2480
EXT EXT EXT EXT EXT. 2411 . 2411 . 2411 . 2411 . 2411
The Telecom Handbook 229
CHAPTER 10
The idea behind Centrex is that your organization does not
need to buy a PBX.
Instead, the switching of your calls takes place at the tele-
phone company central office, with the telephone extensions
coming out to your premises through cables under the street or
overhead (most typically delivered using T-1 circuits). You use
system features such as call transfer and call conference, which
are capabilities of the central office switch.
It is possible to use almost any telephone system with
Centrex service, but some make more sense than others. The
best solution is usually to purchase the telephones that are
made to work with the central office switch. Northern Telecom
makes a central office switch called the DMS-100. If your
Centrex service is delivered from the DMS-100, you may want
to buy Northern Telecom telephones to realize the maximum
capability for using the system features. Lucent Technologies
(formerly AT&T) also makes central office switches, as do
Siemens, NEC, Ericsson and others.
Centrex is particularly good for providing telephone service
to multiple locations of the same company or organization within
the geographic area served by the central office. For example, a
municipality or a university with multiple buildings may benefit
from Centrex service. In cities, Centrex typically serves a smaller
geographic area than in areas less densely populated.
With Centrex service, each telephone in the system has a sepa-
rate telephone number and carries extra monthly charges for
certain system features. It tends to be a more costly system, over
time, than an on-site PBX, but some organizations like the idea
of not having to manage their own PBX.
If you decide to use Centrex, you may not have as much
control to administer and troubleshoot the system as you would
have with a PBX on your premises. Also, you may not always
have the very latest software release and system capabilities. Be-
fore the local telephone company invests in upgrading the central
office switch, there needs to be sufficient demand to justify the
expense of the upgrade. Since the local telephone companies are
230 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
regulated, they must also apply to the public utilities commis-
sion in their state for permission to offer a new system capability
as a new service.
The Network
Any group of circuits and their associated hardware is called
a network. There are many different types of networks. A single
site with a variety of lines connecting it to the outside world
may be referred to as a network. More commonly, network is
used to describe multiple sites linked together via telecommuni-
cations circuits.
ISDN
ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. This is
a collection of standards and protocols for digital communica-
tions. The benefit of ISDN service is that it provides more
advanced capability over the same pair of wires used to deliver a
regular dial tone line to your home or business.
Madeline Bodin, writing for TELECONNECT magazine does
a good job of explaining the two things that ISDN lines enable
you to do which your POTS lines (plain old telephone service)
do not.
First, ISDN lets you transmit more information from one point
to another. It gives you more bandwidth. Comparing the infor-
mation being sent on the telephone line to water, a regular
telephone line would be like a drinking straw and an ISDN line
would be like a 4 inch diameter plumbing pipe.
Second, ISDN lets you control the information going across
the line from outside the pipe, called out of band signaling. By
doing this, more information about each call is delivered, the
information is more secure and a number of limitations are re-
moved. (Note: Currently, long distance companies accomplish
this out of band signaling over a separate dedicated network called
Signaling System 7 in order to open and close switches and route
calls.) The local telephone companies use in band signaling right
The Telecom Handbook 231
CHAPTER 10
on the same line as the transmission with POTS lines. Signals
such as tones take up transmission time that could be more effi-
ciently used for transmitting voice and data.
There are two ISDN interfaces: Basic Rate Interface and Pri-
mary Rate Interface. Basic Rate Interface (BRI) (Figure 10.10) is
usually described as 2B+D. That means it has two bearer chan-
nels and one data channel or D channel. The B channels carry the
content of the call that may be voice, high speed data or video.
Each B channel carries 64 kilobits per second. The D channel
carries the call delivery information, such as the telephone num-
ber of the calling party. The D channel carries 16 Kbps.
The PRI (Primary Rate Interface) is described as 23B+D for
a total of 24 channels, the same as a T-1. PRI is what happens
when ISDN meets T-1.
In addition to the ISDN service and compatible telephone
and computer equipment you also need a Terminal Adapter and a
Network Termination Device known as NT-1. Sometimes the NT-
1 is built into the terminal adapter.
Applications for ISDN include the following:
f Ability to send and receive data rapidly makes it popular for
credit card processing.
f Internet users do not have to wait a long time for graphics to
appear on the computer screen. (ISDN for this application is
being replaced by dedicated high speed lines such as DSL or
Cable Modems)
Figure 10.10
BRI ISDN
Telephone
or
Computer
Telephone
or
Computer
232 The Telecom Handbook
OUTSI DE LI NES
f ANI (Automatic Number Identification) delivered on ISDN
enables you to capture the telephone number of the person
calling you, enabling you to accept, reject, ignore or redirect
incoming calls.
f Desktop video conferencing is accomplished by bonding to-
gether the 2 B channels to provide sufficient bandwidth for
video transmission.
DDS Circuits
DDS Service (Dataphone Fixed Digital Service) is a basic
digital circuit rented from AT&T (its their marketing term)
or the local telephone company. The same type of service is
available from other long distance carriers. One source of con-
fusion in the telecommunications industry is that different
carriers (long distance and local) give different names to the
same types of services. DDS can be subscribed to only as one
fixed speed at a time up to 56 Kbps.
DDS circuits (typically delivered in pairs: one send and
one receive) are usually installed along with two separate dial
tone voice-grade lines with modems known as dial back-up
lines that are used if the DDS lines fail. More recently, BRI
ISDN lines are used for the dial back up, each providing twice
the bandwidth of the conventional voice-grade telephone line.
Although many of these lines are in use, they are considered
to be slow by todays standards.
Calling Cards
A calling card enables you to place calls from any telephone
using your unique calling card number and personal identification
number (PIN). Calling cards are provided by both long distance
companies and local telephone companies. There actually is a
small wallet-sized plastic card (like a credit card) that is issued
to each calling card holder. In some public telephones including
280 The Telecom Handbook
UNDERSTANDI NG THE I NDUSTRY
those in airport travelers lounges, this card can be swiped through
a slot on the telephone which reads the calling card number from
the magnetic strip on the back of the card. If the telephone is not
equipped with this slot or if the card holder chooses not to carry
the card around with him, a calling card call can be placed by
dialing a toll free telephone number of the service provider (11
digits), the telephone number you are calling (11 digits) then the
calling card number (10 digits) and PIN (4 digits.) Despite the
inconvenience of dialing 36 digits, the use of calling cards is
widespread for business travelers, although rapidly decreasing
as the use of cellular telephones increases.
