Genesys / Symposium....is Symposium server needed ?

[seanh]

Hi all,

Can anyone advise on the following please........

We have our Genesys v7 installation (TserverSuccession720) hanging off a Symposium server that is managed by BT, but our business is looking into whether both Genesys and Symposium are required. VTO is done by a seperate server also.

Can anyone confirm if the Symposium server is required, ie, does Genesys need the Symposium server or could the Symposium server be decommissioned and the TserverSuccession720 link go straight to our Nortel Meridien switch ? 

The solution has been in place for some years now and i was not around when the installation was done and also, i cant remember any [i]'middleware'[/i] solution between Genesys and the switch being mentioned when i did my Genesys training many mooons ago.

Many thanks,

Sean

[cavagnaro]

Symposium is the part of your PBX that provides Call Center functionalities.
Without it I believe you will not have login/ready/Not ready options on phones but maybe Genesys could emulate them on softphone only. Check what TServer for meridian tells.
It's not a Genesys requirement by the way, it is how Nortel Meridian works.

[bcyk]

The current CTI-link component for Nortel Meridian switch is Symposium-link.
(The out-dated CTI-link component was called Meridian-link that was embedded in switch cabinet as Avaya+MAP-D)

The Symposium-link is an external component to Nortel switch and it is bundled with Symposium server.
The Symposium server (don't know its exact business name) contains Nortel's routing (symposium routing) and reports (a sybase server included in the server) solutions.

All CTI-servers (Genesys T-server, CT-connect, TAPI server, ...) require Symposium-link in order to 'talk' to Nortel switch. Since Symposium-link is bundled in symposium server, the symposium solution must be purchased for CTI-enabled features. Minimum number of licenses is region-dependent; usually 5 (five) symposium agent seats.

Thus, you must have symposium server (the symposium link) as CTI-link for Genesys T-server + Nortel Meridian switch.

[cavagnaro]

And what is the purpose of TServer for Meridian? Because there also exist one for Symposium and other for Meridian...

[mishmosh]

TServer for Meridian is the Genesys release of TServer that connected to Nortel via the now obsolete Meridian-link (as bcyk mentions below).  TServer for Symposium is the newer TServer that connects to Nortel via the Symposium server, which is a Windows server (running your most critical components for your 24/7 call center on a Windows machine?  That's brilliant, Nortel!).  If you look at the Windows Services running on the Symposium server, you will see a service called M-link services (or maybe it's Meridian-link services).  This is the only component on this entire very expensive box that is required for the CTI connectivity to the switch.  I've lived in that world, and as much as you might want to drop that Symposium server off the nearest roof, you cannot user your TServer for Symposium without it.  It's crap, but it's the best Nortel can do.  So everytime you have to install critical Windows security patches on your Symposium server, you'll have to restart it, and down goes your TServer. 

Have they tried to tell you that you don't need Genesys for skills-based routing, that they can do that on Symposium?  Don't believe it.

[bcyk]

"You don’t need Genesys for skills-based routing, that they can do that on Symposium."

It is tricky statement!

Symposium routing seems interface to Nortel switch directly via some window services in the symposium server. It does provide skill-based routing to POSITON directory number.

Symposium does not include CTI-server or equivalent component. Thus, symposium routing does NOT provide attached data capacity by default. Limited add-on component can be purchased/configured (e.g., TAPI server data link or Host Data Exchange protocol; the latter is available years ago but requires extensive programming effect).

Typical components in Nortel Meridian + Symposium call center environment include Nortel switch, Symposium server and Nortel TAPI server.
Nortel switch: the host switch
Symposium link (in symposium server): CTI-link
Symposium routing (in symposium server): Routing
TAPI server (in separate Window box): CTI-server

The CTI-server can be anything that interfaces to M-link/Symposium-link protocol; Genesys T-server is one of them.

A possible combination is:
Nortel switch: the host switch
Symposium link (in symposium server): CTI-link
Symposium routing (in symposium server): Routing
Genesys T-server (sdn/tdn license only): CTI-server

Theoretically, both Genesys URS and Symposium routing can be executed concurrently in a call center environment for separate set of CDNs (Route Point in Genesys’ term).