ACCD news -- Sounds pretty big, question is whether it'll actually move the stock (since most previous news hasn't seemed to help much)? Certainly no evidence of movement in the past couple of hours since the PR first came out -- but maybe folks are just being slow on the up-take...
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Tuesday October 10, 11:05 am Eastern Time
Accord Networks to develop Outlook Commander, to be the First IP Voice and Visual Communications Solution Integrated into Microsoft Outlook; Entire installed base of Microsoft Outlook users to have point-and-click
access to Accord's leading voice and visual communication products
Accord Networks (NASDAQ: ACCD - news), the leading manufacturer of visual and voice networking products and developers of the V2IPERA(TM) family - a product line of network switches, conference bridges, gateways and management systems - that empowers Rich Media Communications over IP, ATM and ISDN networks, today announced that they are working with Microsoft Corporation to develop Accord's Outlook Commander, the industry's first IP voice and visual communications solution to be integrated into Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server.
Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server, working together are among the most popular corporate messaging solutions and are used as the scheduling tool for organizing business meetings in corporations worldwide. Accord's Outlook Commander is being developed for users with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server to instantaneously schedule real-time voice and visual communications meetings, over the Internet, corporate intranets, VPNs or their LAN, using Accord's V2IPERA family of products. The Accord® V2IPERA products handle all of the network switching, conference bridging, and gateway functions associated with pure IP and multi-network voice and visual calls.
All users will be able to connect over an IP network, or the call will be routed between several networks - IP, ISDN or ATM - at which point the V2IPERA products will handle all of the necessary transcoding functions required for the call to be successful and for each participant to receive the highest quality audio and video.
``With the launch of Exchange 2000, customers will be looking to Accord Networks for advanced IP and multi-network voice and visual collaborative solutions. Accord Networks V2IPERA family of products will provide a valuable component to customers implementing a reliable rich media communications solution,'' said Stan Sorensen, group product manager of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - news). ``Accord is a leader in its field and is focused on enhancing the overall effectiveness of business communications by adding the visual element to the Exchange 2000 messaging and collaboration infrastructure.''
Similar to any Microsoft Outlook application, an Accord Outlook Commander user will be able to, without any video-specific screens, schedule a voice or visual meeting's start date and time, conference duration and location, and invite other participants while checking their personal calendars using the standard Outlook 2000 conventions. Outlook Commander is being developed to automatically check available resources and either confirm the meeting or reject it to the conference organizer. It is also being developed to automatically assign the appropriate screen layout depending upon the number of participants in the meeting.
``We are very excited to be working with Microsoft on the development of Outlook Commander. This integration will bring voice and visual communications to the masses. This advancement will bring a much more effective type of communications - that of rich media communications - including voice, video and data - to the fingertips of many thousands worldwide,'' said Philip Keenan, executive vice president of Accord.
There are several "technical firsts" embedded in the V2IPERA
family that makes this integration possible:
-- Transcoding - The first system to transcode all conference
variables including line rate, video and audio algorithm type,
resolution and frame rate making it easier to schedule a
conference and guarantee a connection
-- The first integrated-platform for conducting visual and voice
communications between dissimilar networks and dissimilar
standards eliminating the requirement for the user to know
detailed technical information regarding all participants'
equipment types
-- The first to offer a Complete Conference Management Suite, an
award winning, standalone suite of applications, including MGC
WebCommander(TM), Greet and Guide(TM) and Touch Tone
Conferencing. WebCommander allows users to schedule and manage
conferences with a standard web browser. Greet and Guide,
enables users to customize audio and video messages for each
conference. Touch Tone Conferencing allows novice users,
located anywhere in the world, to control conferences using
their telephone with the guidance of voice activated prompts.
About Accord Networks
Accord Networks is the leading manufacturer of visual and voice networking products and developers of the V2IPERA family - a product line of network switches, conference bridges, gateways and management systems - that empower Rich Media Communications over IP, ATM and ISDN networks. Accord's V2IPERA family makes it easy for two or more people to participate in a Rich Media Communication session without having to know the technical characteristics of their network or their video- or voice-enabled system. These systems today could be an Internet telephone, regular telephone, video-PC or videoconferencing system. When integrated into a network solution, Accord's products are uniquely positioned to solve many problems faced by network designers today such as dealing with multiple speeds and feeds, multiple protocols, multiple networks and QoS issues. All of Accord's solutions are managed and controlled under a common management suite. Accord's solutions are used both by end users and by service providers who are offering outsourced solutions to end users. Service providers offering these services include RBOCs, CLECs, ISPs and ASPs.
Accord is a registered trademark and, MGC WebCommander, Greet and Guide, V2IPERA are trademarks of Accord Networks. |
