Networx Unit Pricer

ACS Technical Summary

ACS is a service that facilitates a call between three or more people in two or more locations that allows participants to converse with each other. The service allows participants to engage in either operator assisted or non-assisted multi-point audio conference calls. Audio conferencing can be initiated from Government sites using single-line telephones, multiline key telephone systems, conference-room audio equipment, PBX, Centrex, and Workstation/PC based soft-phone; and, from non-government sites while on travel or working from home.

ACS is a Networx Management and Applications level service that requires an underlying transport to connect to contractor's audio conference bridge. The audio connection from the conference participants to the ACS conference-bridge from on-net locations (i.e., government sites world-wide) is provided by Networx services, such as Voice Services (VS), Toll Free Service (TFS), Cellular/PCS Service (CPCS), Frame Relay Service (FRS) for VoFR, Asynchronous Transfer Mode Service (ATMS) for VoATM, and Voice over IP Transport Service (VOIPTS); and, from off-net locations world-wide over the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN).

ACS can support an audio conference call from a few participants to a few thousand participants, such as an Agency-wide video broadcast with audio feed back for questions and answers from viewers.

The diagram below shows the connectivity from multiple participants to an ACS audio conferencing bridge which supports the audio conference.

ACS allows selective conversations between conferees as well as a host of additional features. For example, a subset of conferees may engage in a two-way conference while the remaining conferees are listeners only. During a conference, the addition of a party to, or the deletion of a party from, the conference is indicated by a tone or by a verbal announcement from the operator. Additional capabilities are shown below.

• ACS allows participants to be added, without operator assistance, provided that the necessary facilities are available.
• An audio conference can be set up and controlled by users as well by an operator/attendant. ACS supports Meet-me conference and Preset conference for a user-initiated conference.
  • Meet-Me conference allows each user to be connected in a conference by dialing a designated number and authorization or pass code at a predetermined time.
  • Preset conference allows a user to activate a previously defined conference with associated conferees by dialing an access number followed by an authorization or pass code. Once activated, the system will attempt to connect the pre-designated participants using the predefined lists.
• ACS also supports, operator assisted conference, and advanced reservation system for scheduling audio conference for up to one year in advance by phone, Email, fax, or via online through the Internet.
• An Attendant-Assisted conference allows an operator to establish a conference. Conferees can recall an operator during a conference for immediate attention, such as general assistance or adding or dropping participants.

ACS is similar to Audio Conferencing features of FTS2001 Circuit Switched Service and FTS2001 Switched Voice Service.

ACS will support the full range of technical capabilities that are available in commercial offerings. These include:

• Service availability 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including attendant assistance
• Capability to schedule one or more conferences by time and day of the week either as a single event or recurring event on a daily, weekly, monthly, or other periodic basis
• Capabilities during an operator assisted conference
  • Announce late conference participant
  • Enable and disable conferee tones
  • Enable and disable music on hold
  • Enable and disable self mute
  • Guaranteed duration of dial-in call
  • Listen-only broadcast mode and mixed mode
  • Participant count
  • Roll call.

These and other service capabilities are detailed in Section C.2.8.2.1.4 Technical Capabilities of the Networx contracts.

ACS also offers features that complement the basic service. These features are described in Section C.2.8.2.2 Features of the Networx contracts. These include:

• Audio recording of call
• Access Controlled Call
• Language translation
• Moderator led questions and answers
• Participant list report
• Password screening
• Replay of pre-recorded audio conference
• Transcription of pre-recorded audio call
• Temporary blocking of ports
• Secured Audio Conference

ACS is required to support audio connection to the conference bridge from the following Networx services:

• C.2.2.1 Voice Services (VS)
• C.2.2.3 Toll Free Services (TFS)
• C.2.7.10 Internet Protocol Telephony Service (IPTelS)
• C.2.3.1 Frame Relay Service (FRS) for VoFR
• C.2.3.2 Asynchronous Transfer Mode Service (ATMS) for VoATM
• C.2.14.1 Cellular/ Personal Communications Service (CPCS)

Each Networx contractor may provide variations or alternatives to the offering and pricing for ACS. The specific details can be found within each Contractor's Networx contract and pricing notes for ACS.

For more information on the general ACS specifications and requirements, please refer to Section C.2.8.2 of the Networx contract for technical specifications and Section B.2.8.2 for pricing.

ACS Price Basics

ACS allows users to participate in audio conference calls among multiple locations. Voice connectivity is required for ACS. ACS is similar to Audio Conferencing features of FTS2001 Circuit Switched Service or FTS2001 Switched Voice Service.

Price components required for full end-to-end service for ACS:

• Underlying transport services, such as VS, CPCS, FRS, ATMS, or VoIPTS, to provide connectivity
• Basic service (usage charges per bridge port per minute)
• Features ordered as needed by the Agency:
  • Audio recording of call
  • Access Controlled Call
  • Language translation
  • Moderator led questions and answers
  • Participant list report
  • Password screening
  • Replay of pre-recorded audio conference
  • Transcription of pre-recorded audio call
  • Temporary blocking of ports
  • Secured Audio Conference
• Service Enabling Devices (SEDs) may be required to implement ACS. [Please note that SEDs under Networx replace the FTS2001 User-to-Network Interfaces and Access Adaptation Functions (UNIs/AAFs). SEDs may differ between Networx providers. The pricing structure for SEDs provides for either a one-time payment or monthly term payments for purchase, plus a NRC for installation, and a MRC for maintenance.]

Reservation service: Reservation charges apply only for conferences when advance reservations are made. Reservation charges are non-refundable in the event of cancellation of a scheduled conference less than 30 minutes before a conference is scheduled to occur.

Price components required for full end-to-end service for Reservation service:

• Underlying transport services, such as VS, CPCS, FRS, ATMS, or VoIPTS, to provide connectivity
• Basic service (usage charges per bridge port per minute)
• Reservation service (per conference)
• Features ordered as needed by the Agency
• Service Enabling Devices (SEDs) may be required to implement ACS. [Please note that SEDs under Networx replace the FTS2001 User-to-Network Interfaces and Access Adaptation Functions (UNIs/AAFs). SEDs may differ between Networx providers. The pricing structure for SEDs provides for either a one-time payment or monthly term payments for purchase, plus a NRC for installation, and a MRC for maintenance.]

Each Networx contractor may provide variations or alternatives to the offering and pricing for ACS. The specific details can be found within each Contractor's Networx contract files and pricing notes for ACS.

For more information on the general ACS specifications and requirements, please refer to Section C.2.8.2 of the Networx contract for technical specifications and Section B.2.8.2 for pricing.