Tropo Presentation at the Telecom API Workshop

Telephony !@#$%^&*
Daniel C. Burnett, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, Tropo
1

„ Ubiquitous, free platform (HTML)
„ Unified mechanism for accessing resources (URIs)
„ Developer-friendly
„ Simple APIs (HTML + CSS + JS)
„ No software to buy or set up à my 13-year-old can do it
„ Free documentation on the web à developers self-train
3
What caused success of the Web?
Let's learn from this!

We are web developer focused
4
Why Tropo?

Your pipe + Your subscriber community
+ Web-style simplicity for developers
=
Smart pipe
5
Growing the smart pipe

„ Calling was
„ Video phones
„ Calls that moved with you
„ Everything should just "work together"
6
When magic reigned

„ It's TOO HARD
„ Billing
„ Compliance issues
„ Cost of research
„ Cost of failure (being fired)
„ Reliability
7
What happened?

8
The problem
T-1
"Telephony sucks"

- Jonathan Taylor, founder ofVoxeo

Make it simpler

9
SIP must be the answer (late 90's)
Protocol coding
"Telephony sucks"

- Jonathan Taylor, founder ofVoxeo

Make it simpler

10
CallML/CCXML/VXML must be the
answer (early 2000's)
XHTML -> HTML 4/5
"Telephony still too hard"

- Jonathan Taylor, founder ofVoxeo Labs (Tropo)

Make it more appealing

(mid 2000's)

(Oct 2010)

11
Tropo appeals to Web Developers
Automates call endpoints
"Why not in your calls?"

- Jose De Castro,Tropo CTO

Bring web development to the core network

(Mar 2009)

12
Ameche is the (additional) answer
Automates call midpoints
Apps in your calls™

(Oct 2012)

13
So what's the point?
We will never stop trying to
make telephony (app dev) simpler
innovating

14
Our products
Simple JQuery API for
building web client

-  Voice/video

-  IM/SMS/Twitter

-  Of course
WebRTC

-  Corresponding SIP
proxying gateway

Simple web scripting API
for call endpoint apps

-  Write in JS, Ruby,
Groovy, Python, PHP

-  Call/forward/answer

-  Speech recognition/
synthesis

-  SIP/PSTN/IM/SMS/
Skype/Twitter

-  150k+ developers

cPaaS using Simple
NodeJS API for mid-
call apps

-  Voice, video, SMS

-  Integrates with

-  SMS or MSC

-  API management

-  Cloud
deployment

30-second sign-up

Developer sandbox

30-second sign-up

Developer sandbox

30-second sign-up

Developer sandbox

15
Our products
Simple JQuery API for
building web client

-  Voice/video

-  IM/SMS/Twitter

-  Of course
WebRTC

-  Corresponding SIP
proxying gateway

Simple web scripting API
for call endpoint apps

-  Write in JS, Ruby,
Groovy, Python, PHP

-  Call/forward/answer

-  Speech recognition/
synthesis

-  SIP/PSTN/IM/SMS/
Skype/Twitter

-  150k+ developers

cPaaS using Simple
NodeJS API for mid-
call apps

-  Voice, video, SMS

-  Integrates with

-  SMS or MSC

-  API management

-  Cloud
deployment

30-second sign-up

Developer sandbox

30-second sign-up

Developer sandbox

30-second sign-up

Developer sandbox

Not just APIs – these
appear as native code.

REST is tiresome!

Phono example
<head>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.4.2.min.js"></script>
<script src="http://s.phono.com/releases/1.1/jquery.phono.js"></script>
</head>
…
$.phono({
onReady: function() {
this.phone.dial("sip:9991443046@sip.tropo.com")
}
});
Place call or take call.

16

<head>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.4.2.min.js"></script>
<script src="http://s.phono.com/releases/1.1/jquery.phono.js"></script>
</head>
…
$.phono({
onReady: function(event) {
alert("My SIP address is sip:" + this.sessionId);
},
phone: {
onIncomingCall: function(event) {
var call = event.call;
alert("Incoming call");
call.bind({
onHangup: function(event) {
console.log("Call hung up");
});
}
}
});
Phono example
Place call or take call.

17

Tropo example
var facebook = new FacebookClient(authToken);
var location =
facebook.getLastCheckinLocation();
if(GeoUtils.getCountry(location) != 'USA') {
var answer = ask('Dan is traveling right now.
Do you still want to call him?',
{choices: 'yes, no' });
if(answer == 'yes') {
transfer(currentCall.calledId);
} else {
say('Okay. Try texting him.') }
}
}
Intercepts called number and veriﬁes location before continuing.

