News Release: Siemens Expands OpenScape® Unified Communications Portfolio to Provide Industry’s Most Complete Range of Premise-Based and Hosted Solutions
My friends at Siemens Communications, Inc. announced three new advances in their OpenScape unified communications portfolio today to help enterprises overcome the barriers fragmented communications, while offering a flexible new range of solutions that match the diverse needs of the enterprise. At the entry-level, the new OpenScape VoiceLink solution telephony-enables Microsoft’s Office Communicator client and provides an easy starting point for adoption of unified communications at the desktop.
Also announced today, the new release of OpenScape Enterprise expands Siemens leadership in embedding real-time communications in key business processes by allowing more simplified Web-Services integrations with enterprise applications, and provides a new Toolbar desktop client for Windows. The third element in the portfolio announcement is OpenScape Enterprise Hosted, the industry’s first unified communications product embracing the rapidly emerging ‘software as a service’ model.
Siemens Expands OpenScape® Unified Communications Portfolio to Provide Industry’s Most Complete Range of Premise-Based and Hosted SolutionsNew offerings span from simplified software clients through hosted service provider solutions
BOCA RATON, Fla. — May 8, 2007 — Siemens Communications, Inc. [NYSE: SI] has unleashed three new advances in its market-leading OpenScape unified communications portfolio to help enterprises overcome the barriers of today’s fragmented communications, while offering a flexible new range of solutions that match the diverse needs of the enterprise. At the entry-level, the new OpenScape VoiceLink solution telephony-enables Microsoft’s Office Communicator client and provides an easy starting point for adoption of unified communications at the desktop. The new SIP-enabled version of OpenScape VoiceLink now supports Siemens’ highly scalable HiPath 8000 IP softswitch.
Also announced today, the new release of OpenScape Enterprise expands Siemens leadership in embedding real-time communications in key business processes by allowing more simplified Web-Services integrations with enterprise applications, and provides a new Toolbar desktop client for Windows. The unique OpenScape Toolbar client allows users to access all the power of aggregated multimedia presence, instant messaging, voice and Web conferencing while still allowing full desktop ‘real-estate’ to be allocated to line of business applications.
The third element in the portfolio announcement is OpenScape Enterprise Hosted, the industry’s first unified communications product embracing the rapidly emerging ‘software as a service’ model. In a joint effort with Accenture and Ensim Corporation, Siemens created the provisioning, billing and management software interfaces needed for quick deployment of OpenScape Enterprise Hosted into service provider networks with minimal integration and investment. This allows faster delivery of the benefits of unified communications to the SME market or large enterprises for a monthly, per-user fee.
By hosting OpenScape’s rich features for their customers, service providers gain all-new multiple revenue sources plus a big differentiator in hyper-competitive markets. And their business customers can start using OpenScape’s presence-powered collaboration tools almost turnkey with lower entry costs versus an on-premise installation.
“While others talk about future plans to offer unified communications services to service providers, Siemens already has service provider customers selling OpenScape-based services around the globe,” said Eve Aretakis, CEO, Siemens Communications, Inc.
One is Telstra, Australia’s largest provider of business communication services, which has branded its OpenScape-based hosted service as Telstra Live Connect™.
“With Telstra Live Connect, organizations can migrate to IP services at their own pace,” said David Thodey, Group Managing Director, Telstra Enterprise and Government. “By dispensing with missed calls, phone tag and information bottlenecks through OpenScape’s presence and collaboration tools, our business customers enjoy better time and resource management, better access to their people and expertise, and faster decision-making that all accelerate the execution of their core business activities.”
Thodey said Telstra chose OpenScape for three reasons: Its full suite of communication and collaboration features; its seamless integration with customers’ current systems, including their desk and mobile phones; and its powerful Web Services toolkit.
In Atlanta, Engage, Inc. became the first North American Managed Services Provider to offer OpenScape as a service. “As a Managed Services Provider and software development firm, we first used OpenScape internally to accelerate our team workflow. We then developed a unique provisioning engine to serve our customers and resellers and have been hosting OpenScape as a new source of revenue and value-add,” said Todd Sharp, Director. “Even more, with OpenScape’s Software Development Kit (SDK) and open architecture, we can integrate it within our customer’s business processes and applications as another revenue source. In fact, we expect OpenScape-based solutions to become about 40 percent of our revenue in three years.”
Siemens new expanded portfolio of OpenScape unified communications solutions is now available globally through Siemens direct, value-added reseller and service-provider channels.
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. is one of the world’s leading vendors of Open Communications solutions for enterprises of all sizes, enabling business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure – with any device, network or information technology infrastructure. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens AG with about 15,000 employees globally and headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. For more info, visit www.usa.siemens.com/communications
Note: Siemens, HiPath and OpenScape 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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Technorati Tags: Siemens, OpenScape, Microsoft Communicator, unified communications

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