Parliant ships PhoneValet 5.0

Parliant is now shipping PhoneValet Message Center 5.0 for the small office, home, and home office markets. PhoneValet's software and hardware solution turns a Mac into a virtual call center with unlimited voice mail boxes, call blocking, recording, logging and screening, automated dialing and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities — on single or multiple lines. Version 5 offers a new interface designed to simplify access to its many telephony features as well as includes Parliant's new patent pending Call Completion Technology (CCT). CCT directs an incoming caller to a person or department, plays music or audio information as the caller is being transferred, then directs the caller to voice mail or other audio information options if the call can't be answered in person.

"Big phone services vendors have convinced people that only expensive phone switches can connect callers to the right person or department," said Parliant President Kevin Ford. "Our new Call Completion Technology is a smart new solution that saves time and money. For the price of an answering machine, PhoneValet offers a comprehensive call management platform."

PhoneValet 5.0 also adds unlimited call trees, giving callers a logical path to access dynamic announcements. Callers can transfer to voice mail boxes or outside phone numbers as necessary while hearing music or other audio information while the transfer is taking place. Depending on how the call tree is set up, callers can be directed to specific voice mailboxes or information on weekends, at night or during lunch hours. Different lines on a call tree can also present different choices.

PhoneValet 5.0 also offers new functionality for home users, expanding Apple Address Book integration for dialing and looking up incoming callers. It also now offers browser-based remote control that shows status of all lines and allows stop and start recording from remote Macs or PCs connected via PhoneValet Anywhere ($60 option).

PhoneValet 5.0 retails at $169.95 per line for new users (including software and Parliant's USB telephone adapter); it is a Universal Binary and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 later, QuickTime 6.5 or later and an available USB port.

PhoneValet Anywhere retails for $60 and the PhoneValet Podcast Bundle retails for $75. Users of previous releases of PhoneValet can upgrade for $40 per line. Parliant's popular 30/30 program provides a $30 rebate to new PhoneValet users switching from competing systems. PhoneValet 5.0 comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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