Telephony Hardware

On this page you will find some information to help you choose hardware to use with our server or to determine if the hardware you already have is compatible with us.

Note that we neither sell nor recommend nor guarantee any particular hardware device. You'll need  to research whether the hardware that you buy suits your requirements.

Compatibility Information

Our server is capable of managing telephony devices which are compatible with version 2 of the Telephony Applications Programming Interface (TAPI).

A base level of TAPI support is bundled with the operating system.  In addition, any telephony device that you plan to use will likely require that you install a 'driver' called a Telephony Service Provider (TSP). You'll need to check with  the hardware vendor to insure that the device's TSP is compatible with version 2 of TAPI as well.

Some popular options

• For Single Line Installations
  Way2Call's Hi-Phone
  It's attractiveness is that it is a USB device so you won't need to open up the computer to install it. The downside is that you can not install multiple devices no matter how many spare USB ports you have.
• For Medium Line-Density Installations
  CallUrl's TalkVoice 8LV
  Each of these boards support up to eight lines and you can install up to five of them on a system - assuming that you have the spare PCI slots. They also also sell two and four line boards. Their North American distributor is here
• For High Line-Density Installations
  Cisco's CallManager
  This is an enterprise class voice over IP solution which scales nicely and which is capable of unifying voice, video and data (instant messaging) communication.

Some hardware that looks worthy of consideration

• For Medium Line-Density Installations
  Eicon's Diva Server 4P and 8P boards
  We don't know of any customers who have used these boards but their specifications are impressive.

PBX-based hardware

• Our IVR can interoperate with PBXs which are compatible with TAPI. These links describe the support for TAPI by several PBX vendors:
  Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Panasonic, Samsung, Siemens, ShoreTel
• Our IVR can interoperate with PBXs which are compatible with SIP, such as Asterisk, by means of SIP Telephony Service Provider. 
  Using Asterisk

Notes on using voice modems

We don't recommend the use of voice modems but we know that some of our customers will use them. Sometimes customers use them to test an application while waiting for more capable equipment to be procured.

If you do deploy an application on a line managed by a modem bear in mind that it is generally not possible for software to 'listen to' and 'speak to' to the caller at the same time. Either operation will succeed alone, but software can't do both simultaneously. For that reason, speech recognition is generally not an option for an application which uses a voice modem because such an application needs to speak or play a prompt at the same time that it listens for the caller's response to it.

You should know ...

• We don't sell hardware.
• We aren't recommending one vendor over another.
• We are simply pointing out some options.
• You'll need to choose the best option for your enterprise.
• If you deploy a device not listed here please let us know so that we can add a mention on this page.
• Asterisk and Digium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digium, Inc.
• Avaya is a trademark or registered trademark of  Avaya, Inc.
• Alcatel is a trademark or registered trademark of Alcatel Corporation
• Cisco is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Eicon and Diva are registered trademarks or trademarks of Eicon Networks Corporation
• Panasonic is a trademark or registered trademark of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company
• Samsung is a trademark or registered trademark of Samsung
• Siemens is a trademark or registered trademark of  Siemens AG
• ShoreTel is a trademark or registered trademark of ShoreTel, Inc