Introduction to the Feature Pack for CEA

The IBM WebSphere Application Server Feature Pack for Communications Enabled Applications (CEA) allows you to add dynamic Web communications to an application or business process. Two main services are provided, telephony access and multi-modal Web interaction.

Telephony access allows you to create a unified communications environment within business applications to increase the efficiency of processes, reduce communications errors, and optimize business interactions in real-time. The Feature Pack for CEA provides telephony access through a REST interface, a Web services client, and widgets built using the Dojo toolkit.

Multi-modal Web interaction allows you to provide session linking (shared sessions) between users browsing the same Web site from different locations. Commerce Web sites can use this service to provide product or customer support, while protecting information on the internal site.

The CEA widgets are built and embedded in applications using the Dojo toolkit (www.dojotolkit.org). The CallNotification and ClickToCall widgets require an IP private branch exchange (IP-PBX) as part of your infrastructure. An IP-PBX is a business telephone system designed to deliver voice over a data network and interoperate with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). A sample IP-PBX application is included in the Feature Pack for CEA installation. The sample IP-PBX is in the form of an enterprise application archive (EAR) file and is for test purposes only.

The ClickToCall widget is utilized by a customer who needs to talk with a customer service representative. The customer enters their telephone number into the ClickToCall widget and clicks a Call Me button. The CallNotification widget is used by the customer service representative. The representative enters their telephone number into the widget and clicks a Start Call Notification button. Once activated, the CallNotification widget displays the state of the representative's phone (available, ringing, connected, and so on). The ClickToCall and CallNotification widgets also allow users to initiate Web cobrowsing sessions to further enhance the support experience. For further information, see the ClickToCall, Call Notification, and Cobrowse topics, as well as the Feature Pack for CEA Information Center.