LOS ANGELES -- MetaSwitch is pitching software to cable operators that would let them extend phone services out to subscribers’ PCs.
The telephony systems software vendor is debuting a Windows application, called MetaSphere CommAssistant, here at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers’ Conference on Emerging Technologies.
CommAssitant provides a toolbar for accessing commonly used voice telephony functions, such as placing calls to contacts using click-to-dial, searching both personal and business contact lists, and changing settings of calling features such as call forwarding. It also provides a notification icon in the Windows system tray with a link to retrieve new voice mail messages and faxes.
“We remain impressed by MetaSwitch’s commitment to developing new features on the MetaSphere platform that encourage subscriber loyalty,” Bresnan Communications vice president of commercial telephone services Don Helms said, in a prepared statement.
Bresnan is MetaSwitch’s largest cable customer. The software company’s customer base is comprised mainly of independent telephone companies in North America.
CommAssistant works with the vendor’s existing CommPortal application and MetaSphere Service Delivery Platform. It can be deployed to subscribers homed either on a MetaSwitch softswitch or legacy Class 5 voice switch.
CommAssistant is currently in field trials and will be generally available in March.
MetaSwitch also is introducing the MetaView Network Management System, which provides new monitoring features for the vendor’s softswitch servers.
Features of MetaView include to the ability to collect, correlate and report alarms across multiple network elements; call diagnostics for troubleshooting technical issues; and accounting and performance reporting tools.
MetaSwitch’s competitors include Cedar Point Communications, BroadSoft, Nortel Networks and Siemens.
