Architecture

Technical architecture

Semafone has a modular design, which allows for scalability and resilience. The arrangement and number of those modules allow Semafone to scale from a single site installation with one or more E1/T1 lines, up to a multi-site installation comprised of thousands of lines using a mixture of TDM and VoIP traffic. There are three critical components to the Semafone architecture.

Telephony cards: The telephony cards used in the Semafone solution are proven, exchange-level devices. They contain their own processors, DSP chips and memory. The main work in splitting the call into voice and DTMF components for SecureMode is performed on the card hardware. This means that the addition of more telephony cards to add more lines automatically adds the necessary processor power and memory required to handle those calls. Get more details regarding telephony integration.

Telephony processing modules: These control the telephony cards. These oversee the gathering of the sensitive data, their encryption and transmission to other modules or systems. A Semafone installation will have one or more of these modules, which can be installed on one or more servers for resilience or scaling.

Data processing module: The Semafone data processing module is used to administer the system, collate the data from the telephony processing modules and interface with the payment gateways and external applications. Like the other modules, one or more of these can be used within a Semafone installation as required. The data processing module is integrated into a number of the leading payment gateways, but also has standard interfaces for communicating with third party systems.

All the modules communicate with one another securely over network interfaces, so they can be placed on separate machines and sites if necessary – or all installed on the same server if required. Encryption and reliable deletion of data is used throughout to ensure confidentiality.

Physical architecture

The open and scalable architecture of Semafone allows a solution to be designed to meet the specific requirements of your project, and to work alongside all your existing call centre technologies with no need to upgrade or change any existing systems.

The main sub-systems within a Semafone solution include:

Telephony server: This consists of one or more telephony cards. In a traditional switch implementation, each telephony card will support up to 8 T1/E1 lines. Similar capacities are also available in a VoIP implementation. Telephony cards are contained in a compact PCI chassis, containing duplicated power supplies, fans and ethernet switches to ensure there is no single point of failure.

• In a TDM-based environment the telephony server is normally deployed at the trunk entry point (i.e. where phone lines physically enter the call centre) and close to the ACD.

• In a VoIP-based environment there is more flexibility, and the telephony server can either be deployed at trunk entry point, or a more optimal place in the VoIP network depending on its design.

Application server: The application server runs the core Semafone software. It controls one or more telephony servers and interfaces to other systems within the enterprise for card payment processing. The application server is connected to the TCP/IP network, and can be situated physically close to the Telephony Server, or in a distant data centre for resilience and disaster recovery. Each application server can control multiple telephony servers, and work in ‘primary’ and ‘standby’ modes.

The diagram below illustrates a fully-resilient architecture in which two Semafone application servers control two separate clusters of telephony servers:

You can view a demonstration of a sample call by clicking here. Quick and easy to install, the Semafone solution integrates seamlessly with all major telephony switches and is independent of any call recording software. For a technical overview click here and for more information regarding the Semafone implementation approach click here.