Nortel has extended its mobile phone switching capabilities to ordinary handheld devices, greatly widening the number of portables its communications server can link to.
Release 5.5 of the company’s Communications Server 1000 IP PBX and Release 2.0 of its Mobile Communications 3100 software, extends enterprise communications to a wider range of cellular or Wi-Fi-based phones, the company said.
The latest release of CS1000 allows users to have a mobile device paired with an office phone number. Both phones can ring on incoming calls, while caller ID function on phones receiving a call only shows the office number.
A presence indicator shows when the user is available. The release also allows the voice mail of the two phones to be merged.
With the press of a button a user can switch a mobile call to an office phone or vice versa without interrupting the call.
Kyle Klassen, director of Nortel’s mobility sales, said that the features have been demanded by customers who are increasingly investing in converged communications systems while many of their staff are shifting to mobile devices.
“Now we’re bridging that divide and letting the mobile device converge with the enterprise infrastructure,” he said.
The solution is clientless, so it can be used on any phone whose buttons generate a DTMF tone.
CS 1000 Release 5.5 is available this month.
Release 2.0 of its Mobile Communication 3100 fixed mobile convergence software, which runs on the CS1000, has been broadened to include not only dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellphone handsets but also smartphones.
It has similar capabilities to the CS1000, but now has the ability to redirect calls to any phone through a client, so features are accessed through a graphical interface rather than touch tones.
MC 3100 is now optimized for smartphones using the Windows Mobile and Nokia Symbian operating systems, as well as BlackBerrys. MC 3100 is sold on a per-client basis.
Nortel also revealed that it is now offering a managed service videoconferencing solution around video and audio products from Tandberg in addition to a solution using products from Polycom.
Videoconferencing needs to always be on and easy to use, said Net Payne, Nortel’s North American vice-president of marketing, making it an ideal managed service to sell to enterprises.
Nortel added Tandberg because many of its customers already use products from the Norwegian company. He wouldn’t detail how the service is priced.