Nortel-IBM alliance mimics Nortel-Microsoft alliance

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 11:58

IT Industry - Deals

However Nortel and IBM's collaboration, at some level, predates the Nortel Microsoft tie up. In May 2005 the two announced plans to establish a joint development centre to collaborate on the design and development of new products and services. Nortel said then that it planned to use IBM engineering and technical services for a number of projects all aimed at broadening its end-to-end broadband, VoIP, multimedia services and applications and wireless broadband offerings.

The two companies said this week that the Nortel-IBM System i unified communications solution would provide users the flexibility to select the method of collaboration best suited for the task at hand. "For example, Lotus Sametime users will be able to review their contact list to determine who is on their Nortel phone, and also click-to-call or click-to-conference to immediately connect with contacts via their Nortel telephony system on System i."

The combined solution will be sold through approved Nortel resellers and IBM solution 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 initially available in the fourth quarter of 2007.