Communication Server

Also called an UnPBX (Ed Margulies term), commserver, com server, CTI server, telephony server, voice server, voice router, LAN PBX which also includes the so-called One Wire Wonders (See One Wire Wonder), and CT Server (Dialogic / Howard Bubb s term). The term PC-PBX has also been used, though some would claim that a true PC-PBX is a PBX that has a PC chassis extension (or at least an intimate connection with a PC) in order to gain computer telephony functionality. (See PC-PBX).

Perhaps the most amusing name for these devices are voice routers . They aren t routers, of course, but by using the word router a company s IT department can claim jurisdiction over their phone system!

In any case, commserver appears to be the favorite nickname for the mostly PC-based devices at Computer Telephony magazine.

Before the development of router-based systems and solid state telephony applicances, the commserver was long thought to be the centerpiece of computer telephony technology.

A commserver generally consists of a fault resilient 19 rackmount computer running Windows NT, a WAN card for digital or analog lines, a LAN card, a voice card for VRU / IVR prompting (sometimes the functions of these three are combined into the same card), and something such as a 24-line Dialogic MSI card that let you plug station devices (phones, headsets, etc.) into the CT system.

Many commservers use phone wiring to get to the phones, so data and voice are still travelling through two different networks,...