HP, Alcatel-Lucent partner for UC

HP and Alcatel-Lucent have signed a 10-year agreement that will see the companies jointly offer unified communications (UC) and collaboration systems to businesses, reports ZDNet.

The alliance will involve HP selling Alcatel-Lucent's IP telephony technology as part of its enterprise portfolio, along with migration services for customers using older PBX systems.

"We have a common approach to solutions that meet the needs of each individual customer's requirements, including their existing technology mix, overall organisational needs and migration plans for the future," says Alcatel-Lucent enterprise chief Tom Burns.

With an enhanced portal, tighter integration into Outlook, and especially a beefed-up contact centre, the newly released OpenScape Office MX from Siemens Enterprise Communications aims to deliver an easy-to-install and simple-to-use UC solution for the small to medium-size enterprise (SME) market, states VOIP Planet.

Geared to 30 to 150 users, the new product is the successor to HiPath OpenOffice ME, with enough additions and improvements to merit its own branding.

OpenScape Office MX has been designed to meet a critical need for voice and UC functionality in the SME space, says Tricia Cooper, director of channel marketing in North America for UC pioneer Siemens Enterprise Communications.

Consona Europe's entire suite of customer relationship solutions will be made available in a cloud-based service model, claiming it'll reduce set-up and running costs, and increase flexibility for customers of all sizes, says TMCnet.

Consona is unveiling its cloud-based model in partnership with Amazon Web Services. It's a full-service, end-to-end solution for customers, including infrastructure services such as network security, virus protection, and disaster recovery.

In addition, it also includes application services - platinum support, customisation support, annual health checks - and administration services.