Not long ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Alec Saunders, CEO of iotum. We discussed relevance and iotum's solution. For me relevance is about context. What context are we physically in when a phone call comes in? How does the message get handled appropriately for my context.

My observation after studying iotum's Relevance Engine and approach was that iotum is the Getting Things Done enhancement for network presence context and relevance. Just as David Allen's popular Getting Things Done approach puts work tasks in context, iotum help put the user in context. Putting things in the right context is how we get them done.

Tomorrow, iotum is taking another big step forward in providing relevance to VoiIP users. They'll be making a significant announcement about a new Asterisk module that integrates iotum's Relevance Engine tightly into the Asterisk environment. They'll all be announcing a new developer's API and a call management application.

The press release is below and I'm sure this will be in all the VoIP news feeds tomorrow.

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iotum™ Makes Asterisk IP-PBX Relevant To More Enterprise Users
Relevance Engine Technology To Deliver Voice 2.0 Services To The Enterprise

(Toronto, Ontario—April 3, 2006) For the more than 250,000 Asterisk IP-PBX installations around-the-world, getting the right phone call, at the right time, and on the right device just got easier thanks to iotum. Today, at VON Canada in Toronto, iotum announced the beta availability of the iotum Asterisk integration module; two relevance-enabled call management applications for Asterisk and a rich new set of developer API’s.

iotum’s Asterisk integration module connects its award-winning Web 2.0 call management applications to Asterisk IP-PBX’s to help users prioritize which calls are important, and which can wait, based on who’s calling, and what the user is currently doing. The iotum Asterisk integration module consists of source code, installation instructions and access to an iotum test account.

“Today’s announcement represents the next step in iotum’s platform strategy”, said CEO Alec Saunders. “As of today, members of the world-wide community of Asterisk developers and integrators can use our platform to build new and compelling relevance-enabled revenue generating applications.”

Once the integration is complete, this non-commercial beta will allow Asterisk users to filter, rank, and prioritize incoming calls using iotum as well as offer users the ability to easily schedule conference calls from within Microsoft® Outlook® using iotum’s Pronto Conference Calling feature. With, Pronto Conference Calling participants join a conference call by dialing the organizer’s usual phone number eliminating the need for everyone to dial into a conference bridge or remember pass codes.

The iotum Relevance Engine API allows Asterisk developers to embed advanced, contextually driven call management capabilities into their own applications. The API allows services to be built which use the iotum Relevance Engine, the world’s first smart platform to intelligently assess the relevance of a phone call, and route it to the most appropriate device on any network.. The API is for use in a variety of different kinds of applications, including collaboration, CRM, and personal productivity applications.

Founded in 2003, privately held iotum is a Voice 2.0 company setting out to shape a world of relevant communications where devices and services work seamlessly together to let people communicate with who they want, when they want and on the device they want. iotum received Internet Telephony’s Product of the Year Award; DEMOgod at DEMO-2006; Business 2.0’s Next Net 25; and was named to the Branham 25 Emerging Companies in Canada.

For more information about iotum, visit the company’s web site, http://www.iotum.com

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Contact:

Andy Abramson
aabramson@comunicano.com
+1.858.523.1800

or

Brooke Davidson
bdavidson@comunicano.com
+1.858.314.2958


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