wales@cs.ucla.edu (08/04/89)
The recent mention of Rolm PBXs reminded me of one of Rolm's radio commercials several years ago. This was one of those "cutesy" commercials with funny sound effects to illustrate each of their points (sort of like how AT&T's ads for their new distinctive "bong-chime-AT&T" sound illustrate the concept of a "friendly" sound by having someone say "Y-y-y-yo, it's AT&T!"). One of the selling points in Rolm's radio commercials was that their equipment had a "conscience". This point was punctuated by a "ding" from a little bell, followed by a soft "this is your conscience" female voice saying, "Is that a *personal* call?" Now, obviously, I realize that Rolm PBX's never *really* went "ding" and asked "Is that a *personal* call?" :-} But can anyone out there tell me exactly what Rolm's "conscience" feature really was? Was it something as mundane as a printed log of every number called from every extension -- so that a manager could go through the list later on and inquire about calls to unfamiliar phone numbers? -- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 (213) 825-5683 3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024-1596 // USA wales@CS.UCLA.EDU ...!(uunet,ucbvax,rutgers)!cs.ucla.edu!wales "K-9, I think we're going to find out what it's like to be a cricket ball."
klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) (08/04/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0273m02@vector.dallas.tx.us>, wales@cs.ucla.edu writes: > voice saying, "Is that a *personal* call?" > > Now, obviously, I realize that Rolm PBX's never *really* went "ding" > and asked "Is that a *personal* call?" :-} But can anyone out there > tell me exactly what Rolm's "conscience" feature really was? Was it > something as mundane as a printed log of every number called from every > extension -- so that a manager could go through the list later on and > inquire about calls to unfamiliar phone numbers? I don't know what Rolm's "conscience" was, but practically every PBX and large key system sold in America comes with an SMDR port. The SMDR (Station Message Detail Recording) port generates information about individual calls made to and from the PBX. This information is usually in ASCII, but not always, so you can hook up a serial printer and get a listing of all the calls that are made. If this port is hooked up to a computer, you can run a call accounting system which will read the "raw" call records and estimate the price of the call, look up the destination of the call and store the call in a database. Reports are run and guarenteed somebody looks at them. Some of these call accounting systems will even pick out individual numbers and rather than list the geographical destination, will list the actual station who the phone is registered to. ie. 1 (305) 555-1234 Kevin's Grandma Within AT&T, these reports are distributed to department heads who then are at liberty to do whatever they want with them. Kevin L. Blatter AT&T - Bell Labs Disclaimer - The ideas here are my own, not my employer's.