Most calling card calls are charged not only a cost per minute,
but a surcharge on a per call basis. These charge vary dramati-
cally depending upon the rates you have negotiated with your
particular service provider.
This is sometimes called a bong charge after the sound
that is sometimes heard on the telephone line by the caller before
dialing in his calling card number.
Calling cards calls are billed on your telephone bill and are
identified by the calling card number placing the call.
ISPs
The ISP or Internet service provider provides access for or-
ganizations to reach the Internet. They may also provide a group
of Internet related services such as the hosting of an organizations
e-mail or web site. The ISP is reached either by the computer
dialing into a certain telephone number or over a permanent
connection provided by the ISP using the cable of a local tele-
phone company.
Software Developers
There are many companies developing a wide variety of soft-
ware applications to be used in conjunction with the telephone
system. Many of these come and go without ever taking hold in
any significant way. Others tend to evolve as their development
proceeds. Most require considerably more customized program-
ming that is apparent at first.
Many of these applications are developed for the incoming
call center environment where large numbers of calls are handled
for customer service or sales.
Some of the types of software include:
f Workforce Management, helping Call Center Managers to
staff properly
f CRM or Customer Relationship Management, enabling or-
ganizations to create and maintain strong relationships with
their customers through personalizing their communications
with them.
f Convergence Applications enabling users to merge voice and
data to, for example, handle voice communications and e-
mail over the same desktop or wireless device.
Directory Assistance
A number of different companies using different databases
now provide directory assistance. As a result, the likelihood that
you will get accurate information from directory assistance is
diminishing. This is the service you may reach by dialing 411 to
reach your local telephone company or the area code plus 555-
1212 to reach your long distance company. The call centers where
the directory assistance operators are located may not be any-
where near your city.
Directory Publishers
Most local telephone companies still publish some form of
the traditional white and yellow pages paper directories. The pub-
lishing may be done by a separate company, however, often
formerly part of the local telephone company. There are also com-
peting companies offering directories specific to a particular city
or geographic region.
These very thick paper directories now compete with Internet
based directories, but it appears that they will be around for the
foreseeable future. The yellow pages represents significant rev-
enue in advertising for which the customers pay every month
while the directory is in effect.
The Telecom Handbook 295
CHAPTER 13
Professional Services
Telecommunications Consulting
These companies offer a range of professional services based
upon hourly or project fees. Since no two are exactly alike, it is
important to identify the services and capabilities of each com-
pany. These services may include:
a. Assessment of your organizations use of telecommunications
technology.
b. Assistance with the development of requirements, evaluation
of alternatives and procurement of telecommunications equip-
ment and services.
c. Telecommunications Contract Negotiation.
d. Telecommunications Project Management.
e. Telecommunications Expense Review and Cost Reduction,
Telecommunications Outsourcers
Although the concept has been around a long time, the idea
of outsourcing a variety of telecommunications management and
maintenance functions is still alive and well, although the qual-
ity of telecommunications outsourcing has historically left much
to be desired. The following descriptions provide you with some
ideas of the types of outsourcing available:
f Complete Outsourcer. If you completely outsource your
organizations telephone system and services, this means that
you have delegated all responsibility to an outside firm in-
cluding the repair and maintenance of your PBX, provision
of local and long distance service, reviewing and payment of
telephone bills and a variety of other services that should be
carefully spelled out in your contract. The outsourcer is paid
a monthly fee and also makes money reselling you equip-
ment and local and long distance service. This type of a
relationship may seem like the fox minding the hen house,
since the organization doing the billing is also responsible
for approving the bills. Nevertheless, it is working well for a
number or large organizations.
f Telecommunications Management Outsourcer. This type of
outsourcing manages your telephone system and service pro-
viders, but the company does not sell you equipment, local
or long distance service as a Complete Outsourcer may. The
Telecom Management Outsourcer is the equivalent of hav-
ing an in-house telecommunications department, but an
outside firm staffs it.
f Out-tasker. An out-tasker, either a firm or an individual, takes
the complete responsibility for one or more specific tasks.
For example, you may out-task the updating and production
of your telephone directory. Another example would be to
out-task the work order processing and record keeping for
changes to your telephone system.
The Telecom Handbook 297
CHAPTER 13
f Consultant. Many people refer to all subcontractors as con-
sultants, so this is one view of the term. In the stricter sense, a
consultant is an individual who is charged with analyzing a
problem or assessing a situation and providing a recommen-
dation. A consultant may also execute steps necessary to carry
out the recommendations. A consultant may be an individual,
may have a small company or may be a member of a small or
large consulting firm.
f Technician. Like consultant, this is a term that has vary-
ing definitions. A technician is typically someone who can
do the things a purely administrative person cannot. For ex-
ample a telephone system administrator can write up requests
for changes to the telephone system such as adding two new
extensions to a particular telephone. The administrator, if
trained to do so, can also make program changes to the tele-
phone system to add the two new extensions. If, however, a
new circuit board for the PBX was required for those new
extensions, or if any rewiring had to be done, that would be
the job of the technician.
f Subcontractor or Independent Contractor. These term are
used interchangeably and typically refer to an individual who
is providing work to you for a fee, but is not on your payroll.
The fee is usually per hour or per day (also called per diem).
Depending upon expertise or experience, this person can pro-
vide support in any area of your department. Sometimes an
entire firm is referred to as a subcontractor. Any of the above
categories may be considered to be a subcontractor or inde-
pendent contractor.
Outsourcing Resources Who To Call
f Telecommunications Outsourcers. Some firms identify them-
selves as Outsourcers. At present, they seem to be going after
the larger, multi-site businesses. Initially they outsourced the
298 The Telecom Handbook
UNDERSTANDI NG THE I NDUSTRY
Information Technology systems, but have added Telecom-
munications to their capabilities.
f Large Telecommunications Vendors. Some large telecom-
munications installation and maintenance companies or
local and long distance network service providers will take
on a complete outsourcing of telecommunications equip-
ment and services.
f Consulting Firms. Some consulting firms also provide
ongoing support which may include Telecommunications
Management Outsourcing or Out-Tasking in specific areas
of expertise. The consulting firm will assess your
requirements and may provide management of the Out-
Tasking, which may make it a better choice than simply
hiring a group of subcontractors from separate firms or from
a temporary agency.
f Specialized Support Firms. Some firms provide support spe-
cific to a certain type of product or service or, in some cases,
specializing in services relating to equipment from a particu-
lar telecommunications vendor.
f Temporary Agencies Specializing in Telecommunications
Staffing. These firms operate like any temporary agency, but
maintain resumes on people with different capabilities in the
telecommunications arena. Try to find a firm that is truly a
temporary staffing firm, rather than a company whose spe-
cialty is really permanent placement and only dabbles in the
temporary market.
