News
Alcatel-Lucent BiCS voice platform selected by T-Systems for mid-market managed services
February 2008 by Marc Jacob
Alcatel-Lucent announced that T-Systems, the business customer unit of Deutsche Telekom, has selected its Business integrated Communications Solution (BiCS) server as one of the platforms for its mid-market managed voice services. Alcatel–Lucent is a strategic partner of T-Systems. This is the second innovative voice solution agreement between the two companies, providing integration of communications applications, mobile-telephony and fixed networks for seamless communications.
According to leading analyst, Chris Barnard, Research Director at IDC, the mid-market managed services arena is poised for growth. “Managed services are quickly becoming a way for medium-sized enterprises to adopt new technologies and capabilities that are fast-changing or may have been out of reach of the budget and skills of their IT team. We see this market growing at a double-digit rate as more carriers start to promote their services, making companies aware of these offerings.”
With this agreement, T-Systems will be focusing on integrating services and BiCS for German enterprises with between 100-500 employees initially, expanding to enterprises with 1,000 employees in the last quarter of 2008. T-Systems will offer the BiCS platform as part of its Octopus EP product line. Customers can purchase and own the system, or use the equipment as part of a managed service that combines phone system, maintenance and system upgrades for a fixed monthly price per user. At CeBIT 2008, T-Systems will present Octopus EP at the T-Systems partner exhibition with Alcatel-Lucent.
“Through this agreement, our customers can reap the benefits of advanced communications applications and services that help them deliver better service and be more competitive,” said Helmut Binder, Chief Marketing & Product Management Officer of T-Systems. “We chose the BiCS because its integrated suite of communications software offers our customers an advanced solution. It also provides the flexibility with a ‘pay as you grow’ model which caters to budgetary constraints.”
“We are pleased that we are able to provide T-Systems with a platform that creates unique value for the customer,” said Tom Burns,Chief Operating Officer of Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise activities. “The BiCS is an ideal solution for this application because it gives the carrier a predictable cost for managed services deployments and it gives customers an easy way to get access to advanced applications like mobility and collaboration, delivered the way they want it.”
The Alcatel-Lucent Business integrated Communication Solution is a multi-service, single-server communication solution for enterprises with up to 500 users. With pre-integrated applications, BiCS enables users to deploy key communication services at their own pace, enabling “pay-as-you-grow” expansion and keeping costs under control. Specifically, it features:
* Communication server: OmniPCX Enterprise IP telephony & Alcatel-Lucent 4645 voice mail
* Management: OmniVista 4760 Network Management System
* Contact Center: OmniTouch Contact Center Standard Edition
* Communication: My Instant Communicator
* Openness to third party application: XML APIs for simplified third party application integration
* High reliability: hard disk mirroring
* “ Try before Buying,” five free licences of key communication applications (e.g. UC, contact center agents)
