Dialogic D/300 JCT-E1 is the entry level board for anyone who needs digital network interface with PSTN network as well as voice resources in the single board. I feel, D/300 board is most used entry

Dialogic D/300 JCT-E1 board

Features of Dialogic D/300 JCT-E1 board

1. Digital Network Interface

It has both E1(2.048MBPS) and T1(1.544 Mbps) support. It supports digital interface network protocols like ISDN PRI, R2MF. ISDN PRI is widely used protocol for connecting CTI board with PBX systems. With D/300 board, it is quite easy to configure it to work with many ISDN variants as per PBX from one country to another or manufacturer.

2. FAX support

Dialogic D/300 board supports both FAX and host based speech recognition. In certain cases, FAX and speech recognition may not work together. It also supports CSP ( Continuous Speech Processing) which offers IVR developers a powerful feature to develop many interesting IVR applications and features depending on the call progress. Speech recognition feature provides IVR developers to develop Speech-Enabled menu for any IVR application.

3. Scalability

Dialogic D/300 supports H.100 connector and it allows it to connect to other Dialogic boards. Inexpensive normal PC can be used to install this board and one PC may install upto 16 boards per machine if PCI slots are available.
With its support for GSM and G.726 bit exact voice coders ( standard for Voice Profile for Internet Messaging (VPIM) , one may develop unified messaging solutions based on D/300 board.

4. Programming

Dialogic D/300 board is supported by many RAD Tools for IVR development. It also supports widely popular GC ( Global Call Protocol) for making many high end, mission critical IVR applications.

Applications

D/300 board can be used to develop any kind of IVR applications. It offers many call related information available with digital network interface protocols. Call bridging available in ISDN PRI is one of the feature which is used to make Click To Call application can be developed.

D/300 board is also ideal choice for starting a voice portal service to start with 30 lines and then increase the lines.

DIalogic has some other models with higher capacity with same features. D/600 and DMV1200 have 60 voice and 120 resources respectively. One may move from D/300 to DMV/1200 without having to make any changes in the application.

Other CTI vendors like Donjin, Synway, Digium too have D/300 equivalent boards. For example, Digium TE122P/TE122B, Synway TEJ Series and Donjin DN300 are Dialogic D/300 equivalent boards with similar features.

Donjin DN300 is equivalent of Dialogic D300-JCT board. It has one E1 connection ( RJ48 ) and 30 voice resources. Recently, I had an opportunity to test a DN300 board with our EPABX of Coral make DX2000. We used our Predictive Auto Dialer Application, written for Dialogic Digital CTI boards.

Donjin DN300 Board

1. Much like its Dialogic counterpart, it has one E1 with RJ48 connectivity for 30 voice resources and built in signaling protocols.
2. It supports ISDN PRI ( widely used now a days), R2MF. It also supports SS7 ( MTP, TUP, ISUP, SCCP) good enough for any voice portal or intelligent IVR applications.
3. It can work with any other voice boards. For example, it can work with Dialogic boards installed in the same machine. It can be very advantageous for upgrading a system with existing Dialogic boards with new Donjin boards.
4. It is quite cheaper than Dialogic equivalent board. Its market price is around Rs. 120,000/- only and if some one buys from www.ivrsworld.com, he will get another 5% discount. You may buy Donjin DN300 Board from here.

We were provided one DN300 board by Donjin India distributor Sunshine Telesoft (P) Limited, Mumbai. We used Coral DX2000 EPABX with E1 ISDN PRI (EURO) protocol.

We were also informed that it we just need to recompile our Dialogic C++ application using Library files of Donjin NADK SDK. So, first we tried to recompile our Dialogic Application! And wow, we got almost 2500 errors! On investigation, we found out that Donjin NADK does not have any C++ header files for its Library files (They use Dialogic header files only)! Also it uses different names for its Library files than Dialogic ones! Technical support team from Sunshine Telesoft has been quick enough to point me out my mistakes and correct them. And next instance, our code for Predictive Auto dialer Application were rebuilt successfully for Donjin board! It took hardly one day!

Next task was to integrate Donjin DN300 board with DX2000 EPABX! It took pretty long time but it was not fault of Donjin DN300 board, but a fault from EPABX. Finally after many days ( almost 40 days), EPABX guys could find a small programming error due to which calls were getting disconnected! Finally they agreed with our ISDN trace ( Donjin has very powerful and easy to use ISDN trace logger, unlike difficult to use Dialogic tools). Changing parameters like CRC status, Trunk mode/Network Mode in Donjin DN300 boards are quite easy compared to that of Dialogic Boards! Once Donjin DN300 with successfully integrated with DX200 EPABX, we run our application for 48 hours.

It made total 600 outgoing calls. Purposefully we made 10 destination numbers busy, 10 destination numbers which did not exist, 10 destination numbers with CRBT(Caller Ringback Tone), 10 numbers on call waiting. Donjin DN300 board could give all status 100% accurately! So we were very happy with Donjin DN300 performance.