This concludes our explanation of the Telecommunications
Industry. It is varied and continually changing as the forces of
both governments and the marketplace continue to shape it.
The Telecom Handbook 299
CHAPTER 14
Historical Perspective on The United
States Telecommunications Industry
The Saga Continues
In order to understand todays telecommunications in-
dustry and services, it helps to have a perspective on how things
have developed.
On March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the tele-
phone. He filed his application for a patent just hours before his
competitor, Elisha Gray.
While were not going to cover it all here, the history of tele-
communications is a fascinating story. In the beginning, with
multiple local telephone companies competing, you may have
had three separate telephone instruments on your desk to call
people who subscribed to one of the three different services.
AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph) was formed in
1885 to provide long distance service to the local telephone ser-
vice provider known as Bell. In 1900 AT&T became Bells parent
company through a stock purchase. AT&T came to be known as
Ma Bell and AT&T owned telephone companies were known as
the Bell System.
The Telecommunications Act of 1934 was adopted in order to
regulate the AT&T monopoly over telephone service. It created
the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and granted
them the authority to review mergers and acquisitions between
telephone companies and the power to regulate interstate tele-
phone services.
Intrastate telephone service was left up to the state utility com-
missions which ultimately led to the creation of monopolies for
local telephone service. In some areas of the U.S., the local mo-
nopoly was not part of the Bell System, but an Independent
Telephone Company such as was GTE or one of many smaller
Mom and Pop telephone companies that still exist, particu-
larly in rural areas.
300 The Telecom Handbook
HI STORI CAL PERSPECTI VE
AT&T had already cornered the long distance and local mar-
ket when the 1934 act took effect. During the 1930s it seemed to
make sense that these companies remain monopolies for the pro-
tection of consumers, keeping prices in check.
Then the telecommunications industry started to develop and
claims of unfair competition against AT&T began. Dick Kuehn,
a well-known telecommunications consultant, describes this time
in his column in Business Communications Review Magazine
(www.bcr.com):
Back in 1956, an obscure company named Hush-A-
Phone began manufacturing a plastic cup-like device that
clipped onto a telephone mouthpiece to block extra-
neous noise. Hush-A-Phone eventually secured a Supreme
Court ruling allowing them to attach that device to phones
provided by the local telephone company. This paved the
way for todays competitive telephone equipment indus-
try, but Hush-A-Phone remained obscure, even after the
court ruling.
Then a gentleman named Tom Carter, from Gun Bar-
rel, Texas, used the Hush-A-Phone case as a basis for an
anti-trust case against the Bell System. His Carterfone
device used a technique called acoustic coupling that en-
abled a mobile radio to talk to a telephone or vice versa.
Carter was looking for a way to help people working in
the Texas oil fields, but AT&T and Southwestern Bell
(the local telephone company in Texas) had a tariff that
restricted the attachment of any device to telephone com-
pany property. Carters anti-trust suit eventually found
its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and then to the FCC
for resolution in 1969. This was the first time that tele-
phones and business telephone systems could be
purchased and owned, rather than rented from the tele-
phone company.
Around the same time, Jack Goeken, a GE mobile
radio distributor in Joliet, Illinois, wanted to construct a
The Telecom Handbook 301
CHAPTER 14
microwave network between Chicago and St. Louis that
his customers could use to dispatch cars and trucks. AT&T,
Illinois Bell (local telephone company in Chicago), South-
western Bell (local telephone company in St. Louis) and
Western Union (company who sent telegrams) all opposed
that license, so Goeken amended his application to be-
come a specialized common carrier. Hed provide services
that werent available from the traditional carriers. The
filing by Goekens company Microwave Communica-
tions Inc. or MCI produced the FCCs 1969 decision
creating the competitive long-distance industry.
Who would have thought that opposition to a micro-
wave license would set in motion a chain of events that
would lead to the breakup of the Bell System? Some years
after the FCCs decisions, an AT&T attorney who par-
ticipated in both cases was asked why neither decision
was appealed. His answer was that no one at AT&T ever
thought they would lose the case, so when the Order came
down against them, they did not have enough time to mar-
shal forces for an appeal.
There have been plenty of other who would have
thought situations in the telecommunications industry.
During the mid-1970s Northern Telecom (now called
Nortel) and ROLM (now Siemens) introduced the first
digital telephone systems and the battle was on for what
would be the office controller. The other contenders were
IBM with its mainframe model and a newcomer, a tech-
nology called Ethernet, that was being promoted by
DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.) and Xerox. Who would
have thought that the newcomer could defeat such en-
trenched opponents?
And who would have thought that AT&T would shed
its equipment arm, Western Electric, which became Lu-
cent and has split again with the entity manufacturing
business telephone systems now being Avaya. Who knew
that the Regional Bell Operating Companies, created by
302 The Telecom Handbook
HI STORI CAL PERSPECTI VE
the AT&T divestiture, would outperform AT&T and wind
up as the dominant carriers? And who would have thought,
as the debate raged over the Telecommunications Act of
1996 (described below) that competition for local tele-
phone service would be so unsuccessful?
In 1982, after the Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit
against AT&T, what is known as the Modification of Final Judge-
ment (MFJ) was reached. Under the MFJ, AT&T was to divest
its twenty-two existing Bell Companies into seven independent
Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs pronounced R-
box). AT&T agreed to the break-up of the Bell companies on
the condition that it could provide long distance service with al-
most no restrictions. The RBOCs were completely restricted from
offering long distance service, information services and the manu-
facturing of telecommunications equipment.
In January of 1984, the culmination of this antitrust suit over
which Judge Harold Greene presided resulted in the divestiture
of the Bell System companies by AT&T. This marked the begin-
ning of more change in the telecommunications industry. New
players came in to sell systems and services.
The RBOCs, also known as Baby Bells, were the result of
this break up of AT&T. Although AT&T retained its long dis-
tance network and the capability to sell business telephone
systems, it gave up the ownership of the regulated local tele-
phone companies which became part of the newly formed RBOCs.
There are still separate telephone companies today regulated by
the state utility commission. Each provides local telephone ser-
vice, handles local telephone calls and switches long distance
telephone calls to the appropriate carrier. Separate companies
within the RBOC may sell business telephone systems and other
telephone equipment, although not all do. Since their inception,
the RBOCs have had to surmount regulatory restrictions to ob-
tain the right to compete in existing markets, including long
distance telephone calling and other emerging markets, such as
the sale of information.
The Telecom Handbook 303
CHAPTER 14
Most services sold by the local telephone companies con-
tinue to be tariffed. Although a movement toward detariffing is
underway. Tariffing entails a review by a state utility commis-
sion. The tariffs are incorporated into a voluminous set of written
service descriptions and prices. Any time there is a price in-
crease or a new service is introduced it is subject to review by
the commission.
Although the 1984 divestiture ended AT&Ts monopoly in
the telecommunications industry, competition had not material-
ized as had been expected. As technology continued to develop
in the 1990s, the MFJs process for allowing RBOCs to offer
new telecommunications services was becoming obsolete. Pro-
cedures under the rules created numerous legal delays. For
example, the RBOC had to go through a process to get permis-
sion to offer any new services to its customers. This was a long,
drawn out procedure in which the RBOC had to file its reasons
with the District Court as to why it should be able to expand
services to consumers without hindering competition. This pro-
cess under the MFJ caused the United States to fall behind other
countries in technological innovation. In addition, the MFJ de-
creased long distance competition, since it banned the RBOCs
from providing it.
The shortcomings of the MFJ resulted in Congress updat-
ing the 1934 act by passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
This act attempted to level the playing field for competition in
the local telephone service market and enabled RBOCs to offer
long distance service. Part of the Act applies to all telecommu-
nications service providers, including the RBOCs. It states that
it is the general duty of telecommunications carriers is to in-
terconnect directly or indirectly with other telecommunications
carriers. It also states that they must (1) resell services on rea-
sonable terms (2) provide telephone number portability (3)
permit competitors to have access to telephone numbers, op-
erator assistance and directory assistance without unreasonable
delay (4) give competitors access to telecommunications equip-
ment such as poles and conduits and (5) they must provide
304 The Telecom Handbook
HI STORI CAL PERSPECTI VE
reciprocal compensation for the transport and termination of tele-
communications. One of the results of this is that the new
competitors to the traditional local telephone company can rent
cables from them to deliver the competing services.
Another part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 per-
mits an RBOC to offer long distance services within its home
region providing it complies with safeguards outlined in the Act
(in terms of allowing local competition). There are also provi-
sions enabling the RBOCs to sell information (content) and to
manufacture telecommunications equipment.
In the years since the 1996 Act was signed into law, there has
been a dramatic consolidation of telecommunications companies
and these mergers are continuing to take place among RBOCs
and the long distance companies. Rates for telecommunications
services have dropped considerably.
The face of the telecommunications marketplace changes
regularly and usually not in the way that was anticipated by the
regulators, the providers of equipment and services and the cus-
tomers. Its often confusing and contradictory, but never dull!
Telecommunications Industry History: A
Personal Perspective From The Author
Many founders of todays telecommunications industry came
out of the Bell System and the development of the industry was
shaped by their experience. The Bell System was essentially the
telecommunications industry in the U.S. for many years. Heres
what it was like working for the Bell System from the late 1960s
through the mid 1970s.
Some people worked in the craft or plant department end of
the business and were members of the Communications Workers
of America union (CWA). Installers, repairmen, field foremen,
inside foremen, linemen; these were the workers on the front lines
that were making it all happen. If you opened up a new business
and ordered a telephone line and one telephone, the installer would
The Telecom Handbook 305
CHAPTER 14
show up on the due date, hook up the line, test it and install the
telephone. It seemed deceptively simple. The installer usually
had the order in his hand, written mostly in cryptic codes called
USOCs, still in use today.
A copy of that same order document was actually received
and acted upon by forty different people within the telephone
company. When you order a telephone line or even make a simple
change in your telephone service today, the process is much the
same. Many different departments have roles in the deployment
of even the most basic services.
The commercial department included what was called the
business office. The people in this department were members of
the Union of Telephone Workers (UTW). I started out as a Ser-
vice Representative at Forest Hills Commercial in Queens, a
borough of New York City. The business office was a structured
environment, like the rest of the Bell System. Very little was left
to chance.
Before starting to work, I was sent to a month long training
class with a group of other women (no men worked in the busi-
ness office then, and no women worked out in the field doing
repairs or installations). The Bell System was big on training. The
companies that used to be a part of it still are. We were trained
exactly how to react and precisely what to say and do under every
conceivable circumstance. If an inconceivable circumstance came
up, we were to immediately put the caller on hold and head up to
the desk of our BOS (Business Office Supervisor), the Mother
of our unit. Each unit within the business office had approximately
six representatives managed by a BOS. For every six units there
were six BOSs and a District Manager to manage them. The Dis-
trict Managers reported to a hierarchy of other managers. There
was a similar hierarchy in the Plant Department. The foremen
were first line, second line, third line, etc., each line having a cor-
responding set of responsibilities, clout and compensation.
Back in the business office, our job was to take customer
orders over the telephone. Orders were written in pencil on paper
forms (no computers on the desktop). We released them to the
306 The Telecom Handbook
HI STORI CAL PERSPECTI VE
order reviewers, who reviewed them for accuracy. They sent them
to the order writers, who typed them into the system for distribu-
tion to the other departments. It was also our responsibility to
answer customers questions about their telephone bills and, when
we had time, to make collection calls to customers who were late
in paying. These were known as treatment calls.
Orders had to be written on the form in a very precise way,
block printing and using the correct USOCs (Universal Service
Order Codes) which were consistent throughout most of the Bell
System. The terms CV for a single-line telephone and KV for a
six-button telephone rarely heard today, were USOC codes.
Another group supporting the business office was the service
observers. The observers were hidden away in a nearby unmarked
office. Throughout the day, they listened in on a random sam-
pling of calls for each unit. This was to ensure that a high quality
of service was maintained and that accurate information was be-
ing given out. The worst thing that could happen to a unit was to
get a scoring, meaning that the service observer had heard some-
thing wrong. The observer would come racing into the business
office and post the scoring on a bulletin board for all to see. Natu-
rally, the members of the unit, including the BOS, were humiliated
for the remainder of the day. We never knew which of the six
members of the unit got the scoring.
There were different types of scorings. One was CWI (Cus-
tomer Waiting Interval), meaning that a representative had left a
customer on hold for an unacceptable amount of time. Another
was ICR (ncorrect Rate), usually a result of someone adding the
component rates of an order incorrectly (by hand there were no
adding machines on our desks). Another was IHM. I cant re-
member exactly what it stood for (Inhospitable Manner?), but it
meant that a representative had handled the customer in a less
than pleasant way. This was the worst type of scoring to get and
one that promoted the most speculation about who did it and
what was said.
