Installation/Configuration

EsnaTech provided us with a turnkey system -- the Telephony Office-LinX software was already installed with the basic analog configuration completed. Initially the system would only route calls via DTMF inputs. EsnaTech walked us through upgrading the license key using their License Upgrade Utility (shown below). Once this was done, the auto attendant would accept both DTMF and voice inputs.

License Upgrade Utility

To import our directory of 500 names, we used the LDAP Importer Tool that comes with Telephony Office-LinX. This Windows-based GUI made it possible for us to import our .XLS file, designate appropriate mailboxes and other default settings, and complete the input into the Telephony Office-LinX database.

We ran into a few importing issues and had to repeat the process twice. First, the LDAP Importer Tool allowed us to import users with 4-digit extensions even though the Telephony Office-LinX system was set up for 3-digit extensions. We noticed this problem when we opened up the administrative GUI and saw that the extensions were only three digits long; the importation process had truncated the last digit and loaded extension 100 for the first 10 users; so we changed the Telephony Office-LinX settings to support 4-digit extensions, deleted the users, and performed the import process again.

After this second import, everything looked fine in the administrative GUI -- the extensions and mailboxes were shown as the correct 4-digit values. However, we found that when we called into the system, calls would not route properly -- the system didn't seem to understand any of the names that were in the directory and the calls were not routed.

After talking to our EsnaTech technical support representative, he determined that while the mailboxes showed up as 4-digit mailbox numbers in the administrative GUI, the Telephony Office-LinX configuration was still set to only deal with 3-digit mailboxes. So we changed the Telephony Office-LinX configuration through the administrative GUI to use 4-digit mailboxes, which resulted in proper call routing.

Overall, CT Labs rated the Telephony Office-LinX installation and configuration an 8.0.

Documentation/Integrated Help

EsnaTech provided us with their full documentation set for the Telephony Office-LinX product -- a total of eight documents in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. We evaluated the two documents that pertained to the ASR AA part of Telephony Office-LinX -- the 372-page Server Installation Guide, and the 544-page Server Configuration Guide. Both guides were well-written and nicely organized, with plenty of helpful graphics and screenshots. Neither guide had an index, so the reader has to rely on the Table of Contents or the Acrobat search feature to navigate. The other issue CT Labs found was a lack of troubleshooting help.

For the integrated help evaluation, we reviewed the online help files for the TOLAdmin GUI and the LDAP Importer Tool GUI. Both were typical help files, with Contents, Search, and Index tabs. We found that both were well-organized, with helpful index listings, and the ability to easily find related topics with the Search tab. The main complaint, again, was that there was very little troubleshooting help included.

Overall, CT Labs rated the Telephony Office-LinX documentation and integrated help as an 8.5.

Features

See the Full CT Labs Report for a more full list of features. Some of the things that caught our eye included:

• Directory Import -- The LDAP import utility allows for imports of any size directory that are LDAP compliant.

• Duplicate Names in Directory -- You can have unlimited duplicate first or last names and the system will announce them one by one and give the caller the choice of choosing the correct destination.

• Multiple Names for Users -- You can create an unlimited number of names per user in the directory listing, using nicknames, or alternate spellings of names.

• Second-Level Prompting to Resolve Name Conflicts -- A caller will be given a chance to confirm the name of the person spoken, and correct the name if it is misunderstood.

• TTS Name Pronunciation -- Using Scansoft's Realspeak, any names that are not recorded by the user will be pronounced by the TTS engine.

• Barge-In Mode -- The callers can speak at any time during the prompt to say the name of the person they wish to speak with.

• Prompted Response Mode -- Upon hearing a name that does not meet the best accuracy level, the caller is prompted to verify the name; if more than one name is found, then the caller can say 1 for person a, 2 for person b, etc.

• High-Confidence Transfers without Confirmation -- Once a name is found to be higher than a certain accuracy threshold (configurable) then the call is automatically transferred without the need for confirmation.

• Language Versions -- English, French, Euro French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, UK English, plus all Nuance 8.0 supported languages. You can support 9 languages simultaneous.

Admin UI

For this evaluation we reviewed the LDAP Importer Tool and the TOLAdmin administrative GUI. The LDAP Importer Tool is a Windows-based GUI (shown below) that supports mass importation of users from a database or CSV file.

We found this GUI to be mostly easy to figure out with assistance from the online help file. The biggest negative: it does not stop you from importing improperly formatted items, like when we tried to import 4 digit extensions when the system was set to use 3-digit numbers.

LDAP Importer Tool

The TOLAdmin GUI is the main administrative GUI for Telephony Office-LinX. As this GUI is a Microsoft Common Console Document (.MSC file), it presents information in the common expandable menu tree format, with selected topic details presented on the right-hand side as shown below. Opening an editable item will spawn another dialog box, where a particular user's mailbox is being edited. We found this GUI with its descriptive icons and labels easy to navigate.

TOLAdmin GUI -- Mailbox maintenance window open.