When TAP is specified as the protocol in a modem template, Operations Sentinel supports alphanumeric, numeric, and tone pagers.

For alphanumeric paging, Operations Sentinel uses TAP, also referred to as IXO, to communicate with the paging service. TAP is the most generally available protocol of the industry standard protocols. It was developed by the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) and is used to enter numeric and alphanumeric page requests into a paging system. Paging services in many countries support TAP. The end user does not need to know how TAP works.