Nortel, Microsoft to Release Joint UC Products in 2007

Microsoft Corp. and Nortel Networks will release three new products this year as a result of their unified communications partnership announced in 2006.

Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer said the products the companies are developing ultimately will make it possible for IP systems users to maintain one identity across phones, PCs and other devices.

"The average employee gets more than 50 messages every day on up to seven different devices or applications," he noted. "Software can and will help address the ongoing challenge of managing communications and this challenge is the driving idea behind our alliance with Nortel.”

The first product, unified messaging, will come out in the second quarter. It will feature SIP interoperability between the Nortel Communication Server 1000 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, making it easier for users to deploy the service.

Conferencing and the so-called UC Integrated Branch are planned for a fourth-quarter debut. The former will be an on-premise product. It will extend the features on Nortel’s multimedia conferencing platform to Microsoft’s Office Communicator 2007, so users will be able to access familiar applications including voice, IM, presence and audio and video conferencing. The latter, UC Integrated Branch, will put both companies’ technology onto one piece of hardware so businesses can deploy VoIP and unified communications in remote offices.

“Our goal is to close the gap between the devices we use to communicate and the business applications we use to run our businesses, giving employees the power to use information more quickly and effectively,” said Mike Zafirovski, Nortel’s CEO, at a joint Nortel-Microsoft event in New York City on Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp. www.microsoft.com  

Nortel Networks www.nortel.com

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