Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) & the Interaction Center Platform^® Technology

Total Interaction Management from a Single Platform

• Why SIP?
• Why the Interaction Center Platform?
• Interaction Center Platform/SIP Benefits
  

Why SIP?

In the push toward Internet Protocol (IP) telephony for business communications, many approaches are available to adapt packet-based telephony methods. Among these approaches are proprietary communications protocols, point-to-point only strategies, sophisticated device identification, and carrier-class and enterprise-oriented call management/call control methods. While there are many options, however, one thing is clear - standards and simplicity are critical if the business world is to accept, and support, IP telephony.

One IP telephony approach quickly gaining support is the Session Initiation Protocol. And the reasons Interactive Intelligence now provides SIP support in our Interaction Center Platform technology are that SIP is:

• Widely regarded as the successor to H.323 for IP-based telephony
• Gaining increased attention and visibility due to major technology supporters
• An alternative to TAPI-based IP telephony models
• A protocol that eliminates the need for a separate IP-PBX and contact center solution
• The emerging standard for session control for a variety of other communications mediums
• Software-based, open and lightweight, allowing organizations of all types to support the new breed of SIP phones along with soft phones, analog phones, desktop PCs, and even mobile devices and PDAs

SIP also provides the perfect blueprint for real-time voice communications, text-based messaging and application sharing - features highlighted in Interactive Intelligence software products built on the Interaction Center Platform.

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Why the Interaction Center Platform?

Though SIP-based soft switches are made for next generation call transport over packet networks, they lack the interaction management applications needed for an Interactive Economy. For example, inherent features such as voice mail still require multiple communications servers and boxes within a SIP network.

Which is where the Windows® 2000-based, SIP capable Interaction Center Platform technology comes in.

In addition to replacing multi-box communications systems with a single server, this elegant multi-channel platform supports a full suite of interaction management software products that deliver voice mail and more. It's also the first - and thus far only interaction management technology - to seamlessly integrate with SIP-compliant Proxies and Registrars in addition to new IP telephony boards.

As a result, the Interaction Center Platform can drive entire SIP oriented networks from just one server while also opening the door to new SIP solutions from Voice over IP (VoIP) infrastructure providers.

Better yet, organizations don't need to add hardware boxes to their communications systems to get advanced interaction management features. Nor do they lose such features by using SIP.

Because the Interaction Center Platform supports the SIP RFC, organizations leaning toward SIP standards can now get a full range of voice- and Web-based interaction management features via a converged voice/data network. Using IP telephony boards for media processing also provides gateway-like functionality for existing or additional ISDN, T1, E1, or analog connections to legacy PBXs and analog phones. Simply implement one of the software products built on the Interaction Center Platform within the SIP network and businesses get:

• IVR
• ACD
• Call monitoring
• Voice mail
• Unified messaging
• Web-based interaction functionality
• Skills-based routing
• Screen pop
• CRM and ERP application integration
• Presence management (Available, Out of the Office, On Vacation, etc.)
• Comprehensive reporting and supervision
• E-mail and Web auto response to frequently asked questions using e-FAQ^®
• Customer/agent Web collaboration
• Built-in multi-lingual support
• Optional wireless application interfacing with Mobilité™
• Remote worker/wireless user support via Messaging Interaction Center® for "anytime, anywhere" unified communications

Get full control over SIP calls and blended inbound/outbound
interactions via the Interaction Client® interface

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Interaction Center Platform/SIP Benefits

Whether an organization occupies a single location or has multiple branches, IP telephony offers benefits from more efficient moves, adds and changes, as well as from centralized telecom routing configurations to distributed agents and virtual contact centers.

Thanks to the Interaction Center Platform's flexible circuit telephony and IP telephony capabilities, organizations can easily migrate to new architectures and move applications to new locations with no application rewrites. Such flexibility is especially cost-effective for organizations currently utilizing Cisco-based or SIP-oriented IP telephony, or that will consider other emerging voice technologies and architectures in the future.

Also as IP telephony cost savings move from carrier networks into the enterprise, businesses will need to move business routing and customer service applications to these new architectures. Just as with the adoption of PCs and LANs versus mainframe-style systems, IP telephony will continue to emerge as the predominant technology for communicating in the Internet Age and staying competitive in the Interactive Economy. To that end, Interactive Intelligence software products built on the SIP-compliant Interaction Center Platform provide affordable alternatives to traditional telecom solutions by offering:

• Full media control to perform application functions such as:
     
  • Playing and recording audio for IVR, ACD, auto attendant and unified messaging applications
    
  • Multiparty conferencing used as a conference bridge or for addressing complex customer service scenarios
    
  • Supervisor monitoring for ACD
    
  • Call analysis and call progress detection for outbound predictive dialing/campaign management environments
    
  • Voice recognition as an enhanced IVR, ACD or unified messaging capability
      

  These functions are inherently supported in the same server architecture on the Interaction Center Platform, resulting in a greatly simplified architecture for deploying IP-based communication and related application services. Whereas IP-PBXs and softswitches have made it possible to run voice over IP (VoIP) and perform a number of call control and call management features, many IP-PBXs and softswitches are not capable of handling media processing on the same platform and thus require adjunct servers.

• A cost-effective migration path from traditional circuit-based telephony to various IP-based telephony architectures such as SIP without redesigning applications. Applications built using the Interaction Center Platform run virtually unmodified regardless of whether the telephony service layer is circuit-based or IP-based. This allows organizations to migrate to IP telephony as they see fit while protecting current investments in applications.

• Interoperability with other communication services for full interaction management. Many of the software products built on the Interaction Center Platform provide out-of-the-box interfaces to back-end communication services such as e-mail, database, Web, and directory services that in many cases are already components of the installed IT infrastructure.

• Single points of administration, customization, reporting and desktop control. Whether circuit-based or IP-based, organizations utilizing Interaction Center Platform-based products are afforded common, inherent modules to manage system resources. For instance, they can use the Interaction Administrator® graphical console to configure lines, stations, users, workgroups, dial plans, etc. They can also use Interaction Designer® to build business rules for handling interactions. And agents, employees and other enterprise users alike can use the common Interaction Client® desktop interface to route all voice, fax, e-mail and Web interactions and generate reports across supported communications channels. These single points of administration, customization, reporting and desktop control combine to dramatically reduce administration and training costs throughout an entire organization.

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IP Telephony and the Interaction Center Platform (1.5Mb PDF)

Interaction Center Platform white paper. (552Kb PDF)

SIP data sheet (411Kb PDF)

The Facts About SIP: Dispelling Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (164Kb PDF)

View Wind River's technical whitepaper on SIP vs. H.323 (176Kb PDF)

(Download a free copy of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe® Systems website now)