Response Point Roadmap - October 2008

Here is a screen shot of the roadmap that we saw during the Town Hall meeting with the Response Point team yesterday. Click on the image for a larger version.

Broadly speaking, “Sooner” means Response Point SP2, which we think will be in the Feb ‘09 timeframe. “Later” means Response Point V2 (although that name hasn’t formally been announced) which we believe will be around July of 2009.

Some very interesting things to note:

 • VPN-based remote-phone capability will be coming in SP2.  This means you’ll be able to provision an RP phone at the office and then you’ll be able to take that phone to a remote location where you have a point-to-point VPN connection (for instance your home-office, or a small branch-office) and plug it in, and it will work.  Very cool.  Eventually (V2 or later) the requirement for the VPN will be removed, and you’ll be able to plug a phone in anywhere on the internet, but for now, this is a great first step.

 • Key-system-like capability will appear in V2.  This will allow you to see the status of all the incoming lines, just like in a traditional small-biz PBX.  We’ve heard lots of feedback from people wanting this feature, so it’s great to know that it’s coming. • BLF will also appear in V2.  This will let you see who’s on the phone – again, this is a great feature that’s we’ve had numerous requests for.

 • Full Outlook integration in V2.  Finally, click-to-dial directly from Outlook.

 • Dial-plan explosion.  In the V2 timeframe, you’ll be able to build your own dial plan if you wish.  This will give you the flexibility to route calls via different providers if you wish.  For instance, you might want to send all of your international traffic down your SIP trunk, or you may have multiple local-area area codes that you’d prefer to push down your analog or T1 trunk.

 • International functionality in V2.  With telephony, there are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account before a phone system can work in a particular country.  This release will address those concerns, allowing Response Point to be made available in other parts of the world.

As you can probably tell, we’re pretty excited about the future of Response Point.  As we get closer to these releases we’ll share more information with you about upcoming features, but for now, hopefully this will give you a taste of what’s to come.

There are definately some “tricks” you can do with RP, hence the name of this website. I’m already working on one of my first articles, about how to configure an RP handset to work with other phone systems besides Response Point. Certainly not something any of the manufacturers or Microsoft is going to tell you about, nor how to do it. But we will!

Before I get ahead of myself though, let me make sure everyone understands what Response Point is. The technologies driving voice and data communications have been converging over the last decade. This has lead many businesses to begin looking for a phone system which can integrate with the employee’s desktop computer as the phones and computers are now using very similar technologies. Over the last few years several big companies have been making these type of phone systems but they’ve been designed for and sold to large businesses with large pricetags. Only recently have a number of players come around with products marketed towards micro (less than 10 employees) and small (10-50 employees) businesses. These smaller organizations typically don’t need the complexity of the larger phone systems nor can they afford the big price tag which they come with.

The good news for these small business is that Response Point is a product built just for them. At a reasonable price it comes with the features that small businesses need, here is a sample of just a few of them:

• It integrates with the Small Business Server most smaller companies already have.
• Connects to Microsoft Outlook.
• Supports up to 50 handsets.
• The auto-attendant is voice activated and accessible by a single button from the handset.
• Uses Voice over IP (VoIP) technology so it runs over your existing computer network.
• Most important, it is simple and easy to setup!

There are certainly many more features in the system, and more are coming as the product gains traction in the marketplace. For instance recent announcements from Microsoft indicate that the service pack scheduled for release this summer will include extending the VoIP connection from the local network out to the public telephone system by using a connection from an Internet Telephony Service Provider (commonly referred to as an “ITSP”) using a technology called SIP. What that means to the small business is that they won’t need to purchase comparatively expensive phone lines from their local telephone company but instead can run their phone service over an existing internet connection such as a DSL, cable-modem, or T-1 line!

That’s more than enough for today. Hopefully I’ve been able to spark enough of an interest in you regarding Response Point that you’ll come back regularly to RPTricks.

- John