Cedar Point Launches Suite of Visual Communications Apps for TV and Other Devices

Cedar Point Communications, a company best known for its VoIP switching technologies, on Wednesday unveiled a suite of "visual communications applications" for cable operators and network service providers, that it says will optimize subscriber control over telecommunications functionalities on the TV and other endpoints.

Dubbed the SafariFusion Visual Communications Suite (VCS), the new offering is billed by the company as providing a "holistic" approach to communications management that includes several variations of voicemail and outbound calling functionalities, as well as caller-ID, on TV and other devices. According to Cedar Point, SafariFusion VCS leverages the capabilities of the company's SafariFusion Application Platform to maximize deployment flexibility and customer utility. The suite is compatible with EBIF, tru2way, IPTV and various other standards, the company says, and can be delivered to multiple devices, including set-top boxes, connected TV's, PC's, iPads, tablets and mobiles.

According to Cedar Point, the initial version of Safari VCS includes the following applications:

• Visual voicemail with audio review and speech-to-text capability;
• Caller-ID;
• Message waiting indicator;
• Incoming call message screening;
• Network address book;
• Call log with call disposition (call answered, missed call, message left);
• Click-to-call from call log;
• User-definable configuration of communications features through a Communication Control Center--for example, blocking calls from defined callers.

Cedar Point claims that operators who use SafariFusion VCS can offer highly differentiated services that allow subscribers to balance privacy, accessibility and the ability to retrieve messages and respond to callers at their own convenience during TV viewing, Web browsing and other activities. "The success of caller-ID on TV has shown that there is tremendous interest in services that make it more convenient for subscribers who are interacting with the TV, the PC, tablets or other devices," Jeff Walker, Cedar Point's VP of marketing, said in a prepared statement. "Operators can build value by using SafariFusion VCS to enable inbound call monitoring, message retrieval and the ability to respond to calls on the subscriber's own terms.
SafariFusion VCS gives subscribers who want to minimize disruptions the tools they need on the devices they are using. Since our launch of the SafariFusion Application Platform last fall, we've been focused on developing applications that will allow operators to gain maximum value from the platform. The SafariFusion Visual Communications Suite is the first of many products that the Cedar Point development team is creating to help our operator customers build stronger relationships with their subscribers."

According to Cedar Point, its SafariFusion Application Platform is a critical part of its next-generation PacketCable 2.0/IMS solution, and leverages industry-standard Web 2.0 tools and applications for rapid deployment of multimedia communications services. SafariFusion has also been designed to enable an evolutionary strategy that combines seamless migration to PC 2.0/IMS architectures with investment protection for existing NCS and SIP endpoints, the company says.

Cedar Point claims that its "innovative approach" to telephony services has driven the deployment of over 6.5 million voice lines for customers in the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe. The company says that its flagship products--the SafariFusion Application Platform and the Safari C3 Multimedia Switching System--support residential and business services for a customer base that includes cable operators, CLEC's, wireless operators and universities.