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Hitachi Cable, Ltd. has announced it has confirmed the interoperability of its AquaVocal*1 all-in-one IP-PBX*2 and the LUTi IP-IVR, provided by J. Link, Inc. (Headquarters: Chiba City, Chiba; President: Kuniaki Takahashi; referred to as J. Link hereafter)

In recent years, falling prices and the advancing functionality of data communication networks have led to rapid growth in IP telephony systems. Demand for the Interactive Voice Response (referred to as IVR hereafter *3) function, which provides automatic voice response to customer calls, has also increased at call centers and mail-order companies, as companies seek to improve business efficiency and reduce costs.

But while IP-PBX is key equipment in IP telephony systems, most IP-PBX products and most IVR products supporting IP telephony systems are designed for large-scale systems, posing various obstacles to small and mid-sized call centers and mail-order companies seeking to introduce an IP telephony-based IVR system.

. In response, Hitachi Cable has confirmed the interoperability of its AquaVocal series and J. Link's LUTi IP-IVR.

As a single-unit all-in-one IP-PBX that provides diverse functions *4 for implementing an IP telephony system in small and mid-sized offices with 200 users or less, AquaVocal makes it possible to introduce an IP telephony system at modest cost.

J. Link's LUTi IP-IVR provides a wide array of functions, including IVR, which recognizes the tone signal of the caller and plays messages recorded in advance or transfers the call to a phone number registered in advance. Other functions record conversations with customers, record messages; and send e-mail to notify personnel of newly recorded messages.

The AquaVocal and LUTi IP-IVR make it possible for small and mid-sized call centers and mail-order companies to introduce IP telephony-based IVR systems at reasonable cost.

Hitachi Cable plans to continue meeting the various needs of clients by promoting the integration of AquaVocal with various software and applications and by providing solutions that increase the convenience of IP telephony systems. In doing so, Hitachi Cable hopes to increase its share of the IP-PBX market for small and mid-sized offices.

*1	AquaVocal is a registered trademark of Hitachi Cable, Ltd. in Japan.
*2	PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange. IP-PBX refers to a Private Branch Exchange for an IP telephony system.
*3	IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response.
*4	In addition to the IP-PBX function, AquaVocal provides various gateway functions (protocol conversion for connecting different networks, including communications carriers, IP telephony networks, the public telephone network, and the internal telephone network); PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet: permits use of PPP over Ethernet networks; the PPP protocol is used to link computers to networks over telephone lines); and a survival function that allows calls to be sent and received between analog phones and the public network even in the event of a power failure.