Many people may be skeptical about quality of Donjin boards for it is being priced low or it is a Chinese product, but I did not find any problem when it worked for 48 hours. According to me, if it works for 48 hours, it could work for 48 days together. Very soon, we hope to deploy one predictive Auto Dialer System with Donjin DN300 board and would like to update this post with my experience with it.

Contact address for Donjin Boards, in India :-

Manager (Sales)
Website:www.sunshinetelesoft.com
Sunshine Telesoft (P) limited
Suite # 513, Laxmi Mall, New Link Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai, India – 400053.
Tel: +91 22 40 365 365.
Fax: +91 22 40 365 300.

High-End digital CTI boards for a voice portal is not cheap! In fact some of them cost as much as a Honda Civic car in India. So, choosing a right CTI Board for your Voice Portal may not be easy, that is until you read this article .

So, how to choose a CTI Board for your voice portal application ? There are few parameters using which one should choose CTI Board for Voice Portal:-

1. Number of Expected Simultaneous Calls
Most important factor to consider! If you expect simultaneous calls to be not more than four, buy any four channel analog card. But than, most probably it will not remain a voice portal! Ideally, if one should choose a CTI board with 50% more capacity than the expected number of glutenous calls. if some one expects 10-15 calls, he should choose one 30 port Digital CTI board.

2. Time to connect a call
Time taken for connecting a call when an user call is important! It depends of the interface the CTI board supports. For example, CAS R2MF connects much slower than SS7 or ISDN PRI. One will hear “teent teent teent” sound after dialing the Voice Portal before connection. Normally quick and instant connection to Voice Portal is desired.

3. Interface With Switch Support
The type of interfacing with switch of Telecom Provider is important parameter to consider. Many Telecom Service Provider may not have CAS or ISDN protocols on their switch or they may not be willing to provide that connectivity to Voice Portal operators. So, one must consider about available protocol with Telecom Provider before deciding on a CTI board. Interfacing with various protocols is responsible time to connect of calls. SS7 cards are costlier than ISDN PRI or CAS R2MF boards, connects calls almost instantly. And some CTI Manufacturer like Dialogic does not have a combined board which has both Voice Processing and SS7 Signaling so far! This kind of arrangement has its own advantage over combined CTI boards. For example, one can have add more Media Processing (Voice Processing) Boards while keeping one signaling board in one system. Also combined (Signaling and Media Processing) CTI boards do not come in low density configuration, they normally have 8 E1 or more. 4E1 meaning at least 120 simultaneous calls!

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3. Scalability and IVR Software
This is another aspect one should not ignore. If the Voice Portal becomes popular, which is the main aim by any Voice Portal Operator, so the CTI Boards should have scalability feature where increasing number of simultaneous calls should not make existing hardware redundant, or make IVR Software obsolete. Separate boards for signaling and media processing is recommended for scalability. IVR Software should be designed such a way that, it can handle more voice resources without having to re-develop the IVR Software.

4. Support for the CTI Board
Availability of development support as well as quick 24 hours support for any problem in the CTI hardware is a must! Every minutes of downtime of Voice Portal, the operator loses revenue! So, one should choose a CTI vendor which can provide quick support or quick replacement of CTI hardware in case of CTI board failure! Also, CTI Vendor should have active forum to discuss various issues and should have good number of third party developers!

5. Cost
Cost is very important, well for everybody! But, one should not compromise of quality of CTI cards for cost.

My Favourite and Recommended CTI hardware:

1. For 30 to 120 simultaneous Calls.
Start with Dialogic D/300 JCT or DMV1200 card. They have ISDN, R2MF protocol, good support, quite tested CTI board. Many developers have written IVR Software on them! Dialogic has good support, active forum, large number of developers. But since they are the biggest CTI vendor, they may not provide you with a demo card for development of your Voice Portal!
These boards can be even used with Dialogic SS7 Signaling boards.

2. For 240 or more simultaneous calls
1. Synway SHD-240D-CT/PCI
Good Value for money, good support. Built in Signaling and media processing. Cheaper than Dialogic equivalent.
2. Dialogic SPCI4/SPCI2 and DNI2410
Awesome combination, great scalability, very good support and large number of developers as well as very active forum. Cost is almost double that Synway though!

Choosing a CTI( Computer Telephony Integration) card might not be easy for them who are going to deploy them for the first time or who want to develop their first IVR Application. I am trying to give a short introduction of CTI cards and some thumbs rule to pick your first CTI card.

Number of Port Or Number of Channels:
CTI cards come in number of channels or ports! It means number of telephone lines you can connect to the CTI card and number of calls your IVRS will be able to handle simultaneously. So for development purpose, you might be interested in a single port or single channel! But such is life, you will not find any single port CTI cards! The minimum number of ports/channels in a CTI card is normally 4! But then it makes sense! In a real life and real world situations, single port IVRS will be of no use! Even in development, if you could get a single port card to test, how could you make an application which would handle two or more channels/ports? So, you have to buy a 4PORT CTI cards! Be prepared, if you ask any vendor for a CTI Card, first thing they would ask is how many ports or channels! Smartly reply that you are looking for a 4Port card!

