Hi,
I'm writing the newsgroup to let CL users know that we (Portus) have
developed high-quality telephony systems done completely in Common
Lisp.
With this, you can build your own IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
systems completely in Common Lisp. Everything runs under both Linux
and Win32.
We are just releasing the product now for the first time, and would
like to promote it. If you use CL and are interested in a
telephony-based system (voicemail, call routing, tele-banking,
customer support, web-interface, dynamic information updating with
text-to-speech (english and spanish), DTMF detection, database
interface, etc.) then visit us at:
http://portusgroup.com
or give us a call. Our telephony products are describe at:
http://portusgroup.com/portusconnect/index.html
thanks,
Dave Bakhash -- ····@portusgroup.com
Portus Group -- http://portusgroup.com
tel: (212) 560-0750
fax: (212) 560-0748
Dave Bakhash wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm writing the newsgroup to let CL users know that we (Portus) have
> developed high-quality telephony systems done completely in Common
> Lisp.
> telephony-based system (voicemail, call routing, tele-banking,
> customer support, web-interface, dynamic information updating with
> text-to-speech (english and spanish), DTMF detection, database
> interface, etc.) then visit us at:
completely in Common Lisp ?
u use no other moduls (own or third-party) that are written in other
languages?
please confirm.
ilias <·······@pontos.net> writes:
> > developed high-quality telephony systems done completely in Common
> > Lisp. telephony-based system (voicemail, call routing,
> > tele-banking, customer support, web-interface, dynamic information
> > updating with text-to-speech (english and spanish), DTMF detection,
> > database interface, etc.) then visit us at:
>
> completely in Common Lisp ?
>
> u use no other moduls (own or third-party) that are written in other
> languages?
Yes. even the driver interface is done in CL, using FFI (called FLI in
LispWorks, which is what we use).
dave
Oops! Dave Bakhash <·····@alum.mit.edu> was seen spray-painting on a wall:
> ilias <·······@pontos.net> writes:
>
>> > developed high-quality telephony systems done completely in Common
>> > Lisp. telephony-based system (voicemail, call routing,
>> > tele-banking, customer support, web-interface, dynamic information
>> > updating with text-to-speech (english and spanish), DTMF detection,
>> > database interface, etc.) then visit us at:
>>
>> completely in Common Lisp ?
>>
>> u use no other moduls (own or third-party) that are written in other
>> languages?
>
> Yes. even the driver interface is done in CL, using FFI (called FLI in
> LispWorks, which is what we use).
Well, since it runs on Linux, written in C, and Win2K, apparently
written in C/C++, it's not "all Lisp, all the way down." But short of
running it on Symbolics, that's not an option, right?
Thanks for mentioning LispWorks; I was wondering what CL it used. Is
there any worthwhile commentary concerning "vendor stability" issues,
what with Harlequin likely having disappeared during the project?
That obviously didn't turn into a disaster; is there any worthwhile
comment to make on things actually being a lot better than "not quite
a disaster?"
Did XAnalys (a rather unfortunate name, for anyone doing filtering of
"x-rated sites containing the substring 'anal'") provide decent
assurance of continued tool availability?
--
(reverse (concatenate 'string ····················@" "454aa"))
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/emacs.html
"A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an ``intellectual'' --
find out how he feels about astrology." - Lazarus Long
Christopher Browne <········@acm.org> writes:
> >> u use no other moduls (own or third-party) that are written in other
> >> languages?
> >
> > Yes. even the driver interface is done in CL, using FFI (called FLI in
> > LispWorks, which is what we use).
>
> Well, since it runs on Linux, written in C, and Win2K, apparently
> written in C/C++, it's not "all Lisp, all the way down." But short of
> running it on Symbolics, that's not an option, right?
The driver was written in C++, and compiled with gcc. This comes with
the card, just as most cards come with drivers, and some with the driver
source (usually in C, sometimes in C++).
But it's nice that using the new header file parser that comes with
Xanalys, producing the FFI was facilitated.
> Thanks for mentioning LispWorks; I was wondering what CL it used. Is
> there any worthwhile commentary concerning "vendor stability" issues,
> what with Harlequin likely having disappeared during the project?
> That obviously didn't turn into a disaster; is there any worthwhile
> comment to make on things actually being a lot better than "not quite
> a disaster?"
Xanalys is an excellent vendor, and I don't think that Portus could have
asked for anything more. They were supportive, accommodating, and very
quick to resolve any issue we had. Their tools are documented well
enough to use without too much difficulty (though their docs could
probably be better, I think they're sufficiently good, and their support
site usually fills in the gaps).