18

Ameche example
var ameche=require('ameche');
ameche.on('subscriber', function(subscriber) {
subscriber.on('call:outgoing', function(call)
{
if(call.to=='tel:411'){
call.connect('tel:+1800GOOG411');
}
});
});
Intercepts calls to 411 and redirects them to Google's Directory Assistance

•  Could be billed at net proﬁt over 411 DA

•  Could be charged to developer offering service

19

„ Crunched (Tropo + Phono)
„ myaNUMBER (Tropo + Phono)
„ Tropo is also deployed in both AT&T and Deutsche Telekom's
developer gardens
20
Selected deployments

Crunched: Tropo and Phono
Crunched uses Tropo to

•  Record calls and log them to SalesForce.com

Crunched added Phono in May 2013 to

•  Provide high-quality voice, supported in all browsers, whether WebRTC enabled or not

Recently acquired by ClearSlide

"a sales and marketing intelligence platform that helps
companies close more deals with deeper insights into
their customers"

Crunched features:

•  Full audio and video conferencing, with presentation and screen sharing

•  Automatic call recording and logging to SalesForce.com

•  Measures who's paying attention in meetings, who's reading emailed
presentations, and how much time they spend reading each slide

•  Simple web interface with no download, using high-quality audio

21

myaNumber: Tropo and Phono
"One phone number for your family."

Myanumber features:

•  One number for your children to call (local or toll-free)

•  Up to 5 caregiver numbers (Mom, Dad, Grandma, friend, etc.)

•  Rings simultaneously or in sequence, as conﬁgured

•  Group text among caregivers, caregiver location information

•  Automated transcription of call sent to all caregivers

•  Basic cost: $9.99/mo or $89.99/yr, incl. 200 call minutes and 100 SMS

Tropo provides:

•  Voice and SMS

Other (AT&T) APIs used:

•  payment API

•  locator API

•  in-app messaging API so SMS from a browser looks like its sent from the person’s mobile

•  speech to text API

Phono provides:

•  Voice and SMS from a browser

22

„ SalesForce Call Logging (Tropo or Ameche)
„ In-Call Assistant (Ameche)
„ Social Weaving (Tropo or Ameche)
„ Context-based Call Routing (Tropo or Ameche)
„ Possible Emerging Market Cases
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Cool Use Cases

8
© Voxeo Corporation© Voxeo Corporation© Voxeo Corporation
SalesForce Call Logging: Description
The Problem
Sales people forget to log their
calls in SalesForce.com:
incomplete analytics and
missed business
opportunities.
The Solution - Integrated Call Logging
When a sales person makes or receives a call, this
triggers a look-up using the number and CRM package.
If the number matches a client’s number it triggers the
display of the client’s information. All communications
with clients are recorded and uploaded in real-time.
Retail Price - $5-10 per user/month (based on market research)
24

8
SalesForce Call Logging: User Experience
Key features: logs all sales calls
• Automatically
• In real time
• On sales person s existing numbers
• To/from ANY device / number
SALES PERSON
(Telco s customer) can
call / be called on their
existing numbers.
CLIENT can call / be called
on any device; as long as the
phone number is registered
in the CRM package the
application will be triggered.
Telco
1.Script running on
Tropo or app on
Ameche checks client s
number using SFDC
public APIs
3. Sales Person views all call
logs and audio ﬁle and
transcriptions from their
salesforce.com account
2. If number is a client
then app logs call and
passes records to SFDC
using public APIs upon
call completion
25

SalesForce Call Logging: Business Models
Individual
purchase
$5-10 pm
$5k-10k pm
15% retained by SFDC
$4.25-8.5 pm
$4.25k-8.5k
pm
Distribution Through SFDC AppExchange
Distribution Direct / Partner (Non-SFDC Implementations)
Telco
SI / CRM Partners (e.g.
SAP)

$5k-10k pm

+ Set-up
fee
Revenue to
Telco

Revenue to
Telco

$5k-10k pm

(Set-up fee goes
to SI plus
commission (2))
Notes: (1) Enterprise assumes 1000 seats. (2) Model is not limited to only SFDC, Telco may choose to deliver in partnership with local
system integrators and other CRM platforms either cloud or premise-based.
Enterprise
Purchase (1)
26

