Active Voice Announces Unified Messaging Interoperability And Marketing Agreement with Cisco
PR Newswire - January 27, 2000 16:45
SEATTLE, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Active Voice Corporation (Nasdaq: ACVC), a global provider of unified messaging and computer telephony software solutions, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Cisco Systems, Inc, to ensure multi-year interoperability between Active Voice's Unity solution and Cisco CallManager and related products that fit within Cisco AVVID.
Under terms of the agreement, the two companies will cooperate to ensure that Unity, Active Voice's IP-telephony ready, true unified messaging solution, and Cisco CallManager, call processing software and related Cisco AVVID solutions, will continue to deliver an integrated communications solution to their respective customers. The agreement also establishes a business relationship that provides for cross training and other mutually beneficial sales, support, and marketing activities.
"Technological advances are driving the convergence of voice and data networks with the accompanying need for robust applications, and we built Unity specifically for this environment," says Frank J. Costa, Active Voice chief executive officer and president. "We are pleased that Cisco, one of the leading developers of networking technology for the Internet, has chosen to work with us to deliver a comprehensive communications solution for this rapidly expanding market."
"Together, Unity and CallManager offer organizations an IP-based solution that will enable them to communicate faster, easier, and less expensively than ever before," Costa adds. "Unity is one of the only voice and unified messaging solutions available today that integrates effectively with IP-based call processing software such as Cisco Call Manager, and provides the powerful features that enterprises have come to expect. This agreement will help ensure that our customers get the most powerful communications solution available today, and into the future."
"As Cisco AVVID gains momentum in the marketplace, we are devoting more and more resources to ensure that our customers receive the full benefit of its open, standards-based architecture," said Mario Mazzola, senior vice president of Cisco's enterprise line of business. "The Active Voice interoperability agreement announced today underscores our commitment to this open-systems approach, which allows our customers to leverage and adopt new applications and technologies rapidly for a distinct competitive advantage."
Active Voice's Unity Gives Control to Users
Unity was recently named "Best of Show" at the Microsoft Exchange Conference in Atlanta, by Windows NT magazine's editors, for "bringing voice mail and fax messages to the familiar e-mail Outlook interface with a clean, intuitive implementation." Unity gives users the ability to manage their e- mail, voice mail, and fax messages from a desktop PC, through a touchtone telephone, or over the Internet. With increased access and control over all their messages, business professionals are able to provide exceptional customer service and quickly share information across the company. And because Unity is truly unified, all addresses are stored in a single address book, making it easy and efficient to send messages.
Unity Lowers Total Cost of Ownership
Unity is perfect for companies that are looking for a unified messaging system that will fit snugly into their network environment and lower their total cost of ownership. Unity leverages what system administrators already know about their networks and drastically reduces the amount of time spent entering and changing user information. When compared to the duplicate administrative tasks required by integrated messaging systems, Unity's true unified architecture eliminates an estimated $50 to $70 per task.
"Unity integrates with Cisco CallManager entirely through software," notes Kevin Chestnut, Active Voice chief technology officer. "This approach significantly reduces cost of ownership as IP becomes the telephony interface in which Unity and CallManager communicate, thus eliminating the need for specialized voice boards. At the same time, Unity supports more than 150 traditional telephone systems through voice boards. Because Unity can simultaneously support both traditional and IP-based telephone systems, it gives our enterprise customers investment protection as they begin to embrace IP telephony architectures such as Cisco AVVID."
Cisco CallManager and Cisco AVVID Extend Enterprise Telephony
The Cisco CallManager is the call-processing software component of the Cisco AVVID architecture. Cisco CallManager software is pre-installed and pre- configured on a server-class, high-availability platform. Cisco CallManager extends enterprise telephony features and functions to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, software phones, and voice over IP (VoIP) gateways. Cisco CallManager is the primary software application that extends enterprise telephony features and functions to enterprise packet telephony network devices.
Cisco AVVID -- the Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data for the corporate enterprise -- is the standards-based flexible architecture that enables customers to thrive in Internet-based business models while achieving a lower total cost of ownership for the overall network. Cisco AVVID signals the availability of New World voice, video and data solutions for the enterprise and is the culmination of Cisco's five phase multi-service strategy which provided a roadmap and vision for converged networks beginning in 1997. For further information on Cisco AVVID, please see: www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/cisco/mkt/iptel/prodlit/avvid_wp.htm .
About Active Voice
Founded in 1983, the Seattle-based Active Voice has offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. With more than 85,000 systems installed in virtually every kind of business in over 60 countries, Active Voice develops technology that helps businesses communicate better. Active Voice solutions are sold through a global network of independent telecommunications dealers, telephone equipment manufacturers, and computer resellers. More information about Active Voice and its products is available at the company's Web site, www.activevoice.com .
For more information, photographs, and interviews please contact the following:
Public Relations: Monica Drake, 206-441-4700, ext. 1154, pr@activevoice.com
Investor Relations: Amy Thomas, 206-441-4700, ext. 1197, ir@activevoice.com
Web Site: www.activevoice.com
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Well, this will help the price in the short term. CSCO - ELON alliance did wonders for that stock.
Jack |
