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Dataflex brings voice routing to corporates

SmartGem Manager takes call control away from telcos

Line-powered diallers -- currently used by telcos to route customers voice and fax calls over their alternative networks -- could soon be employed by corporates to take advantage of Internet telephony. SmartGem Manager from Dataflex Design Communications is a Windows NT and SQL Server-based system designed to enable least-cost routing diallers to be remotely configured overnight. The company claims that a single NT server connected to an ISDN 30 link could make up to 250,000 re-configuration calls per month or, when clustered together, service up to five million diallers. While the technology exists to enable international voice calls to be routed cheaply over Internet and Intranet connections, the ordinary corporate employee can't take advantage of such connections. However, using SmartGem it would be possible to transparently intercept fax, modem and voice calls and route them via corporate Internet connections. Employees wouldn't have to dial special pre-fixes or press any special blue buttons, the diallers handle all the necessary routing. So if a business sets up a branch in Sao Paulo, Brazil then all Latin American calls could be routed via an installed Intranet link. The system could even be deployed to use different ISP networks at different times of the day. To date SmartGem has been sold almost exclusively to telephone companies, but Dataflex is looking at ways of reaching businesses who wish to take advantage of multiple carriers of which there are literally hundreds in the UK. Formerly part of the Amstrad Group and now run with backing from venture capitalists, MTI, Dataflex was formerly best known as a UK-based modem manufacturer. However, demand for its diallers -- currently at around 130,000 per month -- is now way above the volumes achieved during is heyday as a modem manufacturer, claimed Gerry O'Prey, Dataflex's technical director. ® Click for more stories

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