Telephony Glossary - Page 9

SoftPhone - A TSAPI- and TAPI-compliant application from AnswerSoft that provides basic telephony at the PC and provides interfaces to Windows-based PIMs.

Software Development Kit (SDK) - A kit provided to ISVs or programmers to facilitate the development of software for a specific operating system or an API. For example, CallVisor®/PC is sold as a Software Development Kit (SDK) to ISVs, who may then bundle CallVisor®/PC with their own applications.

SoundByte - A TSAPI- and TAPI-compliant PEC'd ISV from Envision Telephony that records and plays back conversations over the phone. Can be set up to help supervisors observe and train agents, to help agents keep records of conversations, or both.

Splits - A group of extensions that receives calls for a specific purpose. Normally, calls to a split arrive over one or a few trunk groups.

Stratus - A computer manufacturer that has developed a computer-specific API to provide mapping between some of its computers and ASAI. (See also SAI.)

Stratus Adjunct Interface - See SAI.

Stratus Adjunct Interface (SAI) - A computer-specific API that allows Stratus's UNIX® fault-tolerant computers to connect to the DEFINITY® G3 through the CallVisor® ASAI Gateway.

Structured Query Language (SQL) - A language for defining and using relational databases, supported by most database programs.

Sun -

Switch Computer Application Interface (SCAI) - Term used by ANSI to describe its CTI standards activities.

Switch-oriented CTI - A CTI implementation that can monitor and control many telephones and other devices connected to a switch. Examples are CallVisor ASAI, CallVisor PC, and PassageWay Telephony Services. Sometimes called "Third-party CTI."

SyBase® - A popular SQL database application.

Systems integrator - An organization that assembles, tests, implements, and supports multi-vendor solutions.

T-Object '95 - New ASAI-compliant graphical object-oriented development tools from Genesys.

T-Server - CTI middleware from Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories that is compatible with most major telephony switches on the market, and on which Genesys has built a range of CTI applications. T-Server integrates public or private switches, ACDs, IVRs, voice mail systems, and predictive dialing technologies with other software applications to deliver CTI capabilities to existing customer databases.

T1 line - A digital transmission line that provides 24 communications channels in one consolidated circuit. Among the most common connections used in telephony.

Tandem - A computer manufacturer that has developed a computer-specific API to provide mapping between some of its computers and ASAI. (See also CAM.)

Telephone Application System (TELAS) - Siemens' CTI programming environment.

Telephone Service or Sales Representative (TSR) - The Service or Sales Representative staffing the phone.

Telephony - Traditionally used to describe the ability to transmit data via telephone wires and wireless equipment. Sometimes used to refer to a linkage between telephones and computers.

Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) - Microsoft's protocol for linking Windows-based TAPI-compliant applications to single telephones connected to switches or to the switches themselves. The API used in PassageWay™ Direct Connection.

Telephony Server - A computer used to control routing and operation of phone calls. May or may not be a dedicated server (a server dedicated to a single use). Communicates between the switch and the LAN.

Telephony Services - See PassageWay™ Telephony Services.

Telephony Services Application Programming Interface (TSAPI) - A multi-user CTI interface developed jointly by Lucent Technologies and Novell for linking NetWare networks to telephone switches, to which independent software vendors (ISVs) can develop CTI applications. The API used in PassageWay™ Telephony Services.

Telephony Services Application Programming Interface (TSAPI) Library - Set of specific CTI capabilities that software developers can write into their TSAPI-compliant applications. Capabilities include API Control Services, Basic Call Control, Routing, and Status Reporting.

Telephony-enable - To enable a computer application to function as a CTI application. For example, an organization with a DEFINITY® switch and a Call Center with a NetWare LAN might purchase PassageWay™ Telephony Services and use FastCall™ or Sixth Sense® to create macros or scripts that use switch information to trigger screen pops on agents' PC screens.

Terminal emulation - A process that allows a PC on a network to communicate with a host computer (minicomputer or mainframe) as though it were a dumb terminal designed to work with the host.

Third Party Call Control - One of ASAI's eight Application Service Elements (ASEs), which allows the application on the host to control other end points on the switch.

Third-party CTI - See Switch-oriented CTI.

Token Ring - A network architecture in which PCs on the network pass data in the form of a "token" around a ring of nodes or stations. (See also Ethernet.)