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Throughout the year, we’ve been sharing Amtelco’s 50-year history leading the evolution of innovative call center solutions. Looking back, communications have advanced rapidly over the past fifty years. Who could have guessed that rotary phones used 50 years ago would be replaced by push-button phones, then by mobile cellular phones, and now by today’s smartphones? Conveniences such as leaving a voice message for someone to review later or sending a page have evolved into instant communication via SMS and secure messaging. Not to mention progressing from hardware-based systems to today’s software- and cloud-based technology, with artificial intelligence (AI) designed to help operators. We’ve also advanced from handwritten paper messages to paperless, analog-to-digital processes, and many manual operator tasks are now automated.
A Brief Look at Our Early History
Bill Curtin and his wife, Eleanor, started an answering service in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1947. They started with 13 doctors’ accounts, and thanks to Bill and Eleanor’s hard work, their business grew into the largest answering service in Madison. As Madison continued to grow, they opened east- and west-side telephone branches. At that time, the Curtins had to pay mileage charges from the central office to their business for each customer. Virtually overnight, the Curtins faced losing over 40% of their customer base because the cost of extending so many lines was prohibitive.
A Dresser Drawer Solution
Being a creative type, Bill began devising a practical solution to reduce the number of lines needed between the answering service and the central office. The result was Telesignal, the first concentrator/identifier, invented in 1951. Telesignal brought many pairs of customer telephone lines to the answering service, without having to extend each individual customer line to the answering service. The first Telesignal was built from a dresser drawer and looked like a homemade radio.
Amtelco Opens in November 1976
Bill continued to research and develop new products. After the 1968 Carterfone decision that opened AT&T’s phone lines to outside equipment, Bill and Eleanor founded Amtelco in November 1976, with a mission to deliver call center technology worldwide. Amtelco’s primary focus was simplifying the process of answering calls, taking accurate messages, and efficiently delivering them to clients.
Since opening 50 years ago, Amtelco has introduced a long line of remarkable products, all designed to reduce errors and streamline communications. Let’s take a brief look at the Amtelco products that have maintained a leading role in the telecommunications industry over the years.
Products Through the Years
Since opening 50 years ago, Amtelco has introduced a long line of remarkable products, all designed to reduce errors and streamline communications. Let’s take a brief look at the Amtelco products that have maintained a leading role in the telecommunications industry over the years.
- 1977 – Video III, designed for services with 300 to 3,000 clients
- 1979 – VCF (Video Call Forwarding), for call forwarding and subscriber lines
- 1980 – Mitey-Mite, the first single trunk DID (direct inward dial) unit
- 1980 – Leprechaun, a mini-concentrator and identifier for 15 secretarial lines
- 1982 – MCF (Modular Call Forwarding) with call distribution
- 1983 – EVE (Electronic Video Exchange); the first paperless system, and the first system to feature its own digital switch
- 1988 – PC-MX (Personal Computer Message Exchange); a PC-based system with built-in voice mail
- 1993 – Infinity; a larger capacity system with paperless messaging and voice processing
- 1999 – eCreator advanced scripting
- 2003 – Red Alert mass notification
- 2004 – Intelligent Series (IS), with guided scripting and messaging, directories, info pages, and on-call scheduling
- 2008 – Soft Agent software-based agent
- 2011 – miSecureMessages secure messaging; currently called Amtelco Secure Messages
- 2014 – MergeComm integration engine to automate notifications
- 2016 – Genesis soft switch
- 2017 – miTeamWeb mobile-friendly workforce collaboration platform
- 2020 – Web Agent secure browser-based agent software
- 2023 – Active Insights cloud-based AI platform with real-time analytics, call and screen recordings, transcription, translation, automated call scoring, sentiment analysis, and message storage
- 2025 – Web Supervisor, providing web-based Intelligent Series administrator access
- 2026 – Ellie™, Amtelco’s Intelligent Virtual Agent, named after Amtelco co-founder Eleanor Curtin
- 2026 – Amtelco Portal enhanced team collaboration
A Bright Future
While we can’t predict what tomorrow’s technology will be, we know our commitment to keep researching, refining, and building innovative solutions will continue. For call centers, that means higher profitability, less stress for operators, and a better experience for every caller. The future is bright, and we’re excited to help shape it.
