3Com to deliver enterprise IP contact centre solution

Stan Beer
Sunday, 11 September 2005 13:47

Sydney, Australia - 8 September 2005 - 3Com Corporation today announced that it is expanding its Convergence Applications Suite with the introduction of the new 3Com® Internet Protocol (IP) Contact Center module.  The 3Com IP Contact Center module is a feature-rich contact centre application that routes customer contacts -- phone, email, web and fax --  to customer service agents located anywhere on the enterprise network.  3Com will license the 3Com IP Contact Center product from Nuasis Corporation. 

The 3Com IP Contact Center module is an IP-based application geared for medium and large enterprise customers.  It is designed to improve customer service, increase agent productivity and lower contact centre operating costs.  The module provides a comprehensive feature set with full redundancy.  It consolidates multiple contact centre systems such as legacy automatic call distributors (ACDs), interactive voice response units (IVRs), and computer telephony integration (CTI) components on a single software platform.  The module is open architecture and standards-based, leveraging Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to provide the flexibility, interoperability and ease-of-use needed in a converged environment.

'The addition of the IP Contact Center from Nuasisâ„¢ to our portfolio is in line with 3Com's goal to deliver a secure, converged, all-IP-based solution for our enterprise customers,' said Denis Aull, 3Com vice president and general manager, Convergence Business Unit.  'The addition of this new IP Contact Center to the 3Com Convergence Applications Suite offers 3Com enterprise customers an innovative standards-based contact centre application that can be quickly and easily deployed with 3Com VCXâ„¢ and NBX® IP telephony systems.'

3Com will offer various versions of the 3Com IP Contact Center module, including:

·        An entry level single site voice only version with ACD functionality, transactional IVR, basic reporting, and the ability to integrate third-party databases for screen pop and data directed call routing;

·        A voice only, multi-site version that includes ACD functionality, simultaneous multi-site routing and queuing, transactional IVR, comprehensive standard reports and custom reports, the ability to integrate third-party databases for screen pop and data directed call routing, call recording, voice call back, and contact history viewer; and

·        A multi-media version with all the features described above for the voice only package.

'There is a real synergy between the 3Com convergence products and the Nuasis solution,' said Ed Lauing, president and CEO, Nuasis Corporation.  'For Nuasis, this agreement is a big first step in executing a growth strategy that leverages key partnerships and our ability to easily integrate our product with other standards-based IP communications systems on the market.'

Introduced in 2004, the 3Com Convergence Applications Suite helps enterprises lower costs, increase user productivity and strengthen customer interactions.  It features a variety of software solutions, platforms, and IP phones that deliver an integrated communications environment for organisations of all sizes.  The suite includes the 3Com VCX and NBX IP telephony platforms designed to deliver comprehensive converged services to enterprises with distributed or single-location networks and up to tens of thousands of users.

Pricing and Availability

The 3Com IP Contact Center module is intended to be made generally available in the calendar fourth quarter of 2005.  List price will vary from $US1,400 - $US2,500 per concurrent agent license depending on feature options and system configurations.  More information can be found on the 3Com Convergence and IP telephony product information page located at http://www.3com.com/voip/.