Nortel pre-packages VoIP and unified communications

Convergence & VoIP This newsletter is sponsored by ShoreTel eBook: IP Telephony from A to Z Get the book on VoIP, from vendor evaluation and selection to ensuring reliability and security. Whether you're considering a rollout or you've already deployed, you'll quickly get up to speed on the most important IP telephony issues and factors. Network World's Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, 06/18/07 Nortel pre-packages VoIP and unified communications By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick Nortel announced at the company’s annual enterprise customer conference that is introducing a program that will make unified communications easier for Nortel’s business customers to buy and deploy. The program, called UC 1-2-3, offers “ready-to-use” converged VoIP and data applications and it is designed to streamline the selection, purchasing, and deployment of unified communications products with “pre-engineered, pre-configured packages and enhanced sales tools that simplify the quoting and ordering process,” according to the company’s statement. The unified communications business bundles can be packaged to include a full suite of third-party and Nortel’s own unified communications applications, or they can be deployed in phased stages to help with budgets and network requirements. In a prepared statement, Steve Slattery, president of enterprise solutions at Nortel said, “The UC 1-2-3 program helps customers accelerate the transformation of their enterprise as they integrate the proliferation of devices and applications across the network, turning the communications chaos … into a real business advantage.” Executive Guide - VoIP: No Turning Back Discover how real-work enterprises are deploying VoIP via several case studies Click here for more information. Two of Nortel’s customers seem to agree that unified communications can make life easier for their business and customers. According to Thom Rivera, manager of the Technology Services Section at the Colorado Department of Transportation: “Nortel’s UC-enabled VoIP solution allowed us to reduce the time it takes to update our message signs over roadways from one hour to 11 minutes improving safety by providing ‘real-time’ updates for amber alerts, road closures, construction alerts and emergency situations.” In another example, excelleRx, a wholly owned subsidiary of Omnicare, noted that bringing together the Nortel CS1000 and Contact Center products enable the company to “streamline our business by implementing interactive voice response and speech recognition software that significantly streamline our call management to improve operating costs and worker efficiency,” according to Steve Lemak, vice president for IT at excelleRx. Our analysis: Pre-packaged bundles are a good thing — especially for a business that may be challenged with resources to deploy sophisticated VoIP and unified communication systems, although we still encourage all who plan use such technologies to make careful business and network assessments as part of a pre-deployment process. And we think moving forward with packaging that is flexible enough to accommodate multiple industries yet integrated enough to make adaptation easier is a good idea.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at taylor@webtorials.com Larry Hettick is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in voice and data. He is Vice President for Telecom Services and Infrastructure at Current Analysis, the leading competitive response solutions company. He can be reached at lhettick@currentanalysis.com This newsletter is sponsored by ShoreTel eBook: IP Telephony from A to Z Get the book on VoIP, from vendor evaluation and selection to ensuring reliability and security. Whether you're considering a rollout or you've already deployed, you'll quickly get up to speed on the most important IP telephony issues and factors. ARCHIVE Archive of the Convergence & VoIP Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007