In case you are interested in getting your hands dirty with Tropo, here is some handy information
What is Tropo?
Tropo is a company that Cisco aquired not too long ago, but to be short and sweet, Tropo is a “cloud API platform that simplifies the addition of real-time communications and collaboration capabilities within applications” from Wikipedia
What is possible with Tropo?
I’m a UC and Collaboration guy, and the first time I heard of Tropo so many ideas came to my mind.
Examples:
- Call to ask for directions –> Call a number punch a digit and receive a link via SMS on your mobile phone
- Call to find out about the weather –> enter your ZIP code and have the weather sent to your phone, or have it played back to you
- Create an AutoAttendant –> Create a multi-level auto-attendant that routes calls to different places (No fancy Phone system required)
- Receive incoming calls and route them based on the calling number or CLID
This list is very short to the possibilities that this provides.
I’m not a coder and my experience in the subject is very low, but this is one of the things that I’m aiming to learn this year. So you will see some content from me in the nearest future on Tropo.
How to I get started?
Register for FREE, Here
Once you create an account with Tropo, you have the ability to play for FREE and develop your applications. There are 2 modes Development Mode and Production Mode. When you are in Dev mode there is no charge, but either way you have to enter your billing information to be able to dial out with the application.
Tropo Flavors
There are few flavors of Tropo, and by flavors I mean ways to use it. Depending, most likely in the things that you want to accomplish, for example, a simple Script, with no fancy DB integration, you could use the Scripting API, hosted by Tropo. Or the Web API, which lets you have more control and integrate with Das and information that you own. As well as integrations with other products.
Tropo Scripting API – The hosted offering of Tropo, the Scripting API enables you to build communications applications in JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, and Groovy, and host them in the Tropo cloud. Your script runs on the Tropo servers, very similar to The way a web application runs on a web server, except instead of interacting with the user via a web browser, a Tropo application interacts with the user via voice (using a standard telephone or Voice Over IP/SIP) or text messages.
Tropo WebAPI – The WebAPI is a web-service API that lets you build communications applications that run on your organization’s servers and drive the Tropo cloud using JSON over HTTP. It uses the same request-response model many web developers are already comfortable using, communicating with applications running on your own server, feeding requests and processing responses back and forth as needed.
The WebAPI is particularly useful in situations where, for example, you need to use a custom library (or libraries), or need access to a SQL database. The WebAPI allows for the deep backend integration you may need, but does, however, require you have your own infrastructure, your own hosting, and your own servers already in place.
Tropo REST API – After you’ve written a Tropo application with the Scripting API or WebAPI, the Tropo REST API lets you configure and control those applications through the use of RESTful methods. This includes the ability to create new Tropo apps, add phone numbers to them, delete applications, and much more.
Want to go Deep into Tropo?
In case you are interested in getting involved, there are some things that you at least need to be familiar with… the following list maybe short and I think I will be missing few components but I think it will be a good start.
- Coding (JavaScript, Python, Groovy, others)
- Data Structures and Services (JSON, Node.js, Postman)
My Take and last words
I think that Tropo is a great opportunity to open your mind to different options. THere are many companies that will definetly benefit from taking a look at this application and start bringing solutions to implement with it.
As of right now I’m opening some time to learn coding with JavaScript and Python, I have to tell you that is being very fun and challenging at the same time. Again and as always, if you have any questions you may want to ask me, feel free to leave a Comment, I will do my best to respond as fast as possible.
About the Author:
Andres Sarmiento, CCIE # 53520 (Collaboration)
With more than 13 years of experience, Andres is specialized in the Unified Communications and Collaboration technologies. Consulted for several companies in South Florida, also Financial Institutions on behalf of Cisco Systems. Andres has been involved in high-profile implementations including Cisco technologies; such as Data Center, UC & Collaboration, Contact Center Express, Routing & Switching, Security and Hosted IPT Service provider infrastructures.