July 26, 2006
Integrated Presence System Autom atically Collects Status Data,
Energizes Group Com m unication
- After In-House Trial, Planned for Autumn Commercial Release -
NTT DATA Corporation
NTT DATA Corporation has dev eloped its own original integrated presence sy stem,
aimed at making communication in a group more ef f ectiv e by sharing inf ormation
about the presence status of group members, such as their location and av ailability at
v arious times. As a f ield trial prior to commercial release, the sy stem was introduced
this month in NTT DATA f or use by around 4,000 employ ees.
The newly dev eloped integrated presence sy stem automatically detects and collects
status inf ormation f rom IT dev ices (including wireless IP telephones, sof tphones, f ixed
IP telephones, and personal computers), deduces the sy stem owner's presence (at
desk, away f rom desk, out of of f ice, etc.) by means of a status analy sis engine, and
prov ides the inf ormation to users v ia an electronic address book (directory ). Users can
conf irm the presence of other users bef ore contacting them, so that they can choose
the most ef f ectiv e communication means (phone, email, etc.) and contact timing. The
sy stem can f urther be integrated with an IP telephony f unction, allowing calls to be
placed simply by clicking on a user entry in the electronic directory .
Today when contact by email is increasingly common, situations where communication
by telephone is pref erred are more likely than ev er to be situations where instant
contact is necessary .
An electronic directory in which presence status can be v iewed, enabling contact timing
to be chosen ef f ectiv ely , is likely to raise the conv enience of the telephone
signif icantly .
Af ter conf irming the benef its of this technology f rom the trial introduction, NTT DATA
plans to start marketing the sy stem this autumn as the VANADIS Integrated Presence
Serv ice.
Features of the Integrated Presence System (ref er to Sy stem Ov erv iew diagram)
1. Automatically collects presence information from multiple IT devices
The newly dev eloped integrated presence sy stem achiev es automatic collection of
status inf ormation f rom wireless IP telephones, sof tphones, f ixed IP telephones,
and personal computers.
1. Location inf ormation of wireless IP telephones: The location of a monitored
wireless IP telephone is retriev ed automatically f rom the wireless access
point. (An originally dev eloped module supports the wireless access points of
multiple v endors.)
2. Call status of wireless IP telephones, sof tphones, and f ixed IP telephones:
Call status is retriev ed automatically in real time f rom a SIP serv er. (An
originally dev eloped module supports the SIP serv ers of multiple v endors.)
3. Personal computers: By installing originally dev eloped sof tware on PCs, PC
usage status inf ormation can be retriev ed automatically in real time.
The inf ormation obtained f rom wireless IP telephones, sof tphones, f ixed IP
telephones, and personal computers is conv erted to XML f ormat in an external
data collection module and passed to the integrated presence serv er.
2. Status analysis rules
The integrated presence serv er uses a status analy sis engine*1 to deduce the
presence of the owner of an IT dev ice (wireless IP telephone, sof tphone, f ixed IP
telephone, personal computer) f rom status inf ormation retriev ed automatically
f rom the dev ice. The presence inf erence results are output as a combination of "at
desk, on phone, engaged, *2 away f rom desk, out of of f ice" and the degree of
certainty (e.g., "at desk" 90%, "on phone" 70%, "out of of f ice" 50%).
*1 The status analysis engine was implemented based on NTT DATA R&D on "context awareness
management." See http://www.nttdata.co.jp/rd/topic/topic03.html for details.
*2 "Engaged" indicates that telephone contact is refused because the person is in conference, etc. This
is a status set manually by each user. (The setting can be cleared and automatically updated.)
3. Display of presence information in electronic directory, enhancing
convenience of telephone calling
Display ing presence status ("at desk, on phone, engaged, away f rom desk, out of
of f ice") in an electronic directory * 3 lets users conf irm the presence of other users
bef ore contacting them, allowing them to choose the most ef f ectiv e
communication means (phone, email, etc.) and contact timing. The sy stem can
also be integrated with an IP telephony f unction, allowing calls to be placed simply
by clicking on a user entry in the electronic directory .
There are many other way s the sy stem can be conf igured f or the needs and
situations of users. For example, the sy stem can be made to display the user's
pref erred means of being contacted based on the presence status, such as "Call
extension if at desk, or mobile phone if away "; it can also send email notif ication
when the person to be contacted returns to his or her desk.
Note 3: Linking with an electronic directory is one of the presence system application options. Other
applications include the following.
Conf erence room reserv ation management application
Sensors in conf erence rooms monitor room use, comparing this with the
reserv ation status. An alert is raised if a room is still in use af ter the allotted
time.
Av ailable space f inder application
Entering the desired time of use returns inf ormation about av ailable
conf erence rooms.
Future Plans
NTT DATA is dev eloping and rolling out VANADIS as a total inf rastructure solution f or
enterprises and other organizations. Adopting as its core an integrated platf orm f or
managing people, goods and operations, VANADIS prov ides a f ramework f or designing
and building sy stems based on unif orm sy stem concepts, architecture and operation
policies.
Based on the results of the trial introduction, the newly dev eloped integrated presence
sy stem is expected to be added to the lineup this f all as the VANADIS integrated
presence serv ice. It will be marketed as one of the VANADIS of f ice solutions
supporting work sty le reengineering, and will be promoted in combination with IP
telephony and other serv ices.
* VANADIS is a trademark of NTT DATA Corporation.
Web site of the VANADIS total IT infrastructure solution: http://www.nttdata.co.jp/vanadis/
Attachment
For more information, please contact:
For media inquiries:
Mr. Naoyuki Shiote
Public Relations Office
NTT DATA Corporation
Tel: +81-3-5546-8051
For inquiries about this product:
Mr. Kimura and Mr. Komatsu
Network Integration Services Business Unit
Business Solutions Sector
NTT DATA Corporation
Tel: +81-50-5546-2612
News Releases.
The serv ices, prices of products and serv ices, specif ications, telephone numbers,
etc. f or inquiries and other inf ormation included in news releases are the data
av ailable on the day of the release. This inf ormation may be changed at any time
without notice. In certain circumstances, due to v arious risks or unexpected
occurrences, actual results may also be dif f erent f rom the plans or projections in
news releases.