When I transferred from New York Telephone to Southwest-
ern Bell, first in St. Louis and then in Kansas City, the business
The Telecom Handbook 307
CHAPTER 14
offices were carbon copies of the one I left behind in New York.
Nevertheless, each required a month in a training class before I
was put back on the desk to talk to the customers.
The old Bell System was just that, a system and a very good
one. The rigidity of structure and customer service monitoring
worked well for a company which was regulated by the govern-
ment and, as a monopoly, had no competition. As competition
emerged, first for telephone systems, then for long distance ser-
vice and finally, for local service, the Bell Systems strong but
inflexible structure became its weakness.
The layers of management made it difficult to reach a deci-
sion quickly. The uniformity of products and procedures
throughout the United States prevented different parts of the or-
ganization from responding to conditions in the local marketplace.
The tariffing of all services required that the Bell System obtain
approval from each states public utilities commission prior to
offering a new service. Brand new Custom Calling Services avail-
able from home telephones were introduced in 1969: Call Waiting,
Call Forwarding, Speed Calling and Three Way Calling. More
than thirty years later, the local telephone companies are still of-
fering these same four services as advanced capabilities. And
the business office is still pretty much the same as it was in the
late sixties. The main difference is that customer records are now
accessed by computer instead of paper files.
As monopolies, the Bell System telephone companies were
regulated cost-based businesses. If they wanted to raise rates, they
had to obtain approval from the government regulatory bodies
and first had to make a case for why the rate increase was needed.
The notion of making large profits did not exist, since it was not
permitted. Thus, the Bell System was not the best training ground
for the development of entrepreneurial skills. Many years after
the AT&T divestiture of the Bell System companies and the de-
regulation of the telecommunications industry, some employees
of the former Bell System companies still think of their business
as it was. They have been challenged to adjust it to keep up with
the changing marketplace and increased competition.
308 The Telecom Handbook
HI STORI CAL PERSPECTI VE
Getting back to the telephone company business office in the
1970s, if customers hinted that they were going to buy their own
telephone system, we had a special hot line number to call to
report this immediately. Someone from the telephone company
sales department would then call to talk the customer out of mak-
ing this big mistake connecting foreign equipment to the Bell
System lines. I can remember getting queasy at the thought of
someone being foolish enough to do this. That good old Bell
System training included a fair amount of brainwashing as well!
The world of telecommunications began to change. Not
everyones entrepreneurial skills had been dulled by the Bell Sys-
tem. More business people were discovering the economic
advantages of purchasing telephone systems rather than renting
from Ma Bell.
In 1976, the interconnect industry was taking off thanks to
the way being paved by Tom Carter several years earlier. Inter-
connect companies sold, installed and maintained telephone
systems and competed directly with the local telephone company
who continued to rent systems. You could purchase a system for
$100,000 that replaced the system you were renting from the tele-
phone company for $10,000 per month. From a financial
perspective, the 10-month break-even point was a no-brainer.
What businesses did not realize was that by buying their own
telephone systems they were being pioneers. They often had a
rocky road ahead.
It was around this time that I went to work for a consulting
firm, back in New York City. Our specialty was showing busi-
nesses how to save a lot of money by purchasing their own
telephone systems. We then proceeded to help them make the
purchase and to manage the project. My job was project man-
agement. My Bell System background was what got me the
job, but it did little to prepare me for overseeing the installation
of large business telephone systems. I started learning from the
very first day when I was directed to show up at a cutover (this
refers to the process of changing over from the old to the new
telephone system).
The Telecom Handbook 309
CHAPTER 14
I learned at that time that the local Bell telephone company
was not very helpful to customers who had left the fold to buy
their own telephone systems. The local Bell employees viewed
the people installing the new telephones as having taken away
part of the Bell job, which they had, so Bell was not too anxious
to make cutovers a big success. Sometimes the interconnect sys-
tem installers had just quit their jobs at the telephone company
and were now on the other side from their former co-workers.
You still needed the local telephone company to install new out-
side lines or to make adjustments to the lines already in place to
accommodate the new system.
At that time, organizations were also required to install inter-
face devices. These were circuit boards of questionable usefulness
connected to the end of each Bell System outside telephone line
to protect it from the foreign equipment that was being installed.
These interfaces were rented to the customer by the Bell System
company. This was a consolation prize awarded to Bell by the
courts in exchange for having given up the lucrative system rental
revenue. Actually, the interfaces just provided another point at
which something could go wrong, which it often did.
The early systems did not always work as promised, so there
were surprises. On several occasions, the installation company
was unable to obtain the system that had been purchased so they
put in a substitute system from another manufacturer, hoping that
no one would notice.
I worked at a cutover where the customer had decided to
purchase a used system. The installation company had not even
bothered to remove the old coffee stains from the switchboard
console! At this same cutover, it took a whole day before the
installers could get the telephones to ring. When a call came
into the switchboard, I would find out who it was for and run
back to tell that person to pick up his telephone handset as a
caller was there waiting!
At another cutover, the customer had been told that the new
telephones would be black, but the manufacturer only made white
ones. That evening, the housings were removed from all the tele-
310 The Telecom Handbook
HI STORI CAL PERSPECTI VE
phones and we spray-painted them black right there in the tele-
phone equipment room.
At a typical cutover, a lot of people would be standing around
looking worried, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and making
periodic forays out of the telephone equipment room to reassure the
customer: Yes, at any moment now you will be back in business.
There was a lot of naivet during this time. This included the
buyers, the consultants, and the interconnect companies. We were
all making our way through uncharted territory.
The telephone system functions were clunky and did not al-
ways work. To successfully transfer a call without cutting the
caller off was a major accomplishment. Just to keep this in per-
spective, note that the first telephone system purchased by a com-
pany (rather than renting) was often the first system that enabled
the system users to do anything by themselves. It is likely that
they had never dialed another extension or transferred a call be-
fore. The systems they replaced were often cord boards where
the switchboard operator had been responsible for handling all
of these functions for them.
Those were the seventies. Several decades have passed and
the process of installing a new business telephone system has
smoothed out considerably. At a recent cutover, the CEO
announced that the change to the new telephone system had been
a non-event and the business operations continued without
missing a beat.
