Really Great… Parking??
Every now and again you run into great technology – it doesn’t happen often, but you recognize it when you see it. For example:
OK, that last one seems a bit out of place, but bear with me for a minute here…
When the Ottawa airport was expanded in 2001, they built a parking structure that uses the Skidata parking control system. You can tell these things are different when you drive up – the bright orange, cute, and fantastically designed device is right there – with a nice big button for obtaining a ticket.
And, the same device is there when you leave – just hand back your ticket, then it takes your credit card, then it issues a receipt – ALL USING THE SAME SLOT! Nice!
The Ottawa Airport is expanding the system – adding machines where you can pay using cash or credit cards.
So, why do we like this device?
- The design is simple, cute and obvious.
- It’s easy to use. One big button to get a ticket.
- On exit, one slot to feed in your ticket, then feed in a credit card, then get a receipt.
- They’ve got really nice industrial design. The ticket unit, and the barrier device follow the same design. We know they’re connected.
- It works even in winter. In Ottawa, the devices even have a little winter jacket to augment their built-in heaters.
- The device is part of a system that includes wireless payment, and wireless connectivity between devices.
- It evolved from ski lift ticket systems in Europe – so it’s cool!
It’s one of those devices you look forward to using!
Well Done SkiData! US Dealer: TCSIntl
Here’s some brochures: skidata-parkingcolumnunlimited-450.pdf, skidata-apt-450-folder.pdf. Here’s an article in Forbes.
Patent App picked up – again!
I mentioned a few days ago that my patent application had been picked up by ZDNet and Alec Saunders. I’m excited to report that today, it was on Engadget! It’s interesting to be mentioned on a blog I read daily!
References:
And HERE on this blog.
Intelligent Directory in trials now!
Our latest application, Intelligent Directory, is in customer trials now – and should be released to the public in June!
To quote the marketing material:
The Mitel 5300 Intelligent Directory application provides a simple, intuitive on-screen searchable directory of both corporate and personal contacts right on your phone display. The 5300 Intelligent Directory application is available on Mitel 5330/5340 sets.
The 5300 Intelligent Directory Application and Presence Upgrade automatically pull information from three different sources:
- Microsoft Active Directory Server for corporate phone numbers
- Microsoft Exchange Server Contacts for personal contact phone numbers
- Microsoft Live Communication Server for presence information in the case of Presence Upgrade.
The 5300 Intelligent Directory application lists names and phone numbers, and allows users to search on the phone for names and numbers, using the very familiar keypad search that users are accustomed to on their cellphones and handheld devices.
Key features:
- Extremely intuitive and easy to use – phone numbers are where you need them, on your phone.
- Instant phone number updates. When a new person is added to the centralized Microsoft Active, their phone numbers are automatically available to all 5300 Intelligent Directory users.
- Less administration, less expense, more accuracy. No more need to separately maintain corporate phone books for internal use.
- Up to 5 phone numbers can be displayed per person (corporate, cell, home, etc.).
- One-touch dialing – numbers selected are instantly dialed.
- Automatically displays a dynamic list of recent calls on default home screen.
- Add your favorite numbers to your home screen.
- Uses Microsoft dialing rules to automatically insert dialing prefixes when numbers are dialed.
- Supports Hot-Desking. 5300 Intelligent Directory requires users to enter their password to access personal contacts in Microsoft Exchange.
With Presence Upgrade, LCS Presence status is displayed beside the contact name, indicating whether he or she is available. With just a glance at the phone, users can determine whether and when to make that important call.
The application is structured as a .Net application that runs on Microsoft’s IIS Web Server, and uses a web service to connect to Active Directory, Exchange, and LCS. The architecture is shown below:
The application will be available soon – check HERE for updates.
And, if you just can’t wait, try it out on our HTML application demo page HERE!
Patent App Picked Up!
I was surprised this week to discover that a patent application we had submitted a year ago was “in the news” on a few blogs.
We first got wind of it through Alec Saunder’s excellent VoIP blog – HE was surprised to see a reference to the Ottawa Senators in a patent application – just our little nod to the team!
And Alec found the patent app through Russel Shaw’s IP Telephony blog over at ZD Net. Russel apparently scans all new patent applications, looking for interesting VoIP applications, and ours made the grade.
Our patent application covers some of the applications that InGenius’ TelML technology makes possible on IP Phone sets with larger screens. Stuff like News, Weather, Sports, and advertizing on you kitchen phone. Very cool stuff – that we’re implementing now for a number of customers.
In fact, we’re releasing our first TelML-based product in the next couple of weeks – it’s called Intelligent Directory, and it allows access to your corporate Active Directory, including presence, from the screen of your phone! Think of it as a super intelligent and useful phonebook, that ties into your Active Directory,your personal Outlook contacts, and LCS/OCS for presence info – with easy searching based on name or company. It’s a great application, only possible due to Mitel’s adoption of our TelML technology on their desktop screen phones.