Incidentally, we bought a commercial support pack from Xanalys, and it
has been worth the money. For companies working on serious applications
that don't want to wait long before getting fixes and answers, I suggest
paying for a support pack.
> Did XAnalys (a rather unfortunate name, for anyone doing filtering of
> "x-rated sites containing the substring 'anal'") provide decent
> assurance of continued tool availability?
All I'll say is that Xanalys does have a sexy product.
I've complained here and there about certain limitations in LispWorks.
But they are sensitive to the needs of their customers. For example, I
recently told their head of sales that I think they should consider
porting LispWorks to Mac OS X, since it has become my personal OS of
choice, and got a very comprehensive email from one of their senior
developers discussing issues of doing so, and with an optimistic outlook
on it. Knowing them, it'll happen by the time I'm ready to actually
deliver something for an OS X client.
Xanalys, in my opinion, has had the greatest effect on commercial Lisp
programming over vendor or implementation for that matter. Their
implementation of CL is complete, offers the additional features that
most developers feel they need to do work in the real world (e.g. Corba,
a SQL/ODBC interface, multiprocessing, networking, etc.), and is an
affordable product with no royalty fees for delivery, and runs under
several OSs. Their support team is excellent; their sales are
understanding, patient, and generous, and their product is affordable
and top notch.
For us, there was simply no question of what was the right CL
implementation to use -- and that was before they did away with royalty
fees.
dave
From: ilias
Subject: don't miss: refere this 100% Common Lisp project !
Date:
Message-ID: <3D7690FC.1010108@pontos.net>
Dave Bakhash wrote:
> ilias <·······@pontos.net> writes:
>>completely in Common Lisp ?
>>
>>u use no other moduls (own or third-party) that are written in other
>>languages?
>
> Yes. even the driver interface is done in CL, using FFI (called FLI in
> LispWorks, which is what we use).
>
> dave
to all you which have sites that inform about Common Lisp:
please refere to this product, which is an excellent showcase for the
capabilities of LISP in the professional-business-application sector.
(do it for CL, not for me)
Dave,
could you please arrange to release a little deep technical data? I mean
this kind which interest only the group here.
I've recently read something similar about... i think it was IATA
(Airflight-request-system), but don't remember where it was.
I remember only one number that impressed me: allocating 10.000.000 cons
while bypassing the garbage-collector. something like that.
I look a little at your link. It it looks like a large company. Of
course i understand (and i think for the other readers, too) if you have
restriction and cannot release information.
All the best (sales)!
ilias <·······@pontos.net> writes:
> to all you which have sites that inform about Common Lisp:
>
> please refere to this product, which is an excellent showcase for the
> capabilities of LISP in the professional-business-application sector.
>
> (do it for CL, not for me)
I deeply appreciate it. This product took quite a bit of time and
resources to complete, and has an enormous value to companies that want
to be doing advanced telephony, and have complete control from Common
Lisp.
> could you please arrange to release a little deep technical data? I
> mean this kind which interest only the group here.
I think that this is well-warranted. I'll try to put something
together. I'll shoot for a white paper, and some docs, but in order to
do this, I'd want to be sure that people are sincerely interested. So
far, there are about half a dozen people who have expressed some
interested. I'll give it a bit more time.
> I remember only one number that impressed me: allocating 10.000.000
> cons while bypassing the garbage-collector. something like that.
This system has no issues with allocation. It's ultra-efficient, and
can handle quite a bit of load. A single PC should be able to handle
100-line IVR, no problem whatsoever.
> I look a little at your link. It it looks like a large company. Of
> course i understand (and i think for the other readers, too) if you
> have restriction and cannot release information.
Portus Group is not as big as it might have felt on the website.
Because this product is so new, we are being very flexible about how
companies want to use it.
Ideally, though, we would be interested in providing solutions for
companies. I'll follow up soon, and give feedback of what possible
clients are saying, and then let you all know.
Keep in mind that the telephony system can be used for inbound and
outbound calls, and that we can host your application here, if you want.
We have wads of bandwidth...more than we know what to do with. So if
you have a pure telephony idea, application, or automated system, we can
host it too. We can handle (secure) connections to remote databases, as
well as to websites, etc. For example, here's a scenario that would be
completely possible (though pathalogical):
You run a driving range (golf). You can answer phones during office
hours, from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM. Most people that call ask for
directions, or for hours, openings, etc. Some people might want to
schedule times, rentals, etc., be able to find out about pricing, and
then even change/cancel.
Just as you can have a Web-based interface to all of this, you can also
have a phone-based interface, and automated almost every aspect of it.
