Today Interactive Intelligence unveiled a new kind of communications device with a straightforward name, Interaction SIP Station. At VoiceCon San Francisco I had an opportunity to sit down with Interactive Intelligence SVP of Worldwide Marketing, Joe Staples, and not only hear about SIP Station but see one (the device was being conveniently carried around by Joe in his briefcase--not often that a tech vendor can do that!).SIP Station is designed to replace the need for a desk phone for agents working in a softphone/PC environment. Probably the most important thing it does is deliver high quality audio. There is a dedicated chip set in the unit for audio which means that the PC's CPU churning to open an application won't cause audio degradation.
Another important attribute? The SIP Station saves money. With a MSRP of $49 (typical discounting applies), it's easily just 25% of the cost of even the cheapest SIP telephone. It also saves desk real estate. I'd venture to say that most agent workspaces don't match the size, or lack of clutter, seen in the photo below. Even a little bit smaller helps and the SIP station is about a quarter of the size of most phones typically seen in contact centers.
Like the latest IP phones, SIP Station uses power over Ethernet, meaning the level of fault tolerance of the network accrues to the device. Like a SIP phone, if the server it is attached to goes down--in this case the CIC server--the device automatically re-registers to the backup CIC server.
The pictures highlight some of the other features and capabilities Joe discussed. In the picture, notice that there is a light in the middle of the device. This is a multi-function LED (it can blink, flutter, etc.) The button on the left, with a red exclamation point, is an emergency button. It can be programmed to dial out to 911, or to any designated security or first responder point.
As sexy as a platform for enterprise social networking? Clearly not. But I hazard to say with SIP Station scheduled to start shipping this quarter, Interactive Intelligence will see more booked revenue in 2010 from it than others will see from fancy collaboration software that will likely still be in beta release most of the year.