The Telecom Handbook 311
I NDEX
Index
Symbols
110 blocks, 252
1A2, 12
2-wire, 246
2500 set (touch-tone), 12
2B+D, 231
3-digit outpulsing, 212
4-digit outpulsing, 212
4-pair, 249
4-wire, 246
42A block, 250
500 set, 12, 16
6 pin modular jack, 250
8 pin modular jack, 250
A
Abandon rate, 77
Abbott, Anthony G., 126, 264
access code, 37, 49
access line, 222
account codes, 51
ACDs, 287
acoustic coupler, 238
adaptive rate system, 240
Add-on, 71
Agent Statistics Display,
84, 85
agents, 76, 77
AIOD, 51
American Standard Code for
Information Interchange, 174
American Telephone &
Telegraph, 299
American Wire Gauge, 262
AMP, 259
Amplitude Modulation, 239
analog, 242, 245
analog trunks, 26
ANI, 89, 91, 115, 232, 279
Annotated fax mail, 183
ANSI/EIA/TIA-568,, 264
ANSI/EIA/TIA-569, 264
answer supervision, 116
API, 149, 166
application programming
interface, 149, 166
Application Service Provider,
169
armature, 16
ARPANET, 143
ARS, 49
ASCII, 174
ASP, 169
Asynchronous Transfer Mode,
151, 232, 237
asynchronous transmission,
236
asynchronous-to-synchronous,
240
ATM, 151, 232, 237
Attendant Console, 36, 41
Authorized Agent, 285
Auto-answering, 240
Autocall, 240
312 The Telecom Handbook
I NDEX
Autodial, 46
Automated Attendant, 95
Automated Data Collection,
87
Automated Receptionist, 110
automated workforce manage-
ment software, 90
Automatic Answer, 81
Automatic Dialing, 46
Automatic Number Identifica-
tion, 89, 91, 115, 232, 279
automatic privacy, 47
Automatic Release, 81
automatic ringdown line, 227
Automatic Route Selection,
49, 66, 277
aux line, 224
auxiliary, 224
Avaya, 301
AWG, 262
B
Baby Bells, 302
backbone, 262
backbone cable, 258
balun, 257
bandwidth, 230, 244, 248
Base, 11
Basic Rate Interface, 27, 231
battery back-up, 56, 255
bearer channels, 231
Bell, Alexander Graham,
18, 299
Bell System, 299
binder groups, 262
bit, 239
bits, 248
black boxes, 120
BLECs, 274
boards, 25
Bodin, Madeline, 230
Bodnar, Don, 270
bong charge, 280
BOS, 305
boss-secretary intercoms,
43
both-way trunk, 207
Branch, 21
BRI, 27, 231
broadband, 242
broadcast, 102
Broadcast Fax, 184, 193
buffer, 51, 118
buffer device, 51
Building Local Exchange
Carriers, 274
built-in database functions,
174
Business Communications
Review Magazine,
126, 127, 264, 300
Business Office Supervisor,
305
busy lamp field, 41
button and buzzer, 43
C
cable, 247
Cable reports, 267
Cable Television, 282
cable trays, 252
Cabling Installation, 289
The Telecom Handbook 313
I NDEX
CAD, 268
Call Accounting, 51
Call Agent, 146, 151
Call Alert, 82
Call Back Fax, 185
Call Center Magazine,
93, 179
Call Controller, 146
Call Coverage, 64
Call Detail Recording, 51, 118
call director, 12
Call Forwarding, 166, 307
Call Park, 48
call pick-up, 47
call state, 146
Call Waiting, 48, 307
Caller ID, 44, 56, 89, 115
Calling Cards, 279
Camp-On, 48
cards, 25
carrier, 24
carrier pic, 277
Carter, Tom, 300, 308
Carterfone, 300
CAT 5E, 248
CAT 6, 248
Category 3, 248
Category 5E, 247
Category 6, 248
CCML, 165
CCS, 29
CCXML, 164
CDR, 51, 118
central office, 226, 276
central office based Voice
Mail, 99
central office switch, 250
central office switches, 276
Central Processing Unit, 29,
100
Centrex, 99, 227
Centrum, 227
channel bank, 26, 33, 219
Channel Service Unit, 243
circuit, 207, 235
circuit cards, 25
circuit packs, 25
class of service, 49, 105
CLECs, 274
client, 173
client/matter number, 124
client/server, 173
coax, 256
coaxial cable, 256
COB, 55
Code, 156
Code 128, 266
Code 39, 266
codec, 31, 101,150
coded trunks, 210
combination trunk, 207
comma delimited, 174
Communications Conver-
gence Magazine, 140
communications servers, 93,
145
Communications Workers of
America, 304
Competitive Local Exchange
Carriers, 274
Component Compatibility
Markup Language, 165
Computer Telephony, 160
314 The Telecom Handbook
I NDEX
Computer Telephony Integra-
tion, 160
computer-aided design, 268
Comware Systems, Inc, 127,
264
conduit, 263
conference, 45
conference bridge, 45
connecting blocks, 252
Continuation of Business, 55
Convergence, 140, 159
copper, 235, 247
copper trunks, 26
cordboard, 33
CPU, 29, 100
CRM, 293
Cross-connect reports, 267
crosstalk, 247, 254
CSU, 243
CSU/DSU, 243
CTI, 160
curly cord, 6
Custom Calling Services, 307
Custom Service Reps, 76
Customer Relationship
Management, 293
cutover, 308
CV, 12
CWA, 304
D
data jack, 141
Data Service Unit, 243
Dataphone Fixed Digital
Service, 232
Dawson, Keith, 93
DDE, 174
DDS, 232
DEC, 301
dedicated, 207
dedicated lines, 277
dedicated rates, 224
Deflection, 80
demarc, 263
demultiplexer, 242
demux, 242
detariffing, 303
dial 9, 208
Dial back-up, 239
dial back-up lines, 232
Dial intercoms, 43
dial pad, 6
dial pulse, 7
dial repeating tie line, 212
dial tone, 224
dial-up modem, 237
Dialed Number Identification
Service, 89, 110
DID, 25, 96, 98, 100, 210
dielectric, 256
digital, 242, 245
digital data bus, 31
Digital Equipment Corp., 301
digital signal zero, 219
digital station board, 27
Direct Inward Dial,
25, 37, 96, 98, 100, 183
Direct inward dial trunks, 210
Direct Outward Dial, 25
direct outward dial trunk, 208
direct station select, 41
Directed call pick up, 47
The Telecom Handbook 315
I NDEX
Disaster Recovery Planning,
55
display, 8
distribution group, 102
DNIS, 89, 110
Do Not Disturb, 48
DOD, 25, 208
drawing dial tone, 214
DS0 (digital signal zero), 219
DS1, 219
DSS/BLF, 41
DSU, 243
DTMF, 28