This is actually not that different from the reason that Portus needed
such a system in the first place.
dave
From: Bill Clementson
Subject: Re: don't miss: refere this 100% Common Lisp project !
Date:
Message-ID: <wkfzwn5794.fsf@attbi.com>
Dave Bakhash <·····@alum.mit.edu> writes:
> ilias <·······@pontos.net> writes:
> > could you please arrange to release a little deep technical data? I
> > mean this kind which interest only the group here.
>
> I think that this is well-warranted. I'll try to put something
> together. I'll shoot for a white paper, and some docs, but in order to
> do this, I'd want to be sure that people are sincerely interested. So
> far, there are about half a dozen people who have expressed some
> interested. I'll give it a bit more time.
I would also be very interested in a technical paper or at least some
more detail on the technology and implementation choices you made.
--
Bill Clementson
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Re: CL and telephony -- Portus CTI products
Date:
Message-ID: <3D76DA42.5070402@nyc.rr.com>
Congratulations!
Dave Bakhash wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm writing the newsgroup to let CL users know that we (Portus) have
> developed high-quality telephony systems done completely in Common
> Lisp.
>
·····@alum.mit.edu (Dave Bakhash) writes:
> I'm writing the newsgroup to let CL users know that we (Portus) have
> developed high-quality telephony systems done completely in Common
> Lisp.
Congratulations! Actually, I was planning to do something similar;
guess I'll have to look for something else, now :-)
Regards,
--
Nils Goesche
"Don't ask for whom the <CTRL-G> tolls."
PGP key ID 0x0655CFA0
On Wed, 04 Sep 2002 22:36:57 +0200, Dave Bakhash wrote:
> u can build your own IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems completely
> in Common Lisp. Everything runs under both Linux and Win32.
>
> We are just releasing the product now for the first time, and would like
> to promote it. If you use CL and are interested in a telephony-base
In your web site, you talk about your Call Center solution. Does your company
provides a product such as a telephony server that makes a kind of
interface between PBX and client applications that need to monitor and
control calls connected to some devices? Does your company integrate any
PBX that support a CTI link? That sounds very interesting!
Regards,
Tedy
Daniel CAUNE <············@in-fusio.com> writes:
> In your web site, you talk about your Call Center solution. Does your
> company provides a product such as a telephony server that makes a
> kind of interface between PBX and client applications that need to
> monitor and control calls connected to some devices? Does your
> company integrate any PBX that support a CTI link? That sounds very
> interesting!
Yes. This is precisely what we do. We integrate computers (over IP),
the telephony cards, and PBXs. We are currently building a custom call
center solution here, and it entails PBX integration, VoIP, and other
important features (for example, hooking into a live application on a
support agent's desktop).
dave
From: Reini Urban
Subject: Re: CL and telephony -- Portus CTI products
Date:
Message-ID: <3D8770A0.2050007@inode.at>
Dave Bakhash schrieb:
> Daniel CAUNE <············@in-fusio.com> writes:
>>In your web site, you talk about your Call Center solution. Does your
>>company provides a product such as a telephony server that makes a
>>kind of interface between PBX and client applications that need to
>>monitor and control calls connected to some devices? Does your
>>company integrate any PBX that support a CTI link? That sounds very
>>interesting!
>
>
> Yes. This is precisely what we do. We integrate computers (over IP),
> the telephony cards, and PBXs. We are currently building a custom call
> center solution here, and it entails PBX integration, VoIP, and other
> important features (for example, hooking into a live application on a
> support agent's desktop).
We have quite an expensive human call center, in german.
And we already have software to monitor and control the calls.
How about the efforts to provide a german version for a large ISP type
of end-user support with their typical end-user configuration problems?
--
Reini Urban - Programmer - http://inode.at
Reini Urban <······@inode.at> writes:
> > the telephony cards, and PBXs. We are currently building a custom
> > call center solution here, and it entails PBX integration, VoIP, and
> > other important features (for example, hooking into a live
> > application on a support agent's desktop).
>
> We have quite an expensive human call center, in german. And we
> already have software to monitor and control the calls. How about the
> efforts to provide a german version for a large ISP type of end-user
> support with their typical end-user configuration problems?
First off, German TTS is a matter of an additional $50 voice font. I'm
not a native speaker of German, so I can't judge the quality...but I
think that it's probably very good.
I can't guess what kind of software you're using to monitor the calls,
but if you wanted a Lisp-based layer of control on top of that software,
on top of your PBX, etc., then we could most likely supply you.
Moreover, being a Lisp programmer, you'd be able to customize it, and
probably implement it all yourself.
dave