Analog or Digital
CTI card should be analog or digital ? well, this is little confusing, it actually means CTI card will connect to Telephone Exchange ( EPABX) using digital technology or analog technology ? By analog technology, we mean a telephone line ( which you connect to a telephone instrument) connectivity to the CTI card. How is it analog ? well, it uses TIP and RING connection, you know there is a call on the phone when there is a RING, and you UNHOOK, or lift the telephone headset to connect the call! You know the caller has disconnected when you hear engage tone! (I hope you know what is and engage tone). So, the analog CTI card detects the RING, unhooks the phone, and it detects ENGAGE TONE and it ONHOOK the phone to disconnect, puts the headset on the cradle! So all these activities are analog and takes time! And also there is limitation of number of channels! But in a digital connectivity, all those like RING, Disconnect Tone(engage Tone), everything comes in messages! And they use digital links. And all these jargons like E1/T1, ISDN PRI, R2MF, SS7 comes in! These are digital protocols to connect the CTI t the telephone exchanges! And the minimum number of channels in a DIGITAL CTI card is 30 voice ports! It uses a 2MBPS link. The number of voice channels will go up to 31 if you use a SS7 protocol on the same 2MBPS link (commonly known as E1 or PCM). So, the thumb rule is settle for analog card if you number of channels requirement is less that 20. Else go for a digital card.

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Development SDK and Tools
Most important part for developers is, what SDK(Software Development Kit) the CTI vendor provides and on what platforms! Normally one should opt for a CTI cards who has SDKs for MS Windows, UNIX/LINUX and also Sun Solaris! Though configuration for Analog cards are normally pretty easier than their digital counterparts! So, if you are a new in the field, technical support is a must from the vendor! And if you have to go for a digital card, ahem, you choose only a CTI Card vendor who has a very good technical support! Else you are asking for a trouble!

Price
Well, you will have to negotiate with the vendor!

The most essential requirement of an IVRS is that it has to work 24 hours a day, 364 days a year! It is not an application like your MS Word or Outlook Express that you run them when you need! Also IVRS does not have any User Interface. The reason for not having User Interface is obvious! It interacts with human through voice and telephone instrument keypad. (These are actually DTMF Digits. I will explain about DTMF, Pulse dialing in another post.) So, a typical IVR application does not require to be executed manually, it starts as a service in Windows Operating System as soon as it boots up. ( Or same way in Linux)
So, in order build an IVRS Application, the following are essential

1. How many channels to be used? How many calls it should handle simultaneously?
2. How should it be connected to PSTN Lines? Connection may be in two modes, analog and digital.
3. Type of Hardware used. It requires two kind of hardware – a. A PC or a Server b. CTI hardware.
4. Voice prompts Recording or TTS (text-To-Speech) Engine.
5. IVRS Software.
6. Power supply and wiring arrangement.

Number of channels greatly depends on number of calls the user is expecting. For example, if it is public utility (Like 100, 101, Railway enquiry etc), the number of calls will be high. If it has to handle large number of calls (more than 16 numbers), it should be connected using DIGITAL technology. And you will have to use a digital CTI cards too. Digital Cards are more expensive than analog CTI cards and they start with minimum channel count of 30. If you are going to use a Digital card, use a Server. There are many CTI cards, both analog and digital, available in various configurations.

Then the voice prompts! These are voices you hear as soon as you dial the IVRS telephone numbers! These are pre-recorded voices which are played as soon as your call is established. Normally one should get recorded the voice prompts and for any dynamic content or data, TTS may be used. But the voice quality of TTS is still poor specially it may be difficult to understand to people whose mother tongue is not English.

Once you finalized the above, it is time to develop your IVRS Software or find a IVRS Software development company! There are many IVRS Software development companies in the world. Many IVRS Software are developed on various platforms, using different languages. The best IVRS (in terms of robustness, features, easy to configure and maintain) are the IVRS software which are developed in C++. If you intend to develop a IVRS Software on your own, buy the CTI hardware, and read the APIs. Also you need to have thorough knowledge of PSTN exchange. Specially to configure DIGITAL CTI card using SS7, MTP3 ISUP, R2MF, ISDN PRI etc are time consuming and let me warn you, they are not easy! Also you have to have these infrastructure to your testing purpose! ( How many of you have an exhange with SS7 ?) So, best advice is, attempt build your own IVRS if you have to use analog CTI cards, and for DIGITAL CTI Cards, better contact some IVR Companies!

Keep reading this for CTI cards, IVR Software, IVR Companies and most importantly, how you can make money through IVR! It’s a hot thing