Hi,
I wanted to update people on the latest developments of Portus Group,
specifically with respect to Common Lisp development.
2003 and 2004 brought several telephony-related challenges to our
company, and we were able to acheive them by adding additional features
to PortusConnect, which is our Lisp-based telephony application.
Last year, we developed an email-to-voice gateway that we hope will be
released this coming year (when it comes out, I'll follow up here, so
you guys can play with it). I think it's a great service, and
hopefully people will give it a try. We have also developed a
general-purpose appointment notification system, currently being used
by medical offices and clinics including the New York Sinus Center:
http://www.nysinuscenter.com
We also managed to add feature to PortusConnect that our customers
asked for, including:
o drop detection
o SIT tone detection
o Reorder/Fastbusy tone detection
o bridging/conferencing
o synchronous client interface
o caller ID decoding
o fax integration
We are still selling licenses on a per-server model, so customers are
not limited as far as how many ports they may use. A single server can
easily handle 60 concurrent lines, and each with its own custom
programming if necessary.
We also include server assembly, including custom installations of the
Linux on the PortusConnect servers. As always, you can run your
applications from anywhere, since PortusConnect is a client/server
application. Currently, we have delivered applications on both Windows
and Linux, and by Q2 all of our applications will be ported to Mac OS X
as well (thanks to LispWorks, and its portable CAPI library). We also
offer Web-based applications, hosted off of your PortusConnect server
where requested (using Portable Allegroserve).
Portus Group is also an authorized reseller of the Artisoft TeleVantage
software PBX phone system (www.artisoft.com). PortusConnect's features
are greatly enhanced when running with TeleVantage, since PortusConnect
can leverage all of the features of TeleVantage, including:
o call recording
o least-cost (optimal) routing
o call transfer
o conference bridge
o database-backed IVR applications with real-time text-to-speech
Some examples of applications that Portus Group can help you build are:
o fax-on-demand service:
This is when you have a set of important documents that people may
want faxed to them (esp. those who don't use the Internet, email,
etc.) You provide a phone number, which they call into, they go
through the prompts, and then select the document(s) they want
faxed
to them. They enter in a phone number, and the document(s) get
faxed
to them.
o call recording system:
We offer several ways to do this. Our PBX (TeleVantage) has a
complete set of recording rules, and records as WAV files,
directly
to the hard drive. But if you already have a phone system, and
are
happy with it, then PortusConnect can share your lines, and auto-
matically record phone calls (also as WAV files).
o IVR-based information system:
Call into a system and get dynamic information (e.g. MovieFone).
This is completely general, and using an SQL database, you can
do just about anything, and have it integrated with the content
on your website, etc. For example, you may offer your customers
a self-help menu, where they can get information after entering
in some information (e.g. a customer number and a PIN).
o message notification system:
Mentioned above, this is an outbound application that can be used
to
confirm appointments, relay important messages, etc. Because the
applications are interactive, it's possible to be certain of who
got the message.
o Call Screening:
Use PortusConnect as a front-end to screen your calls, send calls
to
voicemail, etc.
o Caller privacy and anonymization:
Create your own switchboard, with separate IDs, so that person X
can
connect with person Y without knowing respective numbers, or
seeing
caller IDs. For example, if you have an idea for an application
where
people may want to discuss things, either in a group of 2, or
more, and
where people can dial in or be dialed, then you can use
PortusConnect.
In case this isn't clear, suppose you have a database of phone
numbers
associated with your user accounts. Your application can
determine
who is allowed to call whom, but you avoid having to publish the
numbers.
There are many applications for this, and we are happy to discuss
their
viability.
o Email-to-Voice gateway:
Write filters to have important emails forwarding to your gateway,
and
then have the system call you and offer to read them to you.
o Real-time line monitoring:
PortusConnect can do more than just record all activity on a line,
but
also monitors all other activity, such as on- and off-hook states,
DTMF keys, dial tones, ringbacks, etc. So you can always get a
text-
based feed on any line in your system, as well as be able to
output
commands onto those lines.
o Pay-by-Phone:
Offer your customers the ability to pay by phone, using an
automated
system. (Incidentally, we also sell credit card processing and
Internet
gateway processing services). Tie into your billing system and
accept
payment 24/7.
I would like to list more applications, but these should at least serve
as a starting point.
Those interested can send email directly to ยทยทยทยท@portusgroup.com
dave bakhash