3Com, Lucent take wraps off IP-based PBX products
Stephanie Green
January 10, 2000, Issue: 876
Section: Convergence
Boston - The market for integrated voice and data may have had a slow start, but two key product releases finally are available for customer and reseller inspection.
3Com Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., and Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, N.J., released IP-based PBX products.
3Com will make available this month version 2.0 of its NBX 100 LAN communications system. And a year after its intro-duction, Lucent is making available its IP ExchangeComm business system.
This technology is starting to make headway in the marketplace, said vendors, resellers and analysts.
"There are a lot of people willing to put the technology in and see how it fits into their business model," said John Orton, IT telephony and data solutions group manager at Advanced Communications Technologies Inc., a Tigard, Ore., VAR.
Because vendors have ensured customers they will deliver what they promise and that it is no longer bleeding-edge, the market is ready, said Peter Bernstein, president of Infonautics Consulting, Ramsey, N.J.
"These things are now ready for prime time," he said.
The NBX system now supports 200 ports, up from 148 ports, adds support for T1 service and gives customers a means of integrating analog phones with the system, said Ed Wadbrook, director of product management and marketing for voice solutions at 3Com. The software also adds automated attendant features and call-overflow routing features for call centers.
The NBX Digital Line Card lets customers access T1 services and connect single phone lines to the LAN through an analog adapter, said Wadbrook.
A 20-user system costs about $14,000. 3Com also is offer- ing a sales and support program along with the product, said Wadbrook. The company currently has 350 VARs selling the product.
The NBX runs on the VX Works operating system and uses one pair of wires to integrate voice and data.
Lucent's IP ExchangeComm is designed for small to midsize offices to move voice, data and fax communications over the LAN and WAN. It is the first system in Lucent's IP ExchangeComm family of Internet telephony communications systems.
The technology is based on Mantra, a software platform that helps bridge various protocols and signaling systems, developed by Bell Laboratories, now part of Lucent. It runs on a Compaq ProLiant 1850R or Compaq ProLiant 1600 server and supports up to 96 voice stations, according to the company.
With IP ExchangeComm, customers can use either an analog phone or phones from Lucent's Partner product line, said Brian Allain, vice president of Internet business systems at Lucent. Customers need Lucent IP ExchangeAdapters to convert telephone and fax machines into IP clients.
In addition to switching voice and data, the IP Exchange runs several messaging applications, Allain said. Vendors currently offering software applications or the system include Tapestry Integration Specialists Inc., Mind CTI Ltd., WebEX Inc. and SoundLogic CTI Inc.
The system costs $500 to $900 per user, depending on configuration. Distributors include Pinacor Inc., Phoenix, and beginning in January, Omaha, Neb.-based Inacom Corp.
"The feature functionality is pretty much the same between the NBX and Lucent product," said Dave Hammond, manager of engineering services at Convergent Communications Inc., an Englewood, Colo., VAR.
Copyright © 2000 CMP Media Inc.
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