Collaboration Will Drive Deployment of Unified Messaging Worldwide
Lucent Technologies and Sun Microsystems, Inc. are joining forces to develop
the first unified messaging platform that delivers the scalability,
performance and ease of use required by telco and Internet service
providers serving the business professional, residential and outsourced
enterprise markets. This collaboration will drive the deployment of
unified messaging worldwide by making it possible for service providers
to offer their subscribers the benefits of sending, receiving and
managing all e-mail, voice and fax messages from any telephone, PC or
information device.
Sun and Lucent will marry Sun`s Internet and network computing
leadership with Lucent`s innovation in voice messaging, speech
processing and communications networking to bring to market highly
scalable, reliable and secure unified messaging solutions. At the core
of this effort is the technology integration of Sun`s Solaris (TM)
operating environment and Sun(TM) Internet Mail Server(TM) with Lucent`s
open Octel Messaging platform and its text-to-speech technology from
Bell Labs. As a result, a service provider will be able to introduce a
variety of new services to the market - satisfying the diverse
requirements of all their subscribers - consumers, mobile business
professionals, SOHOs (small office-home office) and outsourced corporate
enterprises.
Based on a long-standing track record of innovation from both companies,
Lucent and Sun will work together to deliver a series of products needed
to globally deploy unified messaging, including media conversion, voice
and email messaging systems, application tools, and system/network
management systems and services.
"This collaboration is significant because it will move unified
messaging into the mainstream. It is about a whole new set of
capabilities that will dramatically enhance people`s lives on a daily
basis," said Doug Sabella, chief operating officer of Lucent
Technologies, Octel Messaging Division. "By joining forces with Sun, we
will be able to take this technology to the next level and make unified
messaging a truly ubiquitous service worldwide."
Unlike proprietary or niche applications available in the marketplace
today, Lucent and Sun plan to leverage a flexible, open network-based
architecture enabling service providers to manage and reuse their
existing infrastructure while realizing the benefits of innovative
unified messaging solutions.
"This unified messaging platform will create huge market opportunities
by extending the benefits of the Internet beyond traditional PC users,"
said John McFarlane, president of Sun`s Solaris Software. "Imagine
enabling parents without a computer to send an email message to their
child`s PC at college just by picking up the phone, or a state
representative notifying via e-mail a group of her constituents about an
important environmental law being passed by just making a call from a
cell phone on the House floor."
This collaboration will strengthen Lucent`s AnyMedia* Messaging unified
messaging portfolio for service providers that was announced in May (see
release dated 5/26/98). The resulting solutions from Sun and Lucent
will utilize industry-standard network and Internet protocols and be
deployed on a network-based architecture for easy and cost-effective
maintenance and administration. Sun and Lucent are planning to make the
first product of the unified messaging platform available for service
providers worldwide in early 1999.
Earlier this summer, Sun and Lucent announced their ISP Bundle
(see release dated 6/9/98), which is an end-to-end service delivery
solution for ISPs looking to build a scaleable, customizable
infrastructure that can easily support new service development and
delivery on demand.
About Lucent
The Octel Messaging Division, headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., was
formed on Sept. 29, 1997 through Lucent`s acquisition of Octel
Communications
Corporation. The division is a worldwide leader in providing voice
messaging equipment and services to telephone companies, cellular
service providers, businesses, governments and educational institutions
in more than 90 countries. For more information on Lucent Technologies
Octel Messaging Division, visit its web site at
http://www.lucent.com/octel.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds
and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications
systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone
systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and
development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent
Technologies, visit its web site at http://www.lucent.com.
About Sun Microsystems
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The
Computer,"(TM) has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW), to its
position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for
establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the
Internet. With more than $9 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be
found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at
http://www.sun.com.
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