8
In-Call Assistant: Description
The Problem
Taking notes or sending a text
while driving is dangerous.
What if you could activate an
in-call assistant to take notes,
transcribe the call to text and
send you an email or MMS
message when you hang up?
The Solution - Voice Activated In-Call Assistant
Through the power of your voice: record calls, take notes
that upload to Evernote, listen and send email / SMS /
IM / Tweet / to do list / blog posts, receive whisper
meeting alerts during calls that only you hear, add people
to calls, divert calls to other devices, check your calendar
to add or change appointments, and lots more…
Retail Price - $1-7 per user/month (depending on features)
“Record this
call”
[CHIME] “This call is being
recorded...”
“Recording sent”
27

8
In-Call Assistant: User Experience
Key features:
• Works on any phone using the customer s existing number
• Activated on a speciﬁc context (e.g. driving)
• Addresses campaign of Don t text and drive
• Extensible list of web and network services
Customer subscribes to the in-call assistant service.
Saying a key phrase Hello Green Genie during a call
activates the assistant. Or if the customer is in a
speciﬁc context, e.g. receives an SMS while driving, the
assistant calls them. Or they can call the assistant
directly to use the power of their voice over their
services.
Telco
Using the power of their
voice, customer can
control all their services
Hello Green Genie
28

In-Call Assistant: Example Features
Drive time SMS

Green Genie calls the subscriber and reads-out the SMS while the subscriber is driving.
The subscriber can then say reply to answer the SMS using their voice, or create a new
SMS, or review an old SMS.

Call recording

On a call and need to take a note? Say Hello Green Genie, record call. The call is
recorded, transcribed and sent by email or MMS to the subscriber or to Evernote.

Add a line

On a call and need to add someone onto the call? Say Hello Green Genie, add Bob (this
assumes contact list synced) or add phone number 888 888 8888. The person is called and
added to the existing call if they answer.

Email by voice

The subscriber can call Green Genie and say, check my email and the email titles and
senders are read out. The subscriber can then reply or forward the emails, again through
the power of their voice.

Tweet by voice

The subscriber can call Green Genie or while on a call say, check my tweets and can
listen to their tweets, and then like, retweet, or create new tweets through the power of
their voice.

Whisper reminders

While on a call, the subscriber can receive meeting reminders via whispers,

Business Integration

On a call and need the customer's order status? Say Hello Green Genie, order status,
Fred Jones. And listen to the status while on the phone.

29

8
In-Call Assistant: Recording
3. Returns whisper to
customer Recording,
or could announce to
both parties the call is
being recorded (1).
Called or Calling
Party
Telco s
Customer
1. Customer is on a call and says Hello
Green Genie, record call.

2. Green Genie App
running on Ameche
is activated on
detecting keyword
Hello Green Genie
and command
phrase record call .
Telco
IMS/
NGIN

4. At the end of the
call the recording is
sent to the customer
as either an audio ﬁle
or transcribed and
saved by email, MMS
or web service such
as Evernote (using
their public API). (2)
Note: (1) other party will hear the voice commands unless the customer mutes their line. (2) would require customer to
set preferences, default can be set by the operator.
30

8
In-Call Assistant: SMS while driving
3. Since customer
status is driving and
SMS is received,
Green Genie places a
call to customer and
reads text of SMS.
Customer
1. Customer s status is driving, e.g. location is on
a highway moving at 10 mph

2. Customer
receives an SMS
which is passed to
Green Genie;
customer's context
is checked.
Telco
IMS/
NGIN

4. Customer can use speech commands
within the call such as:
Reply
Send SMS to 888 888 8888 or Bob
Forward SMS to 888 888 8888 or Bob
Names assume address book is sync ed.
31

8
In-Call Assistant: Business Model
•  Service already exists, e.g. Dial2do, Excendia, with pricing in
the range of $2.50 per month to $10 per month depending on
feature set.

•  Dial2do has 100k+ direct paying customers as service is
bundled with high-end Bluetooth headsets, e.g. Jabra,
Jawbone, Plantronics

•  Basic service could be ad-supported, e.g. each time the service
is invoked it includes voice based adverts.

•  In-Call integration and integration with existing
communication services provides a signiﬁcantly enhanced
experience compared to Dial2do s offer – possible for a
premium on existing pricing.