DTMF pad, 6
Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency,
6, 28
dumb terminals, 236
Dynamic Data Exchange, 174
dynamic ports, 98
E
E&M, 212
e-mail, 128
Echo suppression, 240
Edison, Thomas, 16
EIA-TIA 568A, 250
EIA-TIA 568B, 250
EIA/TIA-568, 264
EIA/TIA-569, 264
EIA/TIA-606, 264
EIA/TIA-607, 264
Electro Magnetic Interference,
247
electronic digital patch bay,
254
electronic places, 25
Emergency Record, 83
EMI, 247
End-to-end circuit reports,
267
equal access, 278
Erlang, 29
Essex, 227
Ethernet, 301
exchange, 21, 226
extends, 36
eXtensible Markup Language,
165
extension, 36
F
Face Layout, 11
Faceplate, 11
fax boards, 181
Fax Call Log, 196
Fax Error Log, 196
Fax Message Center, 184
fax retrieval, 184
Fax Server, 91, 181
fax text, 184
Fax-on-Demand, 184
FCC, 300
feature buttons, 8
feature keys, 8
Feature Server, 149
feature usage, 131
feeder cable, 252
Fiber Optic Cable, 235, 258
find me-follow me, 167
First Party Call Control, 162
fixed, 207
flat rate, 275
316 The Telecom Handbook
I NDEX
Flexpath, 222
Forced Answer, 86
four-wire circuit, 218
Frequency division multiplex-
ing, 242
Frequency Modulation, 238
Full duplex, 240, 245
function keys, 8
G
gauge, 262
glare, 210
glass, 235
Goeken, Jack, 300
grade of service, 30
graphical user interface, 111
Gray, Elisha, 299
Greene, Judge Harold, 302
ground start line, 226
ground start trunks, 208
Grounding, 255
Grounding/bonding summary
reports, 267
Group call pick-up, 47
group intercoms, 43
Groupings, 85
GUI, 111
H
Half duplex, 240, 245
hands free answer back, 10
handset cord, 6
Hard drives, 101
hardwired, 6
headset, 6
hold recall, 44
home run, 252
host, 173
host machine, 173
HTML, 165
HTTP, 147
hunt group, 35
hunting, 208
hunting group, 100
Hush-A-Phone, 300
hybrid, 36
Hylan Group, 259
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol,
147
HyperText Markup Language,
165
I
I-hold, 44
ID/Password, 81
IDFs, 252
IETF, 151
ILEC, 274
immediate start, 212
in band, 230
Inbound Call Routing, 77
Incoming Call Center, 75
Incoming Service Grouping,
208
Incorrect Rate, 306
Incumbent Local Exchange
Carrier, 274
individual hold, 44
Integrated Services Digital
Network, 26, 230
Intelligent Queuing, 88
The Telecom Handbook 317
I NDEX
Intellipath, 227
inter-exchange carriers, 276
Interactive Voice Response,
87, 91, 171, 181
Intercom, 36, 43, 291
Interconnect, 308
interconnect companies, 283
interface devices, 309
Interflow, 80
Intermediate Distribution
Frames, 252
Internet, 128
Internet and Computer-Based
Faxing, 204
Internet offload, 150
Internet Protocol,
31, 143, 151, 216, 252
Internet Protocol Device
Control, 151
Internet service provider, 282
IP, 31, 151, 216, 252
IP Centrex, 169
IPDC, 151
ISDN, 26, 224, 230
ISG, 208
ISP, 282
IVR, 87, 91, 171
IVR server, 173
IXC, 276
J
jack, 249
jagging, 197
Jainschigg, John, 140
K
K sets, 12
Kauffman, Maury, 204
key sets, 12
key strips, 13
Key systems, 34
keypad, 6
KK6, 12
Kuehn, Dick, 300
L
lamps, 9
LAN, 109, 142, 250
land lines, 281
last number redial button, 46
latency, 144, 145, 150
LCD, 8
LCR, 49
leased lines, 207, 277
Least Cost Routing, 49
LED, 9, 258
Lidyard, Dave, 126
light emitting diodes, 9, 258
Lights, 9
Line Appearance, 70
line assignmen, 226
liquid crystal display, 8
Local Area Networks, 142,
250
local loop, 277
log off, 77
log on, 77
Loizides, Jim, 259
long haul, 227
loop, 226
318 The Telecom Handbook
I NDEX
loop keys, 42
loop start, 226
loop start trunks, 208
low voltage, 247, 251
Lucent, 301
M
M66 blocks, 252
Ma Bell, 299
MAC, 53, 284
MACs, 130
Main Distribution Frame, 252
mainframe, 236
Maintenance Administration
Terminal, 284
manual ringdown line, 227
MAT, 284
MCI, 301
MDF, 252
Media Gateway Control
Protocol, 148, 151
media gateway controller,
146, 151
Message waiting indicator, 10
message waiting lamp, 104
MFJ, 302
MGCP, 148, 151
Microprocessors, 18
Microwave Communications
Inc., 301
microwave dish, 243
modal dispersion, 258
modem, 237
Modem strapping options,
240
modem substitution switch,
240
Modification of Final Judge-
ment, 302
modulation, 238
modules, 13, 24
monitor, 10
monitoring, 10
mounting cord, 6
moves, adds, changes, 130
moves and changes, 53
multi-button telephones, 3
multi-line telephones, 3
Multi-port capability, 239
Multimode fiber optic cable,
258
Multimode graded index, 258
multimode step index, 258
multiplexer, 218, 241
mux, 242
N
network, 230, 277
network operating center, 278
network services, 207
Network Termination Device,
231
Newtons Telecom Dictionary,
3, 160
Night Service, 79
NNX, 226
NOC, 278
Normal fax mail, 183
Nortel, 301
Northern Telecom, 301
NT-1, 231
number assignment, 226
The Telecom Handbook 319
I NDEX
O
Off-hook voice announce, 43
Off-system call forwarding,
47
one bit, 239
out of band, 230
out of band signaling, 230
outside line, 207
Outsourcing Resources, 297
Overflow, 79
Overhead Paging, 292
P
packets, 144
paging, 43
patch panels, 252
patches, 156
Pathway reports, 267
PBX Trunk Group, 121
PBX-to-host, 173
PCM, 31, 242
Peripheral System Installa-
tion, 288
Peripheral System Manufac-
turers, 288
personal greeting, 65
Phase Modulation, 239
Phase roll compensation, 240
pick up on line 3, 35
PingTone, 169
plain old telephone service,
34, 37, 224, 274
platform-based systems, 180
point-of-presence, 222, 278
point-to-point circuits, 207
poll, 118
poll cats, 120
polled, 51
polling, 120
polyvinyl chloride, 261
