December  2000

The Art Of Telephony

BY KEVIN MAYER

But all these examples are from the mass market, where appeals are directed towards the end user. Surely, the rhetoric of creativity is used more sparingly along the intermediate reaches of the value chain. Well, not exactly. Those who dispense the rhetoric of creativity are just as likely to receive it. Platform providers, developers, and vendors of all types encourage each other to outsource wherever possible -- to avoid "reinventing the wheel" -- and to instead focus on their core competency, their unique value-add. The idea, in broad terms, is to shun that which is mere drudgery, and to embrace that which is stimulating and, ultimately, remunerative. Don't slave, create.

Well, we'd all like to think of ourselves as artists within our own domains. For example, business strategists study The Art of War, and those who speak of revolution seem less likely to fortify barricades than to frequent a salon, counting themselves among the avant-garde, contemplating the shock of the new. But does the rhetoric of creativity have anything more than superficial appeal? I would suppose so, since it is so pervasive and finds such varied expression. However, if I am to accept that the rhetoric of creativity does resonate for many throughout communications, I'm compelled to ask why. What, I ask, does art have to do with communications?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. To see how this may be the case, we just have to consider prevailing trends in communications, putting them in a new light, and comparing them to the processes that give rise to traditional art forms. In communications, the key trends are convergence and the success of mass market components (particularly the incorporation of these components within increasingly specialized and ambitious applications). These two trends -- convergence and "building block" development -- happen to coincide with artistic processes known as genre-crossing and the "elevation of the popular."

MIXING GENRES, REFINING THE BASE
Let's take a closer look at these processes; briefly consider how they work in the arts (music, the visual arts, and literature), and decide how they may apply to communications. If we consult the Art of Fiction, we read that "the artist's primary unit of thought -- his primary conscious or unconscious basis for selecting and organizing the details of his work -- is genre. Whatever genre he chooses, and to some extent depending on which genre he chooses, he writes within, or slightly varies, traditional structures." In the case of music, a composer may elaborate on sonata form or fugal structure, or produce concertos or symphonies. And, while doing so, the composer may hew closely to traditional structures, modify them, or create new structures. He may cross genres, developing symphonic treatments for themes derived from folk songs, for example -- or like Gershwin, Ravel, and Stravinsky -- blend classical technique and American jazz.

This last example, in addition to illustrating genre crossing, also demonstrates the elevation of popular culture. And the same processes also apply to the visual arts. Genre-crossing, for example, is evident when we see compositions pioneered in Biblical illustration modified for use in literary illustration. And elevation of popular culture is evident in the trash collages of Robert Rauschenberg, or Andy Warhol's silk screens of Campbell's soup cans (talk about "off the shelf").

Moving from the visual arts to literature, we can see that here, too, novelty comes chiefly from ingenious genre-crossing or elevation of familiar materials. If we again consult The Art of Fiction, we read that "Shakespeare's most powerful techniques are all results of genre-crossing: his combination of prose and verse to expand the emotional range of drama; his combination of Roman high-style convention with conventions drawn from the English folk plays, rowdy medieval mystery plays (or guild plays), and so on; and his crossing of tragic convention and comic convention for the dark comedies."

And, with respect to literature's elevation of the popular, we read that the novel had its origins in the transformation of trash: "Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders spring, respectively, from the naive shipwreck narrative and the rogue's confession; Pamela and Clarissa add character and plot to the popular collection of epistolary models for the guidance of young ladies; Jonathan Wilde comes from the gallows broadside, or story of the character and horrible crimes of the felon about to be hanged."

WELCOME TO THE SALON
What does all this have to do with communications solutions? Well, let's start with genre-crossing, and ask what might constitute a genre here, in the communications space. You could say that voice communications -- such as that accomplished by traditional, circuit-switched infrastructures -- constitutes a genre. Similarly, IP-based networking could constitute a genre. And, accordingly, packet telephony could be taken as an example of genre-crossing.

