Ericsson expands its IP-telephony portfolio

Ericsson expands its IP-telephony portfolio for enterprises, including migration paths for existing products and new future proof solutions Ericsson Enterprise Solutions is helping businesses to do business better. New Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solutions have been developed to support businesses' migration to IP centric networks. To facilitate this move to IP centricity, Ericsson announces the new WebSwitch product line for the small to medium sized enterprise and the MD110 on the Net evolution path for medium to large enterprises. Today, a simple upgrade for current MD110 owners will migrate their companies into the converged world of a single voice and data network. Ericsson is helping enterprises to migrate to an open architecture, ensuring that any communication solution is future-proof and therefore, protects their communication investment. Building IP excellence Ericsson demonstrated its first Voice over IP (VoIP) gateway back in 1995 and since then has been actively involved in developing IP excellence through intensive R & D, acquisitions and agreements. These developments propelled Ericsson to become the leading supplier for carrier IP-telephony having delivered solutions to over 30 countries around the world. In recent months new products have been added to the product portfolio that has further strengthened Ericsson's IP expertise for the enterprise market. The benefits of becoming IP centric The drive to integrate telephony with data communication networks has led to cost savings from circumventing toll calls to reduced maintenance costs. Routing voice calls as 'packets' over a single network is a far more efficient use of a company's invested infrastructure. A totally integrated communication system permits enterprises to exploit fully the opportunities emerging in the e-commerce market, for example, potential customers may view products on the company's web page and initiate a call via the web page over the Internet to the call centre. The MD110 on the Net evolution protects communication investment Ericsson has developed a forward thinking evolution for business customers. New and existing customers can benefit today from cost reductions by migrating their circuit switched communications to packet switching with Ericsson's MD110 on the Net evolution path. Ericsson has launched the MD110 on the Net evolution path for medium to large corporations to cater for future requirements. The evolution path has been designed to take businesses forward in simple technological steps to an IP centric world. The evolution utilises existing equipment and so protects the enterprise's long-term investment. The solution has a distributed architecture that means the PBX solution can be networked over large sites to enable one virtual switchboard communicating in real-time over multiple sites. The first stage of the evolution path, which is available today, is to utilise Ericsson's Enterprise IP-gateway that connects existing MD110 systems to IP networks, to share bandwidth with data over the IP network. Businesses demand quality communication, so the evolution also had to ensure that all the strengths and features of the existing circuit switched MD110 platform extended to the IP platform. The Enterprise IP Gateway allows the transport of business class corporate voice traffic over IP based networks, such as the corporate Intranet or Internet, in a secure manner acceptable to most business users. The gateway provides full transparency of MD110 features (QSIG, GF, UUS), which means that all MD110 business communications features will still be available to all users over IP based networks: *all the traditional user extensions' functions associated with the MD110, for example 'call transfer' and 'call waiting' to name two, are supported *all centralised operator attendant services inherent in the MD110 are also supported. The Enterprise IP Gateway is the enabler for: *PBX traffic carried over a corporate Intranet maintaining full feature transparency *off-premises IP based clients interconnected to the PBX via LAN/WAN *Internet client connectivity to Ericsson developed Call Centers. Utilising the Enterprise IP Gateway results in a much better utilisation of the bandwidth and a more cost efficient operation of a common network. The second step for enterprises is to integrate all users and satellite offices over an IP network. Ericsson will release this evolution step in the year 2000. The solution is fully scalable and will permit all PC clients and IP telephones to be connected to the MD110, including connecting small offices and home offices to the head or regional office over a single network. This migration step also supports desktop voice terminals based on the H.323 standard, as well as wireless LAN voice terminals based on the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard. In 2001, the MD110 will evolve to an open server platform for converged applications. The open server platform will permit third party applications to be easily integrated to further increase efficiency and productivity. The MD110 will become a distributed system over one single, unified, network acting as one system supporting over 30, 000 users in different geographical sites. This will create a new environment for business applications without altering the entire infrastructure. The initial investment in the MD110 will be protected when moving into the converged world by following the MD110 on the Net evolution program. Serving the smaller business with IP telephony Ericsson WebCom Inc. provides the technology and expertise to fully cater for the small to medium sized business with their WebSwitch product line. The WebSwitch product line also complements Ericsson's MD110 to enable smaller regional or satellite offices to be connected to the head office over an IP based connection such as the Intranet or Internet. The new products offer telephony solutions to customers building IP-centric networks. WebSwitch IP PBXs are turnkey network appliances that provide full feature PBX services, including voice mail and auto attendant. They can also be managed remotely from any PC running Windows 95/98 or NT. The products plug directly into the IP network through an Ethernet port and connect to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) through a variety of standard interfaces. The new product range offers the quality of service and reliability that people rely on over circuit switched networks such as the PSTN with the increased efficiency and cost savings associated with IP telephony. IP Mobility Ericsson enables the convergence of the two fastest growing technologies, IP and mobile communication, to further increase the cost effectiveness and efficiency of a business. Ericsson's GSM on the Net brings together the world's most successful digital wireless standard with the world's most popular data networking technology. The open platform used for GSM on the Net is independent of access method, which means if new access methods evolve the system will be able to support it - future proofing the enterprise's investment. The principle behind GSM on the Net is the integration of GSM wireless communications into a company's LAN/intranet environment, in effect giving a company their own mini GSM network. The solution makes use of the existing LAN infrastructure and administration resources, with traditional mobile telecommunication switching and subscriber administration functions being handled within the office. Based on the H.323 standard, GSM on the Net will offer true multimedia communication by supporting voice, data and video. Users are able to move between terminals such as PC phones, multimedia terminals, or fixed IP phones and yet be reached on one number irrespective of the terminal used. With a GSM terminal, the end-user will only need one terminal for office to global mobility. Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, with communications solutions that combine telecom and datacom technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers - network operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers - the world over. Please visit Ericsson's Press Room at: http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Caroline Freudenthal, Press Relations Manager Ericsson Business Segment Enterprise Solutions Tel +46 8 422 2089, +46 70 343 9609 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/21/19990621BIT00470/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/21/19990621BIT00470/bit0002.pdf