Communications, networking and IT solutions specialist NEC announced
the Univerge Sphericall for IBM Lotus Foundations, a unified communications
(UC) solution that is fully integrated with IBM Lotus Foundations, an appliance
that extends IBM Lotus Sametime unified communications and collaboration
(UC(2)) tools with the ability to connect to telephony. The solution, announced
at the annual IBM Lotusphere conference in Orlando, is aimed at
small to medium-size businesses (SMBs).
Sphericall for Foundations was designed as a software solution that
combines the basic communications needs with the power of unified
communications tools. By leveraging the autonomic technology in Lotus
Foundations, NEC said a business can install and configure their entire UC
environment in an easy to manage and cost-effective solution. In addition to
the networking and IT software services the Lotus Foundations solution
provides, the Sphericall software enables other options for businesses to
enhance collaboration within their business, including making mobile phones an
integral part of the business phone system, setup work-at-home office
extensions, utilize PC Video softphone and messaging and adding wireless (WiFi)
telephones to untethered office users.
"Small businesses want the benefits collaborative tools can
provide, but these tools must be simple to buy, install, and maintain,"
said Brent Kelly, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. The ability
for the Foundations Server to auto configure itself and a significant portion
of the telephony system is a compelling capability that should make unified
communications and collaboration much easier for channel partners to sell and
for the SMB to adopt."
NEC also highlighted the ways in which the solution can help save on
travel costs and enhance communications, including integrating video
conferencing meeting room equipment, adding personal video telephones and
utilizing video softphone technology. The solution also connects existing
analog fax machines or conference phones and connects directly into existing
telephone services, analog or digital.
"Now more than ever, SMBs want to take advantage of the benefits
that unified communications can bring to their business, but they often do not
have the resources and ability to customize and manage multiple
applications," said Jay Krauser, general manager, sales support and
engineering, NEC Corporation of America, who noted the solution offers
Foundations partners the ability to provide telephony as part of their
portfolio as a quick and easy add on. "The integration of Sphericall into
Foundations with Sametime software opens up opportunities for businesses to
give everyone in their organization access to enterprise-class communication
features and functionality."
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