Building on the Innovative Communications Alliance announced in July 2006, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Nortel CEO and President Mike Zafirovski outlined their shared vision for unified communications. At a press event in Rockefeller Center in NYC, the two CEOs outlined how their companies can improve employee productivity and effectiveness and reduce the costs and complexity of communications. They also announced 11 new implementation services from Nortel and the opening of more than 20 joint demonstration centers where customers can experience the technology firsthand.
The rollout includes:
new solutions:
- UC Integrated Branch -- combining Nortel and Microsoft technology on a single piece of hardware for easy-to-deploy VoIP and unified communications in remote offices. Availability is expected in Q4 2007.
- Unified Messaging -- native session initiation protocol (SIP) interoperability between the Nortel Communication Server 1000 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging is planned to be available in Q2 2007. The solution includes Nortel professional services for design, deployment and support.
- Conferencing -- the companies will extend the feature set of Nortel Multimedia Conferencing to Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, delivering a single, familiar client experience consistent across applications such as voice, instant messaging, presence, and audio- and videoconferencing. The on-premise solution is planned to be available in Q4 2007.
In 2007, the companies also plan to extend their current unified communications solution -- a unified desktop and soft phone for VoIP, e-mail, instant messaging and presence -- to the Nortel Communication Server 2100, a carrier-grade enterprise telephony product supporting up to 200,000 users on a single system.
In 2008, the companies aim to move business communications onto a software platform designed to drive a higher-quality user experience and reduce total cost of ownership. The road map outlines several key applications and technology developments including a unified communications contact center, Nortel feature server, expanded hosted UC solutions, mobility and client solutions, and application-aware networking enhancements.
At a press event in Rockefeller Center in NYC, the two CEOs outlined how their companies can improve employee productivity and effectiveness and reduce the costs and complexity of communications. They also announced 11 new implementation services from Nortel and the opening of more than 20 joint demonstration centers where customers can experience the technology firsthand.
The rollout includes:
new solutions:
- UC Integrated Branch -- combining Nortel and Microsoft technology on a single piece of hardware for easy-to-deploy VoIP and unified communications in remote offices. Availability is expected in Q4 2007.
- Unified Messaging -- native session initiation protocol (SIP) interoperability between the Nortel Communication Server 1000 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging is planned to be available in Q2 2007. The solution includes Nortel professional services for design, deployment and support.
- Conferencing -- the companies will extend the feature set of Nortel Multimedia Conferencing to Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, delivering a single, familiar client experience consistent across applications such as voice, instant messaging, presence, and audio- and videoconferencing. The on-premise solution is planned to be available in Q4 2007.
In 2007, the companies also plan to extend their current unified communications solution -- a unified desktop and soft phone for VoIP, e-mail, instant messaging and presence -- to the Nortel Communication Server 2100, a carrier-grade enterprise telephony product supporting up to 200,000 users on a single system.
In 2008, the companies aim to move business communications onto a software platform designed to drive a higher-quality user experience and reduce total cost of ownership. The road map outlines several key applications and technology developments including a unified communications contact center, Nortel feature server, expanded hosted UC solutions, mobility and client solutions, and application-aware networking enhancements.
http://www.nortel.com
http://www.microsoft.com
