Call Audit
Vendor : Mountain Systems
Website : http://www.mtnsys.com/
Price : US$25-105
One of the more established players in the US market, comes in Lite,
Voice, Client
and Server versions
available for Windows 3.x, 95, NT 3.51 and NT 4.0. The Lite version looks
quite good enough for single users, safe in the knowledge that it's a cut
down version of what looks like pretty serious telephony software. The
Voice version allows number-dependent voicemail. Mountain also sell Caller
ID cards, but presumably only for the Bellcore system. Version
4.0 of CallAudit is now out, adding things like faxing and speech recognition.
The main downside is that all the demos are at least 4Mb.
Active Call Center (was Personal
Receptionist)
Vendor : Sunny Beach Technology, Inc.
Website : http://www.sunny-beach.net/Features.htm
(not http://www.sunny-beach.com,
which is a Bulgarian holiday resort!)
Download : http://www.sunny-beach.net/Download.htm
Price : US$99 - nothing more for extra lines.
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT TAPI
I've not had a chance to play with this, but it looks very capable,
taking full advantage of Microsoft's speech engine. It also allows faxback,
voicemail, CLI-dependent actions and control by VB Script. This last
allows you to hook into MS Office products to do things like reading your
Outlook emails over the phone. Definitely worth checking out.
Call Attendant
Vendor : ObjectWorld Inc.
Website : http://www.objectworld.com/products/cahome/index.php
Download : http://www.objectworld.com/products/cahome/download_cahome.php
Price : US$30
Platform : Windows 95/98
Sounds rather like Katalina's Voiceguide - allows structured voicemail,
and various ways of dealing with messages once they have been received.
There also seems to be some PIM features.
Looks nice.
Vendor : ACCPAC International, Inc. (was CA, and Cheyenne before that)
Website : http://www.accpac.com/products/communication/bitware/default.asp
Platform : Bitware Plus is for Windows 3.1 upwards; Bitware 7 is Windows
95/98/NT4 TAPI
Beta program : http://www.cai.com/products/betas/bitware6x/bitware6x.htm
Price : Free whilst in beta?Big bucks I assume.
Corporate communications package that includes OCR of faxes.
The 32 bit Bitware 7 is in beta and offers integrated fax, voice, paging,
and data software that integrates with Microsoft Exchange and Outlook 97/98/Express.
The real thing will be horribly expensive, but the beta version gives
you a lot of software for no money.
IVM Answering Attendant
Vendor : NCH Swift Sound, Canberra, Australia
Website : http://www.nch.com.au/ivm/index.html
Download : http://www.world-voices.com/ivm/ivmsetup.exe
Price : Freeware, or US$24 for the fancy version with email forwarding
etc.
Platform : "Windows 95, 98 or NT4", but then goes on to say you must
have TAPI drivers for your hardware.....
Created by a company that makes its money doing voices for on-hold
messages and the like, so it tends to push those features. I haven't
had a play with it yet - I'm not even sure if the free version does Caller
ID, but if it does what it says, it could be a bit of a bargain.
Reports are welcomed.
Phone Plus
Vendor : Impulse (Craig Duncan)
Website : http://www.imptec.com/ppfeatures.htm
Download : http://www.imptec.com/download.htm
Price : 30 day trial, US$20
Platform : Windows 95/8 TAPI
Screenshots : http://www.imptec.com/ppsshots.htm
I really liked this for its simplicity when it first came out.
It has since gained features, so much so that Craig has brought out IDentify!
, which is Phone Plus without the speakerphone, PIM etc. Definitely worth
checking out.
Active Phone Server (formerly AON)
Vendor : Sergei Polishchuk
Website : http://www.softcab.com
Price : US$49
Platform : Windows 95/98. Not TAPI, but almost better for NT users.
Screenshots : http://www.softcab.com/APServer/scrshots.asp
Interesting Russian (Ukrainian?) program that specifically knows about
Caller ID in the former USSR as well as on Western landline and maybe GSM?
