LU/SUNW Team to Deliver Advanced Unified Messaging Solutions; Collaboration Will Drive Deployment of Unified Messaging Worldwide
Business Wire - August 17, 1998 16:47
MILPITAS and PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 1998--
Lucent Technologies and Sun Microsystems, Inc. are joining forces to develop the
first unified messaging platform that delivers the scalability, performance and ease of
use required by telco and Internet service providers serving the business
professional, residential and outsourced enterprise markets. This collaboration will
drive the deployment of unified messaging worldwide by making it possible for
service providers to offer their subscribers the benefits of sending, receiving and
managing all e-mail, voice and fax messages from any telephone, PC or information
device.
Sun and Lucent will marry Sun's Internet and network computing leadership with
Lucent's innovation in voice messaging, speech processing and communications
networking to bring to market highly scalable, reliable and secure unified messaging
solutions. At the core of this effort is the technology integration of Sun's Solaris (tm)
operating environment and Sun(tm) Internet Mail Server(tm) with Lucent's open
Octel Messaging platform and its text-to-speech technology from Bell Labs. As a
result, a service provider will be able to introduce a variety of new services to the
market - satisfying the diverse requirements of all their subscribers - consumers,
mobile business professionals, SOHOs (small office-home office) and outsourced
corporate enterprises.
Based on a long-standing track record of innovation from both companies, Lucent
and Sun will work together to deliver a series of products needed to globally deploy
unified messaging, including media conversion, voice and email messaging systems,
application tools, and system/network management systems and services.
"This collaboration is significant because it will move unified messaging into the
mainstream. It is about a whole new set of capabilities that will dramatically enhance
people's lives on a daily basis," said Doug Sabella, chief operating officer of Lucent
Technologies, Octel Messaging Division. "By joining forces with Sun, we will be
able to take this technology to the next level and make unified messaging a truly
ubiquitous service worldwide."
Unlike proprietary or niche applications available in the marketplace today, Lucent
and Sun plan to leverage a flexible, open network-based architecture enabling
service providers to manage and reuse their existing infrastructure while realizing the
benefits of innovative unified messaging solutions.
"This unified messaging platform will create huge market opportunities by extending
the benefits of the Internet beyond traditional PC users," said John McFarlane,
president of Sun's Solaris Software. "Imagine enabling parents without a computer
to send an email message to their child's PC at college just by picking up the phone,
or a state representative notifying via e-mail a group of her constituents about an
important environmental law being passed by just making a call from a cell phone on
the House floor."
This collaboration will strengthen Lucent's AnyMedia(TM) Messaging unified
messaging portfolio for service providers that was announced in May (see release
dated 5/26/98). The resulting solutions from Sun and Lucent will utilize
industry-standard network and Internet protocols and be deployed on a
network-based architecture for easy and cost-effective maintenance and
administration. Sun and Lucent are planning to make the first product of the unified
messaging platform available for service providers worldwide in early 1999.
Earlier this summer, Sun and Lucent announced their ISP Bundle (see release dated
6/9/98), which is an end-to-end service delivery solution for ