Nortel is unveiling new unified communications solutions that let today’s mobile worker connect more quickly with colleagues, make faster decisions, and increase responsiveness to customers while helping enterprises make better use of their mobile communications budgets.
Now, employees can access the same VoIP and unified communications features they have come to rely on in the office no matter where they go as Nortel extends these capabilities to a wide range of cellular and popular smartphone platforms. The Nortel unified communications solutions also help workers eliminate the time wasting frustration of managing multiple phone numbers and voice mailboxes.
Nortel’s unified communications solutions can also help bring down mobile communication costs by up to 30 percent through more efficient handling of mobile calls using corporate enterprise dial plans.
“Companies are deploying mobile unified communications for many reasons, but primarily because it makes people more effective,” said Brent Kelly, senior analyst and partner, Wainhouse Research. “With a mobile unified communications solution, call completion rates can rise 30% - 50%. Companies can also trade savings from mobile phone charges for an increased spend in Wi-Fi networks, dual-mode phones, customer-based equipment or licenses to support a mobile unified communications deployment. The key is that organizations can do a lot more with a similar spend.”
“Many business people use about six different communication devices and almost as many software applications on those devices - but that’s not helping people to better connect,” said Joel Hackney, president, Enterprise Solutions, Nortel. “By bringing together all of the devices, phone numbers and inboxes, Nortel is simplifying the work environment and allowing more real-time interaction.”
In addition to giving mobile workers access to the same voice calling features of the corporate network, like dialing by extension, conferencing, and call transferring, Nortel is augmenting these so-called ‘basics’ with a number of other communications-transforming capabilities:
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A single phone number and voicemail across devices, from the desk phone, to the PC and mobile.
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A presence indicator letting colleagues know when you are available or on the phone, even when mobile.
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The ability to move from one device to another without interrupting a call. If you are on your mobile phone when you arrive at your desk and want to switch devices, just press a ‘handoff’ key on the desk phone and hang up the mobile.
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Regardless of which device you call from or where, the only number people will see is your business line, making it easier for them to reach you and keep their own contact lists from becoming unwieldy with multiple contact numbers.
Traveling employees can rack up huge mobile expenses to the point where some enterprises are seeing 50 percent of their total mobile communications costs being generated by less than 10 percent of their employee base. Mobile unified communications linked to the corporate network creates an opportunity for enterprises to lower these costs by avoiding many cellular long distance and roaming charges that make up the majority of these expenses.
“Nortel has been a key collaborator in providing technologies that power TDC Sweden’s communications solutions and allow our customers to benefit from the most advanced and cost-efficient technology,” said Jeanette Jager, product and marketing director, TDC Sweden(2). “We are excited about the value Nortel’s new mobile extension capability will provide to our customers by enabling them to transform their businesses with lower cost mobility, and tighter integration between mobile phones and enterprise-based applications. In fact, we have recently seen deployments with customer savings of more than US $5 million annually when implementing Nortel’s unified communications solutions featuring mobile extension capabilities.” TDC Sweden is a part of the TDC group, a pan-Nordic communication provider. In Sweden TDC provides the B2B market with total solutions within data and telecom.
Nortel’s strength in delivering mobile unified communications to both enterprises and carriers, provides unmatched deployment flexibility, including the option of solutions located in the enterprise, carrier-hosted or a model that uses both approaches to match a customer’s unique requirements.
Nortel’s mobile unified communications solutions are enabled by Release 5.5 of Communication Server 1000 IP PBX, available in April, and the new Mobile Communication 3100 Release 2.0, a fixed mobile convergence solution for enterprises, which is available now. Also part of Nortel’s mobile unified communications solution is release 3.0 of IP Softphone 2050 for laptop PCs, and a new high capacity SIP DECT solution that is being introduced in EMEA and APAC for campus mobility.
The Communication Server 1000 is the cornerstone of the company’s unified communications portfolio and the first call server to be qualified by Microsoft’s Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program.
Nortel is demonstrating this and other unified communications solutions this week at VoiceCon Orlando 2008(2) (booth #1011).
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel’s technologies are designed to help eliminate today’s barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they need it. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries around the world. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.