NEC Tapi User Guide

							 
TAPI 
User Guide 
Release 4.0
Part No. 77000TAPI02
April 2001
Printed in the U.S.A. (2106) 
						

							 
TAPI
 
 4.0 User Guide
 
 
 
WARNING!
 
Toll fraud is committed when individuals unlawfully gain access to customer 
telecommunication systems. This is a criminal offense. Currently, we do not know of 
any telecommunications system that is immune to this type of criminal activity. NEC 
America will not accept liability for any damages, including long distance charges, 
which result from unauthorized and/or unlawful use. Although NEC America has 
designed security features into its products, it is your sole responsibility to use the 
security features and to establish security practices within your company, including 
training, security awareness, and call auditing.
 
NOTICE
 
While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, NEC America will not be liable 
for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained within the documentation. The 
information contained in this documentation is subject to change without notice.
This documentation may be used only in accordance with the terms of the NEC 
America License Agreement.
NEC America, Inc., Corporate Networks Group
4 Forest Parkway
Shelton, CT. 06484 
Telephone:    203-926-5400
Fax:               203-929-0535
Web site:       cng.nec.com
TRADEMARKS
NEC, NCS Serv, NCS Ware, Extended Caller ID, N-TeliTouch, NCS LinkPlus, NCS 
Console, NCS Admin and N-TeliCall are trademarks or registered trademarks of 
NEC.
All other brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their 
respective manufacturers.
Copyright © NEC America 2001. All rights reserved.
Printed in U.S.A.  
 
4502-0001-A1 
						

							 
Table of Contents
 
TAPI
 
 4.0 User Guide
 
i
 
Using TAPI with NCS Ware 4.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
 
Introduction to TAPI   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
NECs TAPI Implementation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Server Installation   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Client Installation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Restrictions and Exceptions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 
						

							 
Table of Contents
 
ii
 
TAPI
 
 4.0 User Guide 
						

							 
Introduction to TAPI
 
TAPI 
 
4.0 User Guide
 
 1
 
TAPI
 
Using TAPI with NCS Ware 4.0
 
TAPI stands for Telephony Application Programming Interface. It is a 
specification by Microsoft for writing 
 
telephony-based
 
 (the applications 
purpose is telephony and call control) or 
 
telephony-enabled
 
 (the 
applications purpose is something else, but it supports telephony functions 
such as calling a contact - e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Act, Goldmine) 
applications. There are several off-the-shelf applications such as Microsoft 
Outlook, Act and Goldmine that support TAPI for calling contacts right 
from the application without having to manually enter the number on the 
telephones keypad. If you have such an application installed at your site 
and would like to use this functionality using the NCS Serv system, you 
should read this document and install and configure the appropriate 
components.
 
Introduction to TAPI 
TAPI is a collection of interfaces that are based on a 3-layer telephony 
architecture. This architecture is depicted in Fig. 1. 
 
Figure 1. 3-Layer TAPI Architecture 
						

							 
Using TAPI with NCS Ware 4.0 
 
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4.0 User Guide
 
The service providers implement the telephony functions necessary to 
write a telephony application as specified in the TSPI. The telephone 
system manufacturer typically implements this layer so that all the TAPI 
applications can function with the telephone system. Microsoft 
implemented the TAPI middleware and this layer aggregates all the service 
providers available and provides a uniform API to the applications. It also 
adds value by implementing a few other high level functions. The 
application layer is where all the applications such as Microsoft Outlook 
function. These applications are written to TAPI specification so that they 
can work with any telephone system that has its own service provider.
TAPI functions are of two kinds:
• First party call control functions - these are the functions that control 
the device directly. These functions are specified in TAPI version 1.4.
• Third-party call control functions - these are functions that instruct a 
telephone system such as the NCS Serv system to control telephony 
devices such as trunks and extensions. These functions are specified 
in TAPI version 2.1.
With Windows 2000, Microsoft released a new version of TAPI called 
TAPI 3.0 that provides an object oriented API for telephony functions. 
Even though the application layer specification has been completely 
rewritten, the service provider interface is compatible with TAPI 2.1. Since 
NCS Ware implements its service provider based on TAPI 2.1, applications 
written to TAPI 3.0 can make full use of all the telephony functions 
implemented by NCS Ware.
 
NECs TAPI Implementation 
In earlier versions, NEC implemented a TAPI Service Provider (TSP) only 
and relied completely on Microsofts middleware to support clients running 
over a network. However, Microsofts support for remote clients required 
that the installation have a complete NT server environment including 
domains and directory. It required the client systems to belong to the same 
NT domain, the remote user to have an account on the NT domain, etc. 
Overall, installing, maintaining and supporting a TAPI-based application 
resulted in a lot of work and hence made it a very expensive solution. 
						