I assume there is a Russian language as well as English version. From what
I can tell, it isn't TAPI-compliant, but gets round this with a multi-ISP
dialler that automatically closes down the telephony bits when you go online
- for this reason, it might be of particular interest to NT users.
Lots of nice features, like the ability to select different WAVs (music
or voice ;-) ) to different incoming callers, as well as voicemail and
a mini-PIM. I don't know if you can choose "WITHHELD" as one of the
numbers to play a WAV to for ACR purposes. You might also want to check out his neat screensaver.
Communicate!
Vendor : 01 Communiqué Laboratory Inc.
Website : http://www.01com.com/products.asp?folderid=products/&id=index
Download : http://www.01com.com/download.asp?id=30day
Price
: Basic US$30, Pro (adds test to speech of emails etc) US$50, i2000 (mulitline,
adds remote monitoring of webcams) US$80
Platform : Windows 3.1/98/98/NT/2000
Communicate comes in three versions and claims to be the best selling retail telephony program in
the US. It has won awards such as a Product of the Year award from CTI
magazine so is obviously worth investigating if you're looking
for a general telephony program in the Supervoice/Talkworks mould.
Even the basic version includes PIM features and customisable voice
menus, whilst the Pro version allows for more contact history features,
and can do things like IP telephony, fax-on-demand and paging. It also
has a rather nifty answerphone that offers "personalized messages based
on Time of Day, day of Week, Distinctive Ring, Caller ID, or all combined".
Sadly it is only the Pro version that has multi-language support, but it
has a good range : Chinese (?), Dutch, English English, French, German,
Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The 2000 version has all the latest gizmos such as Internet video conferencing
and better support for PIMs such as Outlook, Maximiser and Act! Most people
should be happy with the Pro version though.
All in all, Communicate! should be certainly be on your list if you
are looking at something at the higher end of the software in this list.
Phrontline
Vendor : REEVEsoft, Inc.
Website : http://www.reevesoft.com/phrontline_details.shtml
Download : http://www.reevesoft.com/phrontline_dl.shtml
Price : US$80 for the Lite version, US$150 for the Professional version.
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT TAPI
This program is targeted at the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) market,
for use on a company's main phone line rather than for integration of an
individual's telephony requirements. So it doesn't have PIM features nor
faxing, but has lots of options for creating voice menu scripts.
The Professional version adds things like voice synthesis and database
lookup.
I've heard good things about Phrontline, and it would seem a good bet
for people looking to do the sort of IVR that goes beyond what can be done
with a general telephony program such as Supervoice. See also REEVEsoft's
Caller Announce.
WinIVR
Vendor : Cecam Consultancy Ltd., New Zealand
Website : http://www.winivr.co.nz/winivr_features.htm
Download : http://www.winivr.co.nz/downloads.htm
Price : US$40 per line; unregistered version inserts a message before
your own, otherwise unlimited.
Platform : Windows 95/98/Nt TAPI
Screenshots : http://www.winivr.co.nz/screen_shots.htm
Another nice piece of IVR design software, with good integration with
other programs and nice little touches such as call simulation so you don't
have to keep ringing your own phone whilst you're designing youir system.
Keith seems pretty reponsive to ideas and problems.
Supervoice
Vendor : Pacific Image Communications, Inc.
Website : http://www.pacimage.net/supervoice/sv2x-features.htm
Download : http://www.pacimage.net/supervoice/sv-downloads.htm
Price : US$69, Pro US$90
Platform : Windows 95/NT/98/Me/2k/XP, Windows 3.1 (v2.2)
The 16 bit version of this "complete telephony" product came with my
Pace modem and I didn't care for it that much. It's often bundled
with modems.
PIC is now going seriously upmarket - the basic package used to cost only $20, although it is probably
good enough for most people, with multiple voicemail boxes, fax on demand and the like.
Hotfax Message Center
Website : http://www.smithmicro.com
Someone posted that it was good - now has a Mac version.
Smartcom Message Centre LE
Comes with Hayes modems, probably about the best of the bundled programs.