It is even possible to apply the principle at a finer level of detail. Consider any overlapping of once-distinct boundaries. Combine the manipulation of databases with call center operations and you've got customer relationship management (CRM). Combine call center functionality with the Internet and you've got the Web-enabled call center, or voice-enabled e-commerce. Combine IVR-style functionality and speech recognition with the Web, and you've got a voice portal. Combine telephony functionality and next-generation networking, and you've got a communications applications service provider (CASP).

It is no surprise, then, that vendor representatives are so touchy about having their companies (or even particular products and services) categorized. For these representatives, familiar labels seldom suffice, and they're often heard to cry, "But we're more than just [fill in the blank]." If only I had a dollar for every time I heard that one.

To give these people their due, they often have a point (and sometimes they don't -- but that's the communications solutions aesthete in me talking). Companies in this space are under constant competitive pressure to "push the envelope," to encompass broader, richer bundles of functionality. Commodity status is anathema. In fact, these companies dread hearing "commodity" quite as much as the aspiring artist fears hearing the critic sniff, "derivative."

THE SHOCK OF THE OPEN
The other process explored in this column -- the elevation of the popular -- is also at work in communications solutions. In this space, the process often accomplishes the sort of change described in The Innovator's Dilemma, which explains how commercial success can leave a technology vulnerable to marginalization, as accretions to an originally clean and elegant innovation result in greater complexity and expense, while a cheaper, simpler alternative takes over low-end applications, incorporates improvements, and ultimately wins mainstream acceptance. And, of course, the alternative may itself become a victim of its own success.

In communications solutions, the elevation process is evident in at least two trends. First, we have the elevation of voice over IP (VoIP) to packet telephony. Originally, VoIP was a curiosity, falling well short of toll-quality voice. However, the VoIP alternative attracted sufficient interest to support initiatives introducing such telephony-grade essentials as quality of service (QoS), signaling capabilities, interoperability, and carrier-level scalability. And now packet telephony has progressed so far that "next-generation network" promises to augment and (over the long term) ultimately replace the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The second trend is the transition from closed, vertically oriented, and proprietary platforms to open, horizontally oriented, and standards-based platforms for the development and deployment of communications solutions. A case in point: CompactPCI, a more-or-less standard combination of embedded processing, a telephony-compatible backplane, and Eurocard packaging, is introducing PC economies of scale to telephony development, including telephony development in the carrier space. Carrier concerns, such as availability and density, are currently the focus of proprietary extensions to the original CompactPCI specification. Eventually, these extensions themselves may be standardized.

THE ELECTRONIC WORD
To return, if briefly, to the world of the visual arts, we could consider an argument developed in The Painted Word, which cheekily suggested that painting hadn't just progressed from Biblical illustration to literary illustration, it had, in the more extreme examples of modern art, finally succeeded in illustrating theories about painting itself. A provocative thesis. Is it possible to see an abstract painting -- which might distill experience and expression into a spatial puzzle or an index of gestures -- in the absence of a persuasive theory?

And would communications technology, itself as abstract as the word "code" would imply, permit a corollary to the argument? Is it possible to understand a technology's significance in the absence of context? If not, then one would hope that anyone attempting to provide such context would be less overbearing than the oppressive critics depicted in The Painted Word. Neither creation nor innovation is a purely intellectual exercise. No formula will suffice to account for the artist's work, any more than mere technique is capable of grinding out useful scientific hypotheses. Intuition counts. Even whimsy counts -- in the sense it may emphasize that all rules are tentative, and that, ultimately, anything goes. The implication, in communications solutions, is that familiarity with a broad range of market spaces could aid in understanding the tumult of technological innovation, for who can say which genres might cross next? Or how the "elevation of the popular" might manifest in the future?