•  Don t text and drive campaigns are ideal vehicles to
promote the service across consumer and enterprise
segments; customers simply use their voice as they have done
for decades while driving.

•  Recommend offering as a bolt-on to existing consumer and
enterprise packages

32

8
Social Weaving: Description
The Opportunity
Social Networking sites like
Facebook and LinkedIn have
changed the way the world
communicates.

Rather than ﬁght this movement,
operators have an opportunity to
integrate the mobile experience
with these services to promote
their brands every time someone
uses their phone.
The Solution - Social Call Activity. Social Caller ID.
Operators can weave real-time voice and text conversations
into social streams. For example, a service can be created that
logs call activity and SMS messages to the user’s
public or private activity feed on Facebook, allowing them to
see all their conversations in one place. Called your mom on her
birthday? You get a ‘good daughter’ badge :-)

Another service could trigger a real-time Social Caller ID window
on LinkedIn with the caller’s proﬁles and latest activity stream.
33

8
Social Weaving: User Experience
Key features:
• Works on any phone using the customer s existing number
• Privacy rules can ﬁlter who sees the status update and how
the message is presented
• Multiple business models supported
Customer signs up for Social Caller ID status via their
preferred social network, or their Telco s self-serve
account, then set their privacy rules and contact list
integration; for example, the status update could say
On a call or with contact list integration they could say,
On a call with Fred Jones .
Telco
Any call activity generates status updates pushed to the
customer s preferred social networks. Update can either
be a paid-for service (no telco brand) or free (ad-
supported) where the update reads Liz is busy on a call.
Sponsored by Telco X
34

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Social Weaving: Technology
Telco s Customer
1.Telco s customer makes or
receives calls

2. Call activity results in
either the script on Tropo
or the app on Ameche
sending an updated
status message through
the Facebook public API
Telco
IMS /
NGIN

3. Telco s customer status message is
updated when on a call. When call
completes status is again updated.
35

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Social Weaving: Business Model
•  Paid-for Model

•  Assuming 10M subscribers of whom 25% are actively using a business social network (assuming
only business subscribers would pay) and only 5% sign up at $2 per month, that would generate
a monthly revenue of $250k.

•  Advertising Equivalent Model

•  Assume 10M subscribers, 50% of whom actively use on average 1.5 social networks, e.g.
Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn.

•  Assume only 5% of those active subscribers sign-up for the service, and on average have 4.5 calls
per day, and each view generates 20 views from friends

•  This will generate

•  10M (total operator subscribers)

•  * 50% (half use social networks)

•  * 1.5 (a personal and a business social network)

•  * 5% (of those social subscribers sign-up to the service)

•  * 4.5 * 30 (calls per month)

•  * 20 (views of the status update)

•  = 1000M impressions per month

•  Assuming a CPM (Cost per Thousand) impressions of $20 would cost the equivalent of $20M in
internet advertising per month

36

8
Context-based Call Routing
The Opportunity
With many devices (think
WebRTC), simultaneous ringing
or sequential ringing can be at
best annoying and at worst
unworkable. With context-
based calling the call goes
directly to the device you’re
using, or depending on your
context to voicemail for further
processing.
The Solution – Context-based routing.
This service mashes up customer context across all their devices
with call control to enable calls to be directed to the customer’s
last used device, or the most appropriate device given their context.
For example the last used device could be their desktop PC, while
their location shows they are away from their desk, hence the call
would be directed to their preferred mobile device. Through the use
of black and white lists customers can control what calls are
received at home outside of normal working hours, passing them
through an interrogation ﬁlter to ensure a work call is urgent before
they are interrupted at home with their family.
37

8
Context-based Call Routing: User Experience
Key features:
• Works on any phone using the customer s
existing number
• Pre-configured based on the customers existing
behavior
• Multiple business models supported
Call goes directly to preferred available device using
either presence, or the customer s device priorities
based on their context defined by their location, time of
day, calendar status, and the person calling.
When the customer enters a specific context, e.g. in a
meeting, the service activates a set of screening and
forwarding rules (black list or white lists) for voice calls,
SMS, MMS, video calls, and notification services such
as missed call alerts. The service can have a number of
preset typical contexts such as Do Not Disturb , No
anonymous , On Holiday , Meeting , Commuting as
well as creating their own. Each context can have
specific black lists and white lists and rules for how their
communications are controlled.
Telco
Telco s Customer
Calling
Party
38