FaxTalk Messenger Pro
Vendor : Thought Communications, Inc.
Website : http://www.faxtalk.com/products/ftmp/
Download : http://www.faxtalk.com/products/ftmp/trial/trialreg.htm
Price : US$90
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT TAPI
As the name suggests, Thought's products concentrate on providing full
faxing capabilities, but have pretty decent telephony features as well.
They maybe lack some of the cooler features of other products, but look
to do the basics well, and should definitely be on your list if you need
to do a lot of fax-related work. They used to have a Windows 3.1 product,
Faxtalk Messenger, which may still be available but is no longer on their
website.
Message Server Communication Suite
Vendor : MAW Consulting
Website : http://www.mawnet.com/messageserver.html
Download : http://www.mawnet.com/ms_eval.html
Price : US$115 or US$200
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT TAPI
This is another program that is mostly aimed at IVR applications rather
than personal telephony, but unlike Phrontline, it can do some outgoing
functions such as faxing/paging/email etc. It looks like it would be particularly
useful where you need to transfer the data entered by users to other applications
such as Excel or databases. It can also monitor another application and
send an alert if parameters exceed preset values. MAW are particularly
proud of their script designer, but I don't see how it improves on that
offered by others in the field. MAW also offer Look
Who Is Calling.
Yoyoland
The classic Mac program now has a version for Windows 95 (TAPI) and
NT (COM only) - see main entry in the Mac
section.
ComPhone
Vendor : Russell Crews
Website : http://www.crews-net.com
Download v2 : http://www.crews-net.com/Download/cp_v2.exe
Price : US$30
Platform : "Windows 95/98/2000" TAPI
; v1.3 is non-TAPI so will work on NT
Screenshot : http://www.crews-net.com/comphone/images/comphone.jpg
The interface looks quite nice, and it's good that there's a non-TAPI
version. Russell also has a Caller ID voicemail program, Commail.One cute
feature is that these programs respond to withheld numbers with the noise
of a disconnected line, so that autodial systems will remove the line from
telemarketing lists.
PC Phone
Vendor : Vodavi Technology, Inc.
Website : http://www.vodavi.com/download_area.asp
Price : ?? Free
Platform : Windows 3.0 upwards?
Despite dating back to 1994, PC Phone is a well featured 16 bit telephony
program, although the interface is somewhat .... uninvolving. However,
its connectivity is good, with special links to Goldmine and anything else
that can talk to it via DDE. Definitely worth checking out, although
Vodavi no longer seem to support it.
Com2001
Formerly a decent personal telephony package, the company has now renamed itself Alexis, taken investment from Dell and become a 'virtual call centre' company.
Link
Vendor : Page Telecomputing, bought by Intraco
Systems, Inc
Platform : Windows 3.1, 95/8, NT TAPI or TSAPI
It appears that Page and Intraco are noLooks like a nice telephony package,
targeted as a telephony addon for Goldmine, Telemagic and Act! users, but
I think it can be used as a standalone program. However, it appears
that shares in Intraco (since renamed Investco) have been suspended and I
guess they're no longer with us.
Phone Tools
Vendor : BVRP, France
Website : http://www.bvrp.com/eng/produits/phonetools/feature.asp
Download :
http://www.bvrp.com/ENG/download/default.asp
Price : €43, eXPert €88
Platform : Seem to be versions for Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, Me, 2k, XP
Since BVRP bought Trio's OEM business
in January 1999 (see next), they've come to dominate the market for software
bundled with modems, at least in Europe. They have localised versions for
the UK, US, France, francophone countries, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal
and Spain. More recently they've brought out Phone Tools eXPert, which adds more network/DSL-aware features, SMS and the now obligatory webcam monitor.
Trio Communications Suite
Vendor : BVRP, France (formerly Trio Communications of Sweden)
This has been bundled with a lot of modems, and apparently was OK if
not outstanding. However, Trio have evidently decided to focus on
high-end CTI products beyond the scope of this
FAQ, and sold
their OEM division to BVRP (see Phone Tools, above) in January 1999.
Intellect
Vendor : Clearwave
Website : http://www.clearwave.com/soft.htm
Download : http://www.clearwave.com/downld.htm
Price : ?freeware or US$50 for Plus version
Platform : Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT or OS/2
General telephony program that looks a little dated, but is quite sophisticated
- it
claims to offer TAPI for Windows 3.1 users ?!? It integrates with ACT,
Maximizer, GoldMine, Commence, Time&Chaos, and Winfax.
PhoneMax
Vendor : Active Voice Corporation
Website : http://www.activevoice.com
Platforms: Windows 3.1, 95, NT 4.0
Another 'simple' product that has apparently been abandoned by a company
moving into the CRM world. One good thing about it was that it integrated
with lots of different things - Act!, Access, Goldmine, Outlook, Lotus Organiser,
Maximiser and Telemagic among many others.
Winfax
Vendor : Symantec
Website: http://www.symantec.com
Technical support groups: service.symantec.com
Price: ~£70 + VAT
Does most things, but you've got to fight Symantec's unwillingness
to serve non-US customers.
Voiceguide
Vendor : Katalina Technologies
Website : http://www.katalina.com.au
Download : http://www.katalina.com.au/vgDownload.htm
Price : US$99
Platform : Windows 3.1 and 32 bit versions
Screenshots : http://katalinatech.com/vgScreenshots.htm
Sophisticated program particularly geared towards custom voicemail
applications, although it also does call logging, paging, faxback etc.
Looks great value for money, the system requirements are low, and it's
well worth having a play with. However, it stores its records as Access
databases, which I assume means that you have to put up with the JET database
engine.
Sadly Katalina have dropped their freeware CIDView popup program.
IDentification Data Retrieval System 2001
Vendor : Security Products InterNational, Inc.
Website : http://www.securityproducts.net
Price : probably expensive
Platform : Windows
High-end call management solution for ?Bellcore, geared towards the
security industry - they're particularly into their voiceprinting and biometrics.
Phone Assistant
Vendor : BrightArrow Technologies, LLC
Website : http://www.brightarrow.com/
Price : ???
Platform : Windows 95/98
This looks a realy nifty piece of software, unfortunately I fear it's
expensive. It doesn't necessarily use Caller ID, rather your callers
say who they are, and PA uses voice recognition to match this up with an
address book.If you aren't taking calls from that person, they go to voicemail;
such messages can then be sent to email. It integrates with Outlook
and Act! address books, and version 2 is in beta. See also Vox
Pro and Cognitel.
Voxpro
Vendor : Oak Telecom Ltd.
Website : http://www.oak.co.uk/
Price : ???
Platform : Windows 3.x, 95, NT
OK, not technically Caller ID software, but voice recognition software
for handling voice mail and the like. Oak also do a call management system
called Advance. Sounds pretty nifty, but won't be cheap.
Quickstar Fax
Vendor : Anthony Mai, Quickstar Software
Website : http://www.qfax.com/software.html
Platform : DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95/8/NT, HP Palmtop, Hebrew, Chinese
versions
Price : free ?!?!
Another program that has grown to include all sorts of telephony facilities.
However, the fact that the Windows versions seem to have been withdrawn
doesn't bode well, and the website looks horrendous. I would look elsewhere
first.
Cognitel
Vendor: NovCom
Website: http://www.novcom.com/products.htm
Price: US$50
Demo: http://www.novcom.com/agreementdemo.htm
Another voice-recognition package, but more aimed at consumers. I've
seen nothing favourable said about it, but Novcom claim that they had problems
with messaging (I assume that was something to do with MS not debugging
the MAPI 'standard' until they'd had time to release their own product
that used MAPI) which are now resolved. They spam Usenet persistently,
but I reserve judgement until I've demo'd it myself.
CTI Interactive at www.cticid.com seem to have disappeared.
Does anyone know anything about Ringer at http://galileo.jpte.hu/~medoc/ringer/
???
