Glossary

Here are quick definitions for some of the telephony words and terms used in this paper.

• ActiveX Controls—A set of technologies that enable software components to interoperate in a networked environment, providing end users with a richer, more interactive experience. The ActiveX technologies are enhancements to OLE, Microsoft's component software technology. ActiveX Controls are small, efficient modules that implement specific, specialized functions.
• API—An application programming interface is a standardized set of procedure calls that can be used to interface applications with telecommunications protocols.
• Auto attendant—"If you know the extension of your party, enter it now. If you would like to speak to an operator, press two." Auto attendants are being used more and more by businesses large and small to handle initial routing of incoming telephone calls.
• Call center—A place with agents or operators at banks of telephones to either make outgoing, or field incoming, telephone calls. For example, a bank or credit card company uses call centers for inquiring about overdue accounts, and many corporations have help desk operations to handle incoming customer queries. Call center often has automated dialing, predictive dialing, one-step forwarding, and other telephony applications.
• CTI—Computer-telephone integration. The merging of the computer and telephone, which will transform the personal computer from being an information processing device to also being a powerful platform for communications. Linking telecommunications to the ever-increasing processing capabilities and rich user interface of the computer will enable new forms of communications and richer access to existing types of communication, including voice, asynchronous data, fax, remote access to LANs, Internet access, on-line services and more. "The Communicating PC" will redefine how we share ideas and information, and provide a portal to other people, computers, and network services, anywhere in the world.
• Integrated (or unified) messaging—Also called unified messaging, is the concept of unifying all incoming messages onto a single computer screen. A telephony application that offered unified messaging would present a user with a single list showing all new electronic mail, telephone messages, and faxes. Clicking on a telephone message could result in either the telephone ringing with the message, or with the computer's sound card relaying the message. Unified messaging gives users the luxury of scanning their messages, and deciding which to deal with first.
• IP—Internet Protocol, the critical Internet standard governing connectionless mode network services.
• ISDN—Integrated Services Digital Network, AT&T's international standard for voice, data, and signaling via end-to-end digital circuits and providing significantly enhanced transmission speeds.
• IVR—Interactive voice response, used in telephony applications in which a user interacts with a computer by pressing TouchTone keys in response to a set of recorded choices. IVR systems are used for creating automated banking statement services, providing train and movie schedules, and such. IVR systems can also use a text-to-voice synthesizer to increase its repertoire of responses.
• MAPI—The Microsoft Windows Messaging Application Programming Interface, a set of API functions that enable messaging. Part of the Windows Open Services Architecture (WOSA).
• PBX—Private Branch eXchange, the private switching network some companies, especially larger ones, use to route their corporate telecommunications.
• Personal call manager—Brings the management of telephone calls onto the computer screen where users can initiate a phone call with the click of the mouse, choose to respond to calls via Caller ID, selectively forward calls to a conference room or other site, and in other ways personalize their response to telecommunications.
• PIM—Personal information managers are like computerized appointment books, and are used on many personal computers, to help a person keep track of appointments, telephone numbers, and other contact information. A telephony enabled PIM could provide point-and-click telephone dialing, automated conference calling, or automated access to databases and other applications.
• Predictive dialer—Used in call centers to place outgoing telephone calls faster than could be done by the center's personnel. Predictive dialing is based upon the fact that many outgoing calls will either reach busy signals or go unanswered, something which used to waste the time of call center personnel. A predictive dialing system is able to detect a phone pickup and route the successful call to a call center person before the person on the other line has the chance to say "hello." This is used in outbound telemarketing operations, collection systems, and in other applications.
• PSTN—Public Switched Telephone Network, the more formal term for the local telephone company.
• SAPI—The Windows Speech API, a WOSA element, provides services that enable the use of speech recognition and/or text-to-speech in applications.
• TAPI—The Windows Telephony API provides services that enable an application developer to add telephone communications to applications developed for operating systems that support the Microsoft Win32 application programming interface, such as Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 95. The combination of TAPI, the Windows platform, additional communications-related Windows APIs, and ActiveX Controls provides the ideal platform for developing and using telephony applications.
• UniModem—Microsoft's universal modem driver greatly simplifies the development process by providing an abstraction layer to which programmers can make generic calls, while on the other side a vast collection of drivers are used to translate the abstracted command into a specific action on whatever modem the operating system has detected.
• Visual Call Control—A type of telephony application that allows users to manage their telecommunications from their computer screen. For example, with such an application a fax could be sent to another person by dragging an icon of the fax across the screen and dropping it on the name of the recipient. The telephony application would work behind the scenes to look up the persons telephone number, dial it, establish a communications link, and transmit the fax. Similarly, a conference call could be arranged by clicking and dragging the names of four individuals onto a conference call icon.
• WAV—Wave Audio, the Win32 function for handling sound.