8
Context-based Call Routing: Technology
Telco
Telco s Customer
Calling
Party
1. Call placed to Telco s
customer

2. Customer s context
gathered from both
internal (device status
(on/off) and location) and
external (e.g. Outlook
Calendar) sources.
3. Call routed to device
based on customers
preferences, or previous
behavior. Note with Ameche
the call can be re-routed
mid-call, e.g. customer want
to move from their PC to
their mobile phone, and with
Ameche this can be done
through voice control.
39

8
Context-based Call Routing: Business Model
•  Feature differentiation for One Number services and One NumberVoIP clients, e.g.
Rogers One Number

•  Competitive differentiator and added customer convenience to attract
customers to the service

•  Feature differentiation to group calling services like myaNumber (Family Security
and Communication)

•  Monthly subscription fee for advanced context routing capabilities – targeting
business users

•  Surveys conducted by Tropo of its customer base indicate a price point in the
range of $2 to $4 per month, with the higher ﬁgure being for a learning system
that routes on previous behaviors

40

„  Automatic-Alternative Billing: Bills a call to an alternative account or credit card based on set of
user defined policies, e.g. parents pay for their child to call home.
„  Pay-For-Me: Enables typically prepaid customers to request the called party to pay for the call.
The request can be transmitted over SMS, MMS, USSD, voice announcement, SIP or WAP-push.
The called party must accept before the call is set-up. Scenarios include prepaid users with low
or no cash, for children calling their parents as part of a family plan, or for roamers that would
like to have a cheaper call. Possible restrictions: the calling party's prepaid balance is under a
configurable threshold, both parties are from the same service provider, and in specific roaming
scenarios.
„  Low cash Call Return SMS: Service targets prepaid customers with low / no balance who
cannot immediately reload their balance by sending a USSD code to the network which then
sends a free-of-charge SMS to the requested party with the text Please call me and the
customer s number . Possible restrictions: limited to prepaid users with a residual balance,
who are not roaming, and the requested party belongs to the same service provider. Also
restrictions can be placed on the number of Call me service requests allowed per day, week or
month.
„  Sponsored Calls: Cost conscious customers, or prepaid customers that are running low on funds,
can get cheaper rates for voice calls, by accepting to listen to advertisements at the beginning of
the call and/or at recurring times during the voice call. The advert provides the offset to the
standard call charge. Its similar in concept to the adverts on TV, however targeting and
advertiser education is required on the value offered by such advertising opportunities. The
subscriber can invoke the service either for all their calls or on a call by call basis; it applies to
only the customer s outgoing calls.
41
Possible Emerging Market Cases

„  Balance related
•  Cash Transfer: Cash Transfer enables prepaid and postpaid customers to transfer cash onto another
customer s prepaid balance, either within the same operator or between operators depending on
whether an inter-operator agreement exists or a third party service provider is used. The service is
invoked through SMS, USSD, WAP or Web portals.
•  No Credit Notification: Notifies texters when recipients cannot reply because they're out of credit
•  Prepaid community: Sets up a user community with a shared prepay balance, debited each time one
group member calls or texts another
„  Community related
•  Community and Club Services: Enables communities and clubs to create private number schemes,
group SMS lists, and conference call service.
•  Customer Created Community Services: Customer can create a premium SMS service, where
followers can subscribe to receive exclusive information. Or a group can set up a community
messaging service for arranging who will pick up the team for the next match.
42

„  Call Duration Limitation: Limits the duration of certain calls, releasing them upon reaching a
maximum. On family plans limit talk time of the kids.
„  Choose Your Number: Choose Your Number enables new customers to select a directory number
out of a series of MSISDN numbers. Subscribers are charged when they accept one of the
proposed numbers. The charge can vary depending upon the popularity of the number. The
chosen number is activated in the network (provisioned in the HLR). The service interaction
with the subscriber can be implemented with USSD messages/menus or WAP portals or Web
self-service or voice/IVR interaction.
„  Policy-Based Call Accept / Reject: Policy-Based Call Accept / Reject service enables wireline or
wireless customers to define a list of calling numbers that will be the only calling parties
authorized (not authorized) to ring their phone. (Variant of Context-based Routing Use Case)
„  Voice Translator: Based on the language preferences of the subscriber they can automatically
translate a voice recording into foreign languages.
43

44
Telephony no longer sucks
With ,
it's
What are you waiting for?

Tropo Presentation at the Telecom API Workshop

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