e application for which you are using the system. In some applications, for security reasons, you may not want the information available real-time. May Be Difficult To Administer: Complex local data- bases may be difficult to administer. Applications that require access to a large amount of constantly changing The Telecom Handbook & 175 INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE information are not good candidates for local data- base access. The more traditional method of data access has been to use data that is resident on a server or mainframe. The files contain- ing the required data are stored on some other computer (server, mainframe PC). Any information that the callers need to access during the IVR session needs to be read from the host system. There are several ways to make the connection between the host system and the IVR. Here are some different types of host connectivity. The type used for a particular application is determined by the hardware type of the host system. For example: IBM 3270 Emulation: This type of emulation will handle most IBM mainframe host applications. Asynchronous (RS-232) Terminal Emulation: This type of connectivity enables the IVR to emulate an RS- 232 terminal. Note: These two represent older technology, which is being phased out. SQL Database Interface: Some IVRs support SQL (Structured Query Language) which is a set of stan- dardized commands for accessing IBM's Database Manager, SQL Server, Oracle and many other data- bases. Access for this type of interface is usually done via a LAN interface. Advantages to using a LAN - (or WAN - wide area network) based database for the IVR applications are the following: Real Time Information Access: Mentioned above as a disadvantage to the local database. If the success of the application is dependent upon the availability of real time (up-to-the-minute) information, the LAN database will be more likely to provide this. 176 Si: The Telecom Handbook CHAPTER 8 Easier Administration: As mentioned above, appli- cations requiring access to a large amount 