Mitel has further advanced the completeness and ease of integration between its flagship Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging with direct Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) connection capabilities.
"Mitel continues to apply its expertise to drive down the complexity and cost of integrating IP communications with the productivity-enhancing unified messaging capabilities of Exchange Server 2007," said Donna Conner, group product manager for Unified Communications at Microsoft Corp.
Mitel's embedded SIP integration eliminates the need for a separate SIP gateway as a go-between from a Mitel 3300 SIP connection to an Exchange Server 2007 resulting in support for multiple forms of Unified Communications, including voice, e-mail and fax. Mitel can deliver this capability to existing 3300 ICP customers through a software upgrade that simply delivers the SIP servers (gateway) functionality resulting in reduced complexity, time and cost for our customers. Native support of SIP on the 3300 ICP enables customers to take full advantage of the deployment of open standards and maximise their investment either in a Mitel or a multi-vendor environment that supports an open standards approach.
"Mitel has long recognised the importance of SIP and open standards," said Andy Bull, director, Mitel South Africa.
"SIP trunk integration between the 3300 ICP and Exchange Server 2007 is another step in our drive to continue to simplify the deployment and adoption of Unified Messaging to help people regain control of their communications," said Bull.
Kelley & Swain, Inc, a Sacramento, California, benefits consulting firm serving large and small businesses, recently migrated to Exchange Server 2007 as part of an upcoming move to new offices. Mitel Platinum Service Provider Standard Tel Networks took the opportunity to optimise the value of the overall upgrade to the firm's IT infrastructure by connecting Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging servers directly to the existing Mitel 3300 ICP.
"Kelley & Swain was looking for a best-of-breed unified messaging solution that would integrate into our Microsoft Live Communications Server environment," said Barry Chapman, IT director at Kelley & Swain.
"After evaluating several vendors, we concluded that the Mitel 3300 embedded SIP integration to the Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging provides us with a robust unified voice mail system giving us the features we need to run our business and at the same time provides cost savings by eliminating costly gateways."
Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging delivers a unified inbox experience that includes e-mail, voice mail and fax reception functionality, as well as new capabilities such as a speech-based auto attendant, and Microsoft Outlook Voice Access that allows users to access all their vital business communications from any wired or wireless device, using speech recognition or a touchtone interface.
"As a first experience, the integration of Exchange Server 2007 with the Mitel 3300 using a SIP trunk was painless," said Keith Askew, chief technology officer, Standard Tel Networks.
"Support from Mitel and Microsoft was excellent and the customer now has access to the full feature set of Exchange Server 2007 via the Mitel 3300."
Over the coming year, Microsoft is bringing a variety of unified communications solutions to market, including updated versions of its real-time collaboration technologies, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 along with a set of new communications devices from partners.
Microsoft's unified communications portfolio also includes Exchange Server 2007, which delivers enterprise-grade e-mail, mobile e-mail, and messaging security and compliance along with new unified messaging capabilities.
Mitel and Microsoft have collaborated to deliver unified communications solutions since 2004.
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Mitel, a leading provider of unifying IP communications solutions and applications for business customers, is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide. For more information, visit www.mitel.com.
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