MetaSwitch unveiled an array of new features and capabilities for its IP communications platform for service providers.
Some highlights of the 100+ enhancements included in the MetaSwitch Version 7.0 release:
- MetaSphere Easy Attendant — Specifically tailored to the needs of small businesses, MetaSphere Easy Attendant offers an automated receptionist with exceptional ease of use and administration. Fully integrated with MetaSwitch’s CommPortal Web user interface, Easy Attendant allows callers to listen to recorded messages and transfer to specific departments or individuals, including the ability to dial by extension and transfer directly to a voicemail account to leave a message.
- CommPortal Phone Applications — MetaSwitch’s hosted IP PBX features and enhanced applications are now available on Aastra’s SIP telephones, enabling carriers to offer an integrated suite of applications directly to the screens of their customers’ IP phones. These new XML applications allow subscribers to access advanced functions quickly and easily, without having to open a web browser or even turn on their PC. The new features include: Message List, Network Contacts, Network Call Lists, Hot Desking and Service Provisioning.
- CommPortal Widgets — Widgets allow carriers to embed some of the most valuable communication features right in the subscriber’s homepage or desktop. Access to CommPortal features is seamlessly integrated, enhancing the subscriber experience. Initially, four environments are supported: iGoogle homepage, Windows Vista Sidebar, Google Desktop and the Mac OS X Dashboard. CommPortal Widgets provide the most commonly-used features, including message lists, recent call lists, click-to dial, and a quick-launch button. Unlike many widgets and gadgets seen today, which are often described as ‘proof of concept”, ‘beta”, or ‘prototype”, CommPortal Widgets are fully system tested, supported by MetaSwitch, and easily brandable, ready for carrier deployment.
- Enhanced Emergency Standalone (ESA) — The ESA capability in MetaSwitch’s MG Series media gateways supports highly resilient distributed network architectures by allowing a level of subscriber service to be maintained even after catastrophic events such as high-level network failure or the destruction of a central office. The ESA capability already protects subscribers connected via GR-303 digital loop carriers and MGCP access gateways, enabling them to make and receive local calls or calls over any kind of TDM trunk even when the MG Series gateway is unable to contact its controlling Call Agent. From V7.0, SIP subscribers, and subscribers connected to H.248 gateways, can now also make and receive calls, including emergency calls, while the Call Agent is uncontactable, making full ESA capabilities available across all major legacy and next generation access protocols.
- MetaView CSR — MetaView CSR provides carriers’ customer service representatives (CSRs) with a simple, web-based interface to subscriber records and diagnostics without requiring the installation of any software on their PCs. Dedicated specifically to a carrier’s CSR, it allows for a quick and efficient response to the most common customer inquiries and requests from any Web browser. In addition, its flexible architecture, built on MetaSwitch’s CommPortal Web 2.0 platform, can be easily extended or integrated with other Web-based operational support systems.
The announcements were made in conjunction with the 6th annual MetaSwitch Forum 2009 being held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
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