POP, 222, 278
portability, 216
ports, 25
POTS, 34, 37, 274
POTS line, 224, 274
power failure transfe, 56
power ground, 255
predictive dialers, 90
presence context, 159
Presence Technology, 159
PRI, 26, 231
Primary Rate Interface,
26, 231
printed circuit boards, 25
privacy release, 47
Private, 21
private line, 224
programmability, 156
property management system,
124
Protocols, 245
PSTN, 144, 150, 151, 286
public, 21
Public Switched Telephone
Network, 144, 150, 151
pulse amplitude modulation,
242
Pulse code modulation, 31,
242
punch down, 252
PVC, 261
320 The Telecom Handbook
I NDEX
Q
quad, 250
quality of service., 144
queue, 77
Queue Display, 83
R
Radio Frequency Interference,
247
RBOCs, 302
read, 176
real estate, 26
Real Time Displays, 85
receiver, 5, 16
redundancy, 56
Regional Bell Operating
Companies, 301, 302
registered jack, 250
regression testing, 156
Release, 48
repeater, 243
Reseller, 285
RFI, 247
rheostat, 15
ring generator, 18
ringer, 18
riser cable, 276
RJ, 250
RJ11C, 250
RJ21X, 263
RJ45, 250
Robins, Marc, 97
rollover sequence, 208
ROLM, 301
RS-232, 118
S
Same Call Fax, 185
satellite, 243
save and repeat, 46
Screen Pop, 76, 161
Screen Pops, 91, 160, 180
Screened Twisted Pair Cable,
255
SCTP, 255
SDN PRI, 224
Self-testing diagnostics, 240
Send a Document, 196
server, 173
Session Initiation Protocol,
146, 147, 164
SGCP, 151
SGML, 165
Shielded Twisted Pair, 254
side noise, 18
side tone, 18
Siemens, 301
Sign-On/Off, 81, 82, 83
signal ground, 255
Signal loss, 260
Signaling System 7, 152, 230
Silent monitor, 86
silver satin, 6
Simple Gateway Control
Protocol, 151
simplex, 244
Single mode fiber optic cable,
258
single-line telephones, 3
SIP, 146, 147, 164
SIP Proxy, 154
six digit toll restriction, 49
The Telecom Handbook 321
I NDEX
Skills Based Routing, 79
slots, 24
SMDI link, 99
SMDR, 51, 118
soft keys, 8
soft-phones, 169
softswitch, 57
software, 100
SONET, 232
SONET ring, 233
Southwestern Bell, 300
space division, 34
Space reports, 267
Speaker, 10
speakerphone, 10
speech recognition, 172
Speed, 248
Speed Calling, 307
Split/ silent monitor, 86
SQL, 176
square, 35
SS7, 152
Stand-Alone, 116
stand-alone ACDs, 76
Standard Generalized Markup
Language, 165
start bits, 236
stat muxes, 243
station, 3
station message desk inter-
face, 99
Station Message Detail
Recording, 51
station message detail record-
ing, 118
station speed dial, 46
Statistical multiplexing, 242
stop bits, 236
storage device, 118
STP, 254
Structured Query Language,
176
structured wiring system, 262
stutter dial tone, 104
Superpath, 222
supervision, 208
Supervisor Alert, 83
switch, 21
Switch Redirect, 56
switchboard, 36
Switchboard Console, 41
switched circuits, 207
switched rates, 224
switchhook, 9
switching system, 21
Synchronous Optical Net-
work, 232
synchronous transmission,
236
system design, 34
system speed dial, 46
T
T-1 circuit board, 219
T-3, 219
TAPI, 163
tariffs, 303
TCP/IP, 237
TDD, 72
Telecommunications Act of
1934, 299
Telecommunications Act of
1996, 273, 302, 303
322 The Telecom Handbook
I NDEX
Telecommunications Bill
Auditing, 295
Telecommunications Bill
Management, 295
Telecommunications Consult-
ing, 295
TELECONNECT Magazine,
130, 230
telephone closet, 262
Telephone Device for the
Deaf, 72
telephone handset, 5
Telephone Service Reps, 77
telephone system, 24
Telephony Application
Programmers Interface,
163, 164
telephony user interface, 111
Teletype, 236
Ten digit toll restriction, 49
Terminal Adapter, 231
Text-to-Speech, 112, 182
The Call Center Handbook,
93
The Telecom Tutorials,
233, 246
The Voice Mail Reference
Manual & Buyers Guide, 97
Third Party Call Control, 146,
163
Three Way Calling, 307
tie lines, 124, 212
tie trunk, 214
time division, 34
Time division multiplexing,
242
tip and ring, 33, 226
toll bypass, 150
Toll Fraud, 122
Toll restriction, 49
Touch-tone, 28
touch-tone buttons, 6
touch-tone pad, 6
Trading Turret, 287
traffic engineering, 29, 89
traffic study, 52, 123
transfer, 45
transformers, 243
Transmission Control Proto-
col/Internet Protocol, 237
transmission medium., 235
transmitter, 15
transponders, 243
treed, 101
trunk, 207
trunk groups, 51
TSAPI, 164
TSRs, 76
Tucker, Tracey, 130
TUI, 111
twisted pair and coax, 235
two-way DID, 26
TWX, 236
U
UL, 247
UL-969, 266
Underwriters Laboratories,
247
Underwriters Laboratory 969,
266
Unified Communication, 167
Unified Messaging,
57, 111, 160
The Telecom Handbook 323
I NDEX
uniform numbering plan, 214
Uninterruptible Power Supply,
56, 255
Union of Telephone Workers,
305
universal slots, 24
Unshielded Twisted Pair, 247
UPS, 56, 255
user group, 22
USOC, 305
USS-128, 266
USS-39, 266
UTP, 247
UTP Configurations, 248
UTW, 305
V
V&H, 119, 121
Value Added Resellers, 291
VARs, 291
vertical and horizontal, 119
virtual private network, 281
Voice and data capability, 239
voice announce, 43
voice forms, 88
Voice Mail, 95, 96
Voice Mail service bureaus,
109
voice mailbox, 101
Voice Messaging, 87
Voice over IP, 143
Voice Processing, 95
voice recognition, 8, 95, 102
Voice Response Unit, 172
VoIP, 143
VPIM, 108
VPN, 281
VRU, 172
W
WAN, 108
WAP, 204
WATS lines, 50
Western Electric, 250, 301
Wide Area Network, 108
Wide Area Telephone Service,
50
wink start trunks, 212
wire based services, 281
Wireless Application Proces-
sor, 204
Work, 82
World Wide Web, 143
Wrap, 82
X
Xerox, 301
XML, 165
Z
zero bit, 239
zip tone, 82