Nortel exploits Microsoft OCS 207 R2 to boost unified comms offerings

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 10 February 2009 04:31

IT Industry - Market

Nortel has introduced new capabilities to its unified communications products to complement Release 2 of Microsoft's Office Communications Server 2007, which became available earlier this month.


In particular, Nortel is moving into the emerging market of tying unified communications systems more closely to business applications, by exploiting new application programming interfaces that are a feature of OCS 2007 R2.

"Nortel Services is creating new, high-value, custom capabilities that embed communications into business applications," the company said. "For example, Nortel has developed an application and service to link Office Communications Server 2007 R2 with user and device location and presence features, which can have tremendous value in solving real-life business problems."

Microsoft and Nortel have a close partnership - the Innovative Communications Alliance - to combine their respective enterprise communications technologies. Joel Hackney, president, Enterprise Solutions at Nortel, claimed that "We are seeing uptake from all over the world with more than 1,000 customers for these Microsoft and Nortel Innovative Communications Alliance solutions."

Nortel claims that the new capabilities "significantly improve the ability for enterprises to serve their customers in a more comprehensive fashion more quickly, providing critical competitive advantage." Specifically "integration of Nortel Contact Center with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will provide unified presence of experts to call centre agents, and allows new ways for customers to reach call centres that ensure customer resolution is reached quickly and efficiently on first contact," Nortel says. "For example, customers can reach the contact centre by phone or IM, and agents can escalate an IM to an audio or a video session."

Other new capabilities include "the availability of new context to enable richer collaboration capabilities such as location and presence features that enable people to know if the person they seek is available and the means by which they would like to be contacted, all from a simple interface."

Also, Nortel says it has enhanced its services practice to provide Office Communications Server 2007 R2 network assessment, design and deployment capability.