The Terminology Behind The Solution
Muddling through an alphabet soup of acronyms can be quite confusing when making an informed choice for a communications provider. BTI Communications Group, Ltd., wants to help you better understand the technology behind our innovative ProfitSolutions™ process by offering an explanation of some of the most frequently used terms and definitions in the industry.
VoIP
VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a process of sending voice telephone signals over the Internet or other data network. If the telephone signal is in analog form (voice or fax), the signal is first converted to a digital form. Packet routing information is then added to the digital voice signal so it can be routed through the Internet or data network.
Internet Telephony
A category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls. For users who have free, or fixed-price Internet access, Internet telephony software essentially provides inexpensive telephone calls anywhere in the world. Internet telephony products are sometimes called IP telephony, Voice over the Internet (VOI) or Voice over IP (VOIP) products.
TCP/IP
Internet Protocol, or IP, specifies the format of (data) packets, also called datagrams, and the addressing scheme. Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a destination and a source. IP by itself is something like the postal system. It allows you to address a package and drop it in the system, but there's no direct link between you and the recipient. TCP/IP, on the other hand, establishes a connection between two hosts so that they can send messages back and forth for a period of time.
CTI
Computer-Telephony-Integration (CTI) refers to systems that enable a computer to act as a call center, accepting incoming calls and routing them to the appropriate device or person. Today's CTI systems are quite sophisticated and can handle all sorts of incoming and outgoing communications, including phone calls, faxes, and Internet messages.
ACD
Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) is a telephone facility that handles incoming calls and manages them based on a database of handling instructions.
WAP
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a secure specification that allows users to access information instantly via handheld wireless devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smartphones and communicators. WAPs that use displays and access the Internet run what are called microbrowsers – browsers with small file sizes that can accommodate the low memory constraints of handheld devices and the low-bandwidth constraints of a wireless-handheld network.
CRMCustomer Relationship Management (CRM) entails all aspects of interaction a company has with its customer, whether it be sales or service related. Computerization has changed the way companies are approaching their CRM strategies because it has also changed consumer-buying behavior. With each new advance in technology, especially the proliferation of self-service channels like the Web (World Wide Web) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phones, more of the relationship is being managed electronically. Organizations are therefore looking for ways to personalize online experiences (a process also referred to as mass customization) through tools such as help-desk software, e-mail organizers and Web development applications.
IVR
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a telephony technology in which someone uses a touch-tone telephone to interact with a database to acquire information from or enter data into the database. IVR technology does not require human interaction over the telephone as the user's interaction with the database is predetermined by what the IVR system will allow the user to access. For example, banks and credit card companies use IVR systems so that their customers can receive up-to-date account information instantly and easily without having to speak directly to a person. IVR technology is also used to gather information, as in the case of telephone surveys in which the user is prompted to answer questions by pushing the numbers on a touch-tone telephone.
T-1
A T-1 line is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544Mbits per second. A T-1 actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit/second channel can be configured to carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies allow you to buy just some of these individual channels, known as fractional T-1 access. T-1 lines are sometimes referred to as DS1 lines.
IVAD
Integrated Voice and Data often runs on a single T-1. This technology uses a high-speed switching technology called ATM to provide up to 32 lines and up to 1.5 MB of data or Internet access over a single 1.5 MB T1.
ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a network technology based on transferring data in cells or packets of a fixed size. The cell used with ATM is relatively small compared to units used with older technologies. The small, constant cell size allows ATM equipment to transmit video, audio, and computer data over the same network, and assure that no single type of data hogs the line. ATM creates a fixed channel, or route, between two points whenever data transfer begins. This differs from TCP/IP, in which messages are divided into packets and each packet can take a different route from source to destination. This difference makes it easier to track and bill data usage across an ATM network, but it makes it less adaptable to sudden surges in network traffic.
Editor’s Note: Definitions for terminology contained on this page were compiled from a variety of sources.