Lucent Technologies Unveils Mobility Server
That Gives Wireless Capability to Virtually
Any PBX or Centrex System
BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 1999--Lucent Technologies
(NYSE:LU - news) today introduced the Lucent Mobility Server, which gives the robust
in-building, wireless capabilities of its DEFINITY® Wireless Business System to virtually any
PBX or Centrex system.
In a move that broadens Lucent's multivendor approach for business systems, the Lucent Mobility
Server now integrates the DEFINITY® Wireless Business System with switches from
companies such as Ericsson, Nortel Networks, Hitachi, Siemens, Rolm, and Panasonic. The
server also can create a unified network of switches from multiple vendors that share the same
phone features and dialing plan. This support of a multivendor approach to wireless systems
allows businesses to build off their embedded networks and to get the immediate benefit of
in-building wireless services.
The DEFINITY Wireless Business System offers mid- and large-size businesses the flexibility
and convenience of wireless communications with the same features and functions of desktop
telephone sets. The system's pocket phones can handle three phone lines, and make it easy for
users to screen, forward, transfer and hold calls. The phones have conference call capabilities
and can access and forward voice mail, picking up virtually all of the features of their deskset.
-more-
Allina Health System, a network of 18 Minnesota-area hospitals and 56 clinics with PBXs from
multiple vendors, installed the Lucent Mobility Server at two of its hospitals -- the 275-bed
Unity Hospital and the 271-bed Mercy Hospital -- both of which have Rolm switches. In
January, the Lucent Mobility Server and DEFINITY® Wireless Business System were installed
in what will be the first phase of installation for several of Allina Health System's hospitals.
''The Lucent Mobility server allowed us to give wireless communications to the staff
immediately without having to worry about replacing any of our hospitals' existing PBXs,'' said
Pamela Jacobus, director of Telecommunications and Advanced Networks for Allina Health
System.
The installation of the DEFINITY Wireless Business System has enabled the two hospitals to
lower communications costs by eliminating pagers and several wired telephones. Hospital staff
have also decreased their use of intercom systems because caregivers can now reach each other
directly.
''The hospital staff love it,'' said Jacobus. ''They no longer spend time holding on a line or
waiting for a caregiver to answer.''
The system has a transmission range of 2.4 million square feet and can support 1,500 pocket
phones. The DEFINITY Wireless Business System allows for 12 simultaneous calls per fixed
base station, 96 calls per zone and 260 simultaneous calls per network- the highest density in the
industry. The system operates at a low power level in the 1.9 Ghz frequency range so it does not
interfere with sensitive equipment.
''Many companies today have branch locations that use PBXs from multiple vendors,'' said
Barry Weinbaum, director of Business Mobility Products for Lucent Technologies. ''With the
Lucent Mobility Server, employees in each location can use the same advanced-feature
in-building wireless system. Networked architecture is one of the unique advantages of the
Mobility Server, where the phones features and dialing plans are consistent across all
sites/locations.''
The Lucent Mobility Server is available in a stackable, single-carrier unit, or for larger
enterprises as a multicarrier unit. Depending on customers' requirements, the mobility server
interfaces with a PBX or Centrex in one of two ways. With the station side interface, the PBX
supplies a bridged analog connection to the Mobility Server. With the trunk side interface, the
PBX supplies tie trunks, such as through an ISDN PRI interface, to the Mobility Server.
Lucent Technologies is No. 1 in the U.S. wireless business systems marketplace, measured by
the number of wireless handset shipments. According to the most recent report by Phillips
InfoTech, Lucent has over 40 percent of the U.S. market.
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