Press Release
Innovative Communications Alliance Celebrates One-year Anniversary
REDMOND, Washington and TORONTO – One year ago Microsoft Corp. and Nortel*
[NYSE/TSX: NT] entered into a unique alliance to transform business communications
by combining Nortel’s network quality and Microsoft’s reliable unified
communications software. Today, businesses are embracing the benefits of the alliance
and have purchased and are deploying more than 430,000 licenses for joint solutions.
As such, these customers are enhancing their business communications for improved
productivity and to help lower total cost of ownership.
Over the past year, Microsoft and Nortel have begun to streamline their licensing
to make it easier for customers to buy and manage joint solutions, hosted more than
60 road show events in 35 countries, and opened 100 lab and demonstration centers
worldwide for companies to experience the solutions firsthand. As the alliance enters
its second year, the companies are continuing their joint research and development
across enterprise, carrier and mobile product lines and are poised to ship a variety
of new and updated products in the coming months, including Nortel’s UC integrated
branch.
“Our relationship with Nortel is an important component of our strategy for
unified communications, and over the past year we’ve hit significant milestones
that benefit both companies,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president
for the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. “In the year ahead, we
expect to see even more robust customer interest around the world based on our joint
technology solutions.”
“Nortel’s alliance with Microsoft has been a tremendous success for
us and our customers,” said Steve Slattery, president of Enterprise Networks
at Nortel. “Our deep collaboration in product development is providing businesses
with better ways to communicate, and our joint go-to-market activity has already
produced impressive results. In addition, our alliance with Microsoft is opening
doors to new customers for our entire enterprise portfolio and is a key reason for
the accelerated performance of our Enterprise Solutions business year over year.”
Global Customer Adoption
Customers such as Indiana University (IU), Worcestershire Health Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) Services (WHICTS) and 4ward have embraced the industry
relationship and continue to experience significant business value.
IU: Academic Excellence Through Better Communications
Indiana University, one of the largest universities in the United States, is deploying
Nortel’s Communication Server (CS) 2100 and a beta version of Microsoft®
Office Communications Server 2007 to improve desktop productivity and give workers
access to combined telephony, e-mail, collaboration, presence, instant messaging
and desktop services.
“Scholarship and student lifestyles are very communication-intensive,”
said Brad Wheeler, vice president for information technology and chief information
officer at IU. “Our move to unified communications at IU begins an era of
long-anticipated media convergence to give our students and faculty an educational
advantage at one of America’s most IT-savvy universities.”
Unified Communications Makes for Healthier Patients
As the central IT organization serving three National Health Service trusts in Worcestershire,
England, Worcestershire Health Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Services
(WHICTS) is deploying Nortel’s CS 1000 and Microsoft Office Live Communications
Server 2005 to connect health professionals across the county more efficiently and
create better ways for remote employees to share information, thus helping to streamline
patient care, have a positive impact on productivity and reduce travel costs.
“We cover a large, remote area, and until now our health professionals have
had to spend a considerable amount of time traveling between facilities in order
to consult patients and collaborate with colleagues,” said John Thornbury,
director of ICT at WHICTS. “The primary impact of unified communications will
be seen across the primary care facilities, where the way we operate will become
significantly more efficient, while further down the line, telemedicine will make
it possible to share applications and information across disparate locations. Our
new Nortel and Microsoft solution will significantly reduce the time staff members
spend on the road, enabling us to cut travel costs, use time more efficiently and
be more environmentally friendly.”
Simplicity in Communications: A Forward-Thinking Idea
4ward delivers powerful, innovative, yet user-friendly outsourced IT, telephony,
and unified communications solutions targeting small and medium-sized businesses
in Hong Kong. 4ward initially deployed a unified communications solution consisting
of Nortel’s CS 1000E with CallPilot and Office Live Communications Server
2005 for its internal IT network as a proven success case before offering unified
communications services to its customers.
“4ward makes IT and communications solutions easy to buy, easy to own and
easy to live with so customers can focus on their core business, not their infrastructure,”
said Brad Pfeffer, managing director, Asia-Pacific at 4ward. “Our unified
communications system combines the power of Nortel’s IP telephony with the
collaboration capability of Office Live Communications Server and the unified messaging
features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to provide a seamless user-friendly experience.”
Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as "could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different from those contemplated in forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel’s Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
*Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.