Gateway to Internet flexibility VocalTec adds telco-style administration tools >BY CHRIS BUCHOLTZ, Intelligence & Software Editor

Taking a page from the traditional telephony world, an Internet telephony gateway to be announced today will incorporate new management tools, improved scalability and added billing support.

The latest version of VocalTec's Telephony Gateway will let callers use the Internet for long-distance calling, regardless of whether the call originates from a computer or conventional telephone. It also eliminates the need for gateways at each end of a call.

The new features will enhance the existing gateway's appeal to VocalTec's service provider audience, which is starting to include larger carriers, said Elon Ganor, president of VocalTec.

"Our target market is still the early adopters among home users, and multinational companies with branch offices," said Ganor. "But we've also had interest from high-end telcos more and more.

The gateway product includes administration tools that will allow remote set-up and configuration of new gateway units, and specific tools for the WAN and LAN environments. The system also supports billing for gateway-facilitated calls that amass local charges, Ganor said.

The new billing system automatically assigns those charges to the correct customer. Fax support and a "click and talk" feature allow Web surfers to connect to companies from their corporate Web sites without disconnecting their phone lines.

"For business customers, that's important because most businesses don't have a billing system in place," said Rona Schuchat, an analyst at International Data Corp. "For carriers, VocalTec is moving toward the development of interfaces to their existing billing systems."