							 
NECs TAPI Implementation
 
TAPI 
 
4.0 User Guide
 
 3
 
TAPI
 
In NCS Ware 4.0, NEC has implemented an innovative solution to 
overcome the problems mentioned above. The new solution does not rely 
on Microsofts middleware to support remote clients and implements that 
functionality by itself using TCP/IP. This new architecture is depicted in 
Fig. 2
 
Figure 2. NEC’s TAPI Implementation
 
TAPI Gateway consists of two components:
1.
 
TAPI Proxy Server
 
 - this component should be installed on the NCS 
Serv system and this component actually implements all the TSP 
functionality by communicating with the NCS Serv software 
components. It runs as an NT service.
2.
 
TAPI Service Provider
 
  (TSP) - this component should be installed on 
each client system that intends to use a TAPI application.
These two components communicate with each other using NECs own 
TCP/IP based protocol called NCS LinkPlus. Since there is no requirement 
other than that the client and the server systems should have a TCP/IP 
connection, the installation, maintenance and support for TAPI 
applications should be very easy and straightforward. 
						

							 
Using TAPI with NCS Ware 4.0 
 
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As is evident from Fig. 2, when a client application registers with TAPI for 
controlling a telephony device such as an extension, NCS Serv will send all 
events happening on that device to the TAPI proxy, which will, in turn send 
the events to the client systems service provider. The service provider will 
report these events to the TAPI middleware on the client system and TAPI 
will report them to the client application.  Similarly, when the client 
application sends a command to TAPI, it is transported all the way to the 
NCS Ware system software and the results are sent back via the same 
components.
The important point to note is that all the communication that goes on 
below the TAPI layer on the client system is transparent to the application 
itself. Thus, the support for TAPI applications has been greatly simplified 
in NCS Ware 4.0. 
						

							 
System Requirements
 
TAPI 
 
4.0 User Guide
 
 5
 
TAPI
 
System Requirements 
In order to use TAPI applications such as Microsoft Outlook , Act 2000 or 
Goldmine successfully, your environment has to meet certain 
requirements. These requirements are given below for your reference. 
Before implementing TAPI in an environment, you should make sure these 
requirements are met and also make sure you understand the restrictions 
and exceptions to the TAPI support in NCS Ware 4.0 as outlined on page 8.
 
Server Requirements 
The server system (NCS Serv system) should meet the following 
requirements to support TAPI:
• Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 6a 
 
or
 
 Windows 2000 
Server
• NEC telephony boards (Quantum and/or Triton boards)
• Sufficient memory for your configuration as indicated in NCS Ware 
Installation Manual
• Network connection with TCP/IP enabled
• Center (Option Pack) license
• One session license for each concurrent TAPI client connection
• NEC TAPI Proxy Server 4.0 software
 
Client Requirements 
The client system should meet the following requirements to support TAPI:
• Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 with SP 6a or Windows 2000
• Network connection with TCP/IP enabled
• NEC TAPI Service Provider 4.0 software
• A TAPI application (Phone Dialer, Outlook, etc.) 
						

							 
Using TAPI with NCS Ware 4.0 
 
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Server Installation 
Before you install the client software (TAPI SP), you should prepare the 
server system. The first step in preparing the server system is to install and 
configure the NCS Ware software. For more details on this step, refer to 
NCS Serv Getting Started Manual. Once you have installed the telephony 
hardware, installed the NCS Ware software and configured it, test the 
system by making a few calls into and out of the system and make sure it 
works as expected.
Then, install the TAPI Proxy Server software. This software can be found 
in the NCS Ware 4.0 CD and also in the Center 4.0 CD. Run the 
SETUP.EXE file from the TAPIGateway\TAPIServer folder. Remember 
that you should be logged in as a user that has Administrator privileges to 
install the software properly.
Once you install this server component, the service is started automatically. 
No configuration parameters need to be set on the server.
 
Client Installation 
Before you begin client installation, make sure that the client system meets 
all the requirements listed on page 5. Then, check that the server 
installation is complete. You should also note the name or the IP address of 
the server. 
From the TAPIGateway\TAPIClient folder in the NCS Ware or Center 4.0  
CD, run the SETUP.EXE file. This will launch the setup wizard that will 
walk you through the installation process. During installation, you will be 
asked for the following information:
•
 
Server IP address
 
 - enter the name or the IP address of the NCS Serv 
system to which your extension belongs
•
 
Extension Number 
 
- enter your extension number
•
 
Password 
 
- enter your NCS Serv extensions password