Aristacom International Inc has announced new Callenabler computer telephony integration middleware for the AS/400, that it claims will be dramatically cheaper and easier to install than existing technology from IBM Corp. IBM is currently the only vendor that provides a solution for the AS/400, named CallPath 400. While there are many PC-local area network-based CTI packages available, firms that use AS/400 in a LAN environment are faced with a choice: either pay for large-scale, integrated solution running on AS/400 or use third-party LAN software to drive PC-based applications that in turn access AS/400 data. The second option tends to have lower initial costs but suffers from the traditional problems of integrating solutions from multiple vendors and typically requires a bespoke application at the front-end to provide the PC application. According to Jim Smith, corporate relations manager at Aristacom, IBM’s CallPath 400 can cost around $100,000 and take a full man year to implement across an organization. By comparison, he claimed that Aristacom’s Callenabler software would cost about $3,000 to $5,000 and could be up and running in a matter of days. Prices are disputed by AS/400 CTI software vendors, but all agree that high entry costs deem it prohibitive for smaller organizations, which could benefit Aristacom’s cheaper offering. However, due to recent price cuts by IBM, Jackie Anderson, account executive at Ontario, Canada-based interactive solutions provider TKM Communications Inc, estimates a 20 user CallPath system would costs around $11,000 and could be implemented in about four months. There has been an increasing demand for CTI capabilities on the AS/400, particularly for customer services applications, but when PC products are one tenth of the price many AS/400 users interested in pilot implementations found the cost prohibitive, he said. Callenabler has been developed in partnership with IBM and will be targeted at the independent software developer community, where Aristacom hopes it will be built-in to third-party software. Shipping will begin this month in the US, with full roll-out expected by the fourth quarter.
