CTI EXPO Fall 1999 brings you 26 unique educational opportunities

As we approach the new millennium, it is clear that the communications industry is growing at an incredible rate and it is impossible to keep up with all the new product announcements that straddle the edge of the once disparate space between telecom and datacom. The last decade has witnessed companies like Novell, Microsoft, Lucent, Cisco and others aid in opening the once proprietary world of telephony, enabling users of communications products and services the same levels of performance/price increases that the PC market takes for granted today. Beyond price and performance, the goal of the above companies and the communications industry as a whole has been to truly open communications so that developers can more easily produce products and services that are useful to a broad range of users.

Can you imagine how useful it would be to have every voice mail system open up and work together so you could transfer messages easily between each system? Don't you find it ridiculous that we still can't connect most voice mail systems? How much productivity is wasted because we can't forward an important message from an office with brand X PBX to an office with brand Y PBX? In addition, how many times has the average user tried to conference or transfer an important phone call only to disconnect the line due to the truly arcane user interface provided by most every telephone - executive or otherwise - on the market?

There are dozens of products and services that allow voice mail to be sent as MAPI attachments or better yet, allow you to unify your e-mail, fax and voice mail into a single e-mail inbox. Moreover, GUI-based call control based on JAVA, HTML or the native OS has been around for years, empowering users to use their phone systems the way they were meant to, without the fear inherent in using the advanced features of today's phone systems.

The communications market has seen so many product launches in recent history that it is almost impossible for us at TMC(TM)' to keep up with it all, even though we have four publications devoted to covering the communications market. CTr, INTERNET TELEPHONT, COL CENTER SO1UdOW and TMCnet.com are inundated with an aggregate of over a thousand new product announcements and feature updates from the vendor community per month! Mining the truly precious nuggets from the mountains of e-mail and paper releases consumes many of us who aim to provide you with the critical infon-nation that truly aids you in selecting the products you need to succeed.

Twice a year at CTI' EXPO (our next event takes place December 7-9 in Las Vegas), we focus 100 percent on providing you the utmost environment that will aid you in the selection of the products you need to be aware of in the rapidly expanding field of call centers and voice/data convergence. As a former MIS director who had to select products for a living, 1, too, had to make essential purchases for my organization that were vital to our future success. What I found in my career was that hands-on demonstrations of products and technologies in an environment that fostered true education, devoid of hype and sensationalism, was important in allowing me to weigh my options carefully and make truly successful product purchase decisions. We realize your time is limited and purchasing mistakes are intolerable - even disastrous, so we at TMC consider ourselves your partner in making informed purchasing decisions.

Months of planning and organizing have gone into providing you with 26 unique events necessary to help you select the products you need. These educational events help a variety of attendee types because voice and data convergence affects a wide variety of organizations. The following list represents the basic profile of attendees who will benefit from attending CTI"' EXPO.

Call center management. Call center products have advanced more in the last few years than in the last decade! Ecommerce, Web-based call control and multimedia call centers running on packet networks are just a few technologies you must be aware of to prepare your call center for the next millennium.

Enterprise users have dozens of product categories to explore that will dramatically increase their productivity and save many corporate dollars as well. Unified messaging, speech recognition, PC-PBXs and fax servers with Web-based administration are only a few of the products that no enterprise should be without. Internet telephony and Internet fax are saving many corporations millions of dollars per year on their phone bills!

Resellers. By now you've heard that products in the computer-telephony integration field are selling like crazy. The data VAR and Interconnect of yesterday are history. Only a converged reseller, able to handle the needs of its customers' voice and data requirements, can compete effectively in this new, ultra-competitive converged network environment.

Developers. There are so many different platforms to consider. It used to be that board-level components were the only choice, but Lucent and Cisco and others now have open platforms to choose from as well. There are so many options and you should consider your choices carefully before producing your application.

The following 26 educational attractions are unique to CTI' EXPO. Months of planning have gone into making this event the one you need to attend if you are considering any product purchases in the call center and voice/data convergence fields. Other than the conferences, every event listed below is available to exhibit hall attendees who can register for free if they do so before the September 27 deadline.

Six new objective and educational Learning Centers encompassing Linux Telephony, Wireless CTI, Next-Gen Call Center Technology, CT Media, Development/Testing and Public Network CTI.

Live, Multimedia Blended Call Center showing the power of connecting agents over IP and ATM.

Live CRM Demonstration: The products and technology that enable leading-edge customer relationship management (CRM). You'll see field sales, support and back-office stations working in synergy.

Six on-target and objective Conference Tracks: Call Center Technology, Human Resources in the Call Center, Next-Gen Services, Internet Telephony, CTI Technology and a Development Track.

Six dynamic Keynotes from industry leaders.

A Next-Gen Telco In A Booth allows you to see leading-edge services made possible through the use of IP telephony networks. Examples include converged billing and Internet fax.

Live Office Of The Future: Demonstrating a state-of-the-art, productivityenabled office. Examples include unified messaging, GUI-based call control and video conferencing.

A Demo Theater showcasing about a dozen unique vendor presentations of the latest products on the market.

ConvergeNET: An interoperable IP telephony network that encourages multivendor standards compliance in a realworld setting. Before you make your next purchasing decision, come see if the vendors you are considering purchasing from are committed to interoperability.

Consultants' Corner: Talk to an industry expert about your specific technology needs and get valuable recommendations.

Networked Home Pavilion: Affordable remote computing, call center and CTI products for the SOHO market.

At TMC we understand that there are many trade shows to choose from and that is why we endow each of our expos with leading-edge educational opportunities that are unique and critical to your career - allowing you to make informed purchasing decisions that you won't regret later. You come to shows to evaluate products, and by attending CTI(TM) EXPO, you will be sure to acquire all the information you need to make intelligent decisions in a fast-growing field. I urge you to register immediately at www.ctiexpo.com. Registering before September 27 will save you $25. We hope to see you there. LMW

Copyright Technology Marketing Corporation Sep 1999
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