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Tech Headlines

Monday October 15 12:38 PM EDT

VocalTec Beefs Up Hosted Contact Center Services

VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) network company VocalTec Communications (Nasdaq: VOCL) and contact center application provider CosmoCom have formed a strategic alliance to provide hosted IP contact center platforms to telecommunication companies and service providers. According to the companies, they will combine CosmoCom's all-IP contact center infrastructure with VocalTec's softswitch-based VoIP technology.

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CosmoCom spokesperson Mike Finnegan told CRMDaily.com that the companies will determine revenue-sharing arrangements on a case-by-case basis. They plan to concentrate marketing efforts at the outset on their large base of customers-in-common. As they extend marketing to potential customers new to both companies, they will decide in each instance which of the two companies will take the lead in the marketing relationship. Finnegan said the relationship is "a great co-selling opportunity, although not exclusive."

Comprehensive Enterprise Offering

The companies said their combined technologies will allow service providers to offer network-based, location- and media-independent IP call center services to enterprise customers. The offerings also will let carriers offer a wide spectrum of hosted contact center services. Such services might range from full network-based ACD (automatic call distribution) for virtual IP contact centers to platforms that help route individual calls on the network level for legacy multisite call centers.

Elon Ganor, chief executive of VocalTec, said that, with the companies' joint offerings, "service providers will be able to establish packet voice networks that combine key call center routing and management functions with value-added Web communications services to form a compelling, next-generation, hosted contact center offer for enterprises."

Technology Synergies

VocalTec said its "Softswitch" architecture provides carriers with a framework for IP voice networks in which the CosmoCom contact center applications can be hosted. CosmoCom said it has completed extensive interoperability testing between VocalTec technology and its Cosmocall Universe platform.

The companies said that, with their combined technologies, service providers can offer enhanced contact management features -- such as interactive voice response (IVR), Web collaboration, e-mail management, real-time reporting and live multichannel IP sessions -- to subscribers served through many different types of networks. Product interoperability is facilitated by VocalTec Softswitch's support for VoIP technologies, such as SIP, H.323 and MGCP as well as SS7 signaling.