Nortel, IBM Team on Unified Communications Platform

Nortel Networks and IBM said they will deliver a platform for businesses that makes the move to IP telephony and unified communications as easy as a software upgrade.

The new platform is part of IBM’s unified communications and collaboration (UC2) strategy and will combine software and hardware from IBM with advanced IP telephony and multimedia capabilities from Nortel. The Nortel-IBM System i Unified Communications solution will integrate IBM’s System i business computing platform and the IBM Lotus Sametime unified communications and collaboration platform with Nortel’s suite of VoIP and multimedia technologies.

It will target SMBs and branch offices.

The product will allow for the consolidation of VoIP, multimedia collaboration and other business applications onto a single System i platform that will be complemented by a portfolio of SIP clients and allow for connectivity to Nortel’s purpose-built data portfolio for SMBs.

The integration with Lotus Sametime will deliver telephony plug-ins to Lotus Sametime’s existing unified communication and collaboration tools, which include capabilities such as instant messaging, Web conferencing, mobile device support and voice and video chat. System i Unified Communications will provide users the flexibility to select the method of collaboration best suited for the task at hand, the companies said.

In addition to IP PBX call features such as call routing, voice mail and unified messaging, the solution is expected to integrate with select e-mail clients.

The Nortel-IBM System i Unified Communications will be sold through approved Nortel resellers and IBM solutions providers who will be provided with training and tools for selling and supporting the product. The Nortel-IBM System i Unified Communications solution is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2007.

IBM www.ibm.com
Nortel Networks www.nortel.com

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