Here's a press release just out from Siemens. They remain a company to watch in unified communications space and they roll out a continual stream of enhancments and new solutions.

Siemens Communications Expands Features, SOA Components and Market  Range of its HiPath 8000 Open Unified Communications Systems

HiPath 8000 Customer Base Has More than Doubled Since Beginning of Year

BOCA RATON, Fla.  August 22, 2006  Siemens Communications, Inc. today announced new features and functionalities, including the first set of Siemens™ Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) components, as part of the company's ongoing development of its HiPath® 8000 Open Unified Communications solutions. Enhancements include a cost-effective extension of the HiPath 8000 system  one of the industry's only pure Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) solutions for open, IT-based communication for medium-sized enterprises starting at 300 users.  The SOA components also go with the solution's continued support of very large and multinational organizations with thousands of employees.

Enterprises are now demanding greater business flexibility and lower total cost of ownership  advantages that can only be provided by pure IP solutions built on open unified communications platforms, said Dana Rasmussen, president, Enterprise Division, Siemens Communications, Inc. The HiPath 8000 is moving organizations from the old mindset of converged, voice over Internet protocol solutions based on the IP-PBX site-based model to a new generation of open, unified communications software solutions based on an IT per user license model managed out of the IT data center.

Siemens has witnessed increased market acceptance of both SIP and the HiPath 8000 solutions, now deployed by enterprise customers in 14 countries, including several large enterprises in the United States. The customer base for the HiPath 8000 solution has more than doubled since the first quarter of the year and Siemens is adding a HiPath 8000 customer nearly every week.

As an alternative to proprietary and hybrid VoIP solutions that have dominated the market for the last decade, the enhanced HiPath 8000 open communications solution is a software-based platform designed to deliver:Open IT-based unified communications capabilities extended to medium-sized enterprises. Richer and more intuitive IT-based multimedia communications experiences and features for end users.

• Extended agility, including SOA toolkits, enabling developers to directly link communications and collaboration tools with strategic business processes.
• Enterprise Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) migration paths for more holistic support of on-the-go workers with essential business functions supported by virtual communications and collaboration tools.
• Carrier-class reliability and security. More innovative financial and deployment options, including onsite, managed and hosted alternatives.

More than 50 new features are being added to the HiPath 8000 solution. The system now supports up to 1,000 different dial-plans in every business group, providing flexibility for migrating Siemens and non-Siemens systems and numbering plans to HiPath 8000.  The solution also enables managed service providers (MSPs) to give flexibility to their customers.  Attendants can now use the ProCenter ACD system for providing comprehensive features across a branch or across a whole enterprise.  To make Executive/Assistant teams more effective, the Executive/Assistant and key system functionality have been significantly extended to provide efficient team collaboration for busy management groups, offices and consultant teams.  The system now has improved encryption and network security, even greater interworking with proprietary and legacy platforms (especially the HiPath 4000), and SOA-based components for the solution's management and media server features.  Additional SOA interfaces and components are planned for 2007 and beyond.

About Siemens
Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $96 billion in fiscal 2005. Founded nearly 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $18.8 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 460,000 people in 190 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com

About Siemens Communications, Inc.
Siemens Communications, Inc. offers its customers a broad portfolio of communication products and services and is a leader in convergent technologies, products and services for wireless, fixed and enterprise networks. The company’s portfolio ranges from devices for end users to complex network infrastructures and complementary services for enterprises, carriers and service providers. Siemens Communications, Inc. is headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/communications

Note: Siemens, HiPath and ProCenter are registered trademarks of Siemens AG or its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are  used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in  general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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