PhoneValet Message Center

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PhoneValet Message Center


Developer:	Parliant Corporation
Latest release:	4.0 / March 17, 2006
OS:	Mac OS X
Use:	CTI
License:	Commercial
Website:	parliant.com/phonevalet/

PhoneValet Message Center (or, simply, PhoneValet) is a Mac-based multi-line computer-telephony package from Parliant Corporation. The subject of favourable reviews in notable Macintosh magazines, including Macworld, MacAddict and MacHome, PhoneValet provides key computer-telephony functionality including voicemail, call recording, and the maintenance of a call history. The system is a combination of software and hardware.

[edit] History

PhoneValet was initially released on July 23, 2003 as a system to maintain a list of inbound and outbound calls, including telephone numbers, start and end times and notes. The system also enabled pop-up announcements of incoming callers based on Caller ID, and a spoken announcement of this and ancillary information drawn from a user-maintained address book. Additional functionality included dialing with automatic determination of long distance and calling card codes. This initial version did not allow the telephone to be answered as the hardware device provided could not take the line off-hook.

On June 30, 2004, Parliant released version 2.0 of PhoneValet, now with the Message Center moniker. This version shipped with a revised hardware device (the same one shipping today) designed to allow the computer to answer the telephone. The 2.0 product integrated voice mail messages into the 1.0 product's call history system. The new device also supports automatic gain control, providing the ability to make high-quality audio recordings of both sides of telephone calls. The manufacturer made several further releases within the 2.0 rubric, adding the ability to dial in to check for messages, information center features and real-time voicemail audio screening.

Version 3.0 of the product line shipped on July 12, 2005 and included ring tones and call blocking. The current 4.0 version supports automatic recording of all calls on the line (prior to this time call recording was activated manually by the user).