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Microsoft, Nortel Open Aussie Collaboration Centre |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Wednesday, 09 May 2007 |
Kicking of a four State unified communications roadshow and announcing
two of its first Australian's deals, the MS/Nortel Alliance has
announced Asia's first
Innovative Communications Alliance Collaboration Centre will become
operational in the
second half of 2007.
The pair also revealed they have established demonstration centres in
Australia and New Zealand. Every Nortel office in Australia and New
Zealand has
now been equipped with an Alliance demo centre, joining demo centres at
Microsoft sites in Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland.
Nortel and Microsoft have announced
two new Australian customers - Wannon Water and Austock. Presenting at
the Roadshow, which began in Sydney yesterday and will move on to Melbourne (May 9), Brisbane (May 10) and
Perth (May 22) financial services group Austock gave an
overview of the new integrated communications network across the
company's Sydney and Melbourne offices using Microsoft's Live
Communications Server and Office Communicator software alongside Nortel's
Communication Server IP PBX.
Victorian water utility Wannon Water was
also featured in a video testimonial on its new unified communications
network, which creates a single collaboration environment for more than
200 staff across a dozen operational centres.
"Simplifying the way people connect with each other in the workplace is
the overarching goal of our alliance, exemplified by Nortel's
open-architecture communication platforms and Microsoft's ubiquitous
productivity software and operating systems that are used by hundreds of
millions of people around the world," says Mark Stevens, president,
Australia and New Zealand, Nortel.
"Since announcing the Alliance in 2006 we've been working closely with
Microsoft behind the scenes on staff and partner training, product
familiarisation and strategic planning sessions," says Stevens. "This has
given us a framework to showcase real-world examples of our solutions
through numerous demo centres, resulting in a number of new customer wins
over the past few months."
While customers can get hands-on demonstrations of Alliance solutions at
the demo centres, the planned Collaboration Centre will be able to
replicate an individual customer's operational environment. Certified
Nortel and Microsoft staff will then be available to workshop the design,
implementation and deployment process to show the impact of the
technology on the business.
"As businesses become more interconnected, they face the challenge of
empowering their people to collaborate and communicate more effectively
across disparate locations and time zones," says Tracey Fellows, managing
director, Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft.
"By integrating communication methods such as e-mail, conferencing,
instant messenger, video and voice, Microsoft and Nortel are providing a
unified platform that will enable individuals, teams and organisations to
realise significant productivity benefits," says Fellows.
The Alliance National Roadshow is the companies' first local initiative
in the unified communications space following their global alliance
announcement in mid-2006. Catering mainly for end-user customers with
hands-on technology displays and lectures by senior executives, the
Roadshow runs from May 8 to May 22 in Australia before heading to New
Zealand in June.
You can still register for some of the events.
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