Fortunately, this forum -- this magazine -- is all about context. And, with the benefit of context, it may be easier to see how isolated market spaces -- development components, enterprise systems, customer interaction applications, broadband access, next-gen networking -- relate to each other as well as to greater trends in computing, communications, and convergence. Accordingly, my recommendation is that readers become familiar with this publication, so that they may acquaint themselves with the sources of innovation and change in the communications solutions space. We recognize that innovation emerges from the interstices, the shadow zones where distinctions disappear and categories collapse, where genres cross and the base aspires to the ethereal, and where convergence on IP is the ultimate elixir.

[ Return To The December 2000 Table Of Contents ]

Years ago, when I was on the staff of TMC's Telemarketing magazine (now known as Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine), the editorial staff would sometimes discuss whether, for our purposes, there was any useful distinction between PBXs and ACDs. Nearly every PBX of interest to us offered ACD functionality, if not a suite of call center applications.

And then, a little later, with the introduction of PC-PBXs, several vendors ventured beyond business phone functionality, and emphasized ACD and call center functionality (by this time, TMC had already launched CTI magazine). These vendors included Interactive Intelligence and Buffalo International (now known as Calltrol).

And now, we once again see a gradual unfolding of call center functionality, but this time with the rise of IP-PBXs. To borrow an idea expressed in this column's main text, what we have here is an instance of genre-crossing, between business phone systems and ACD/call center applications. At first, IP-PBXs were hard-pressed to offer anything more than a subset of the business phone functionality that would be taken for granted with a traditional, circuit-switched PBX. However, the IP-PBX is maturing, offering a fuller complement of traditional PBX functions, and -- in some instances -- crossing over into the ACD/call center realm. A few examples:

• 3Com Corporation: Together with marchFIRST, 3Com has introduced Contact Advantage, which the companies characterize as an integrated turnkey contact center for small to mid-sized businesses. Contact Advantage combines 3Com's NBX LAN telephony system with call center software from vendors such as Apropos Technology. Versions of the solution include IP cContact, Web, Contact, and Ultimate Contact. This last version, as the name might suggest, includes CRM functionality.
• Alcatel Internetworking: Offering what it characterizes as a hybrid approach -- which, from a hardware perspective, enables the use of digital phones or IP phones -- Alcatel notes that its OmniPCX 4400 offers not just a full range of PBX functions but also ACD and IVR features, as well as Web-based customer contact center functionality.
• Avaya Communications: In a flurry of announcements following its spin-off from Lucent, Avaya indicates its IP600 Communications Server offers a full range of PBX features -- including voice mail, fax messaging, message manager, and site administration applications -- as well as IP customer contact center functionality that supports advanced call routing. Avaya characterizes the new products as Enterprise Class IP Solutions, or ECLIPS products. Presumably this name is meant to suggest that IP-based systems are eclipsing traditional PBXs.
• Cisco Systems: Building on its AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data) framework, Cisco announced that its enterprise-oriented IP telephony systems wil encompass "enhanced customer care through convergence." Specifically, Cisco cited these solutions: the IP Contact Center (IPCC), the Cisco Auto-Attendant, and the Cisco Web Attendant. The IPCC, which is based on the Cisco Intelligent Contact Management software, includes such capabilities as intelligent call routing, ACD functionality, network-to-desktop CTI, and consolidated reporting.
• Vertical Networks: In partnership with Interactive Intelligence, Vertical announced a portfolio of integrated call center solutions for its InstantOffice Integrated Communications Platform. Vertical, which is focusing on branch offices and small businesses, plans two offerings: the entry-level Call Routing and Queuing (CRQ) and the more feature-rich InstantOffice Contact Center (IOCC), which offers such functionality as ACD, skills-based routing, multimedia queuing, IVR, and reporting and Web capabilities.

With these examples, the trend is clear: IP-PBX vendors are carrying out a form of genre-crossing so that they may enrich their offerings and differentiate themselves from their competition. What's next? More genre-crossing, and more differentiation. We can anticipate that further announcements in this space will include moves to greater scale, elaboration of call center and e-commerce capabilities, integration with broadband access technologies and partnerships with service providers (to create communications ASP offerings), and moves towards optimizing applications for various vertical markets.

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