Bangkok--Jun 21--124 Communications
Announced a major breakthrough in enterprise communications with the introduction of a new multimedia communications plug-in for the world’s leading corporate e-mail application, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.
Nortel’s new Multimedia Office Client is a stand-alone solution that leverages the ‘Office Anywhere’ capabilities of Nortel’s Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based Multimedia Communication Server 5100 and 5200 to provide business users anywhere, anytime access to a full range of multimedia business communications. By integrating real-time multimedia communications within Outlook, and enabling these services to be used with existing business voice systems, the Nortel Multimedia Office Client can greatly simplify and enrich the business communications experience.
The Multimedia Office Client will reside within Outlook 2003 as a toolbar that enables users to manage and personalize voice, video and text communications, and to initiate calls from a desktop phone or headset simply by clicking on a contact name — all from within Outlook 2003. This plug-in, which can be deployed as an enterprise owned or service provider hosted service, goes beyond voice or text to provide a rich multimedia communications experience. The integrated video and collaboration services can use existing Centrex or enterprise voice systems for audio, complementing business voice services currently in use.
“This is about bringing the power of integrated voice, video and text messaging to the mass market of business communication users,” said Alan Stoddard, general manager, Multimedia Converged Networks, Nortel. “Based on our extensive experience in deploying multimedia communications to both service providers and enterprises, we understand that the real end-user value comes from tight integration of these technologies into a single, easy-to-use interface that will ultimately enhance the human experience. More than 400 million people around the world use Outlook, and unifying multiple forms of communication on a common platform like this can enable a new model of interpersonal communication in the workplace and beyond.”
“The ability to offer a full suite of voice over IP and multimedia communications services as a plug-in to existing software applications marks the beginning of a new communications era — one which promises to accelerate the integration of multimedia communications with common enterprise and consumer software applications across the breadth of today’s communication devices. This integration is an important part of our IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) vision of mass market converged services that can be accessed anywhere, anytime,” Stoddard said.
The Multimedia Office Client is designed to put users in control of their communications with the ability to manage incoming calls in real-time — answering, rejecting or transferring calls, access voice mail with the click of a mouse and create incoming communications rules to indicate how, where and by whom they can be contacted. Contact ‘presence’ information such as ‘available’ or ‘on the phone’ allows business users to choose an effective form of communication based on the indicated status. The Multimedia Office Client can also create call logs that Outlook 2003 users can flag for follow-up and set reminders to return calls, as well as enabling Outlook 2003 folders to be set up to allow sort and search of calls and voice mails.
Nortel’s Multimedia Office Client is designed to expand the value of service providers’ hosted and managed enterprise offerings by combining new multimedia communication services with an interface familiar to most business users. This enables service providers to play an even more integral role on the enterprise desktop, providing business users with more reliable, secure access to business communications from any location. Service providers will be able to use this plug-in to complement hosted Microsoft Exchange services with VoIP and multimedia services, as well as offer integrated VoIP and Multimedia services to enterprise-managed e-mail servers. The Multimedia Office Client could also be used in a customer premise equipment (CPE) solution.
OneConnect, Canada's first independent service provider of IP multimedia communications, is using Nortel’s MCS 5200 to offer carrier-class communications solutions via a hosted or wholesale service.
“Multimedia services, such as the ability to see the availability or ‘presence’ of the person you are trying to contact, multi-party conferencing, video calling and multimedia collaboration, are changing the way businesses communicate,” said Ron Dekker, chief executive officer, OneConnect. “Businesses and other end-users are increasingly demanding these types of services, and the ability to offer multimedia services streamlined with Outlook 2003 would not only allow us to meet that demand but also to go one step further and offer customers an enhanced communications experience unlike any other on the market.”
The Multimedia Office Client is now in customer trials and is expected to be generally available on the MCS 5100 and 5200 during the fourth quarter of 2005. Nortel will be demonstrating the Multimedia Office Client during SUPERCOMM 2005 (booth 39066) in Chicago.
Nortel ranked number one in the global markets for both service provider softswitches and gateways for the entire year of 2004, according to Synergy Research Group. With experience deploying more than 40 IP-based carrier networks with MCS 5200, Nortel is providing VoIP and multimedia solutions to many of the world’s leading service providers, including Bell Canada, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, OneConnect, Rogers Communications, SaskTel, Verizon, and VTR in Chile.
Nortel’s Multimedia Communications Portfolio, which includes the Multimedia Communication Server 5100 and Multimedia Communication Server 5200 products, delivers advanced multimedia and collaborative applications through commercially available hardware and open-standards software.
Nortel’s MCS 5100 received the Network World ‘Blue Ribbon’ in December 2003 following rigorous testing that compared teleworking solutions from six leading IP (Internet Protocol) telephony vendors. MCS 5100 was also named ‘Best of Show’ in the “innovative and visionary product” category at the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, February 2004 in Miami. For service providers and carriers who want to offer hosted collaboration services, Nortel’s Multimedia Communication Server 5200, an IMS ready application server, seamlessly integrates voice, video, real-time collaboration and presence for more effective communications.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world’s most critical information. Serving both service provider and enterprise customers, Nortel delivers innovative technology solutions encompassing end-to-end broadband, Voice over IP, multimedia services and applications, and wireless broadband designed to help people solve the world’s greatest challenges. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
For more information:
Isabel Lee Chaiwat Simawattana/ Patcharavadee Julotai
Corporate Mktg & Comms, 124 Communications Public Company Limited
ASEAN/PAK Nortel Tel: 66-2 662 2266
Tel: 65-6380 8828 (ESN 623) Fax: 66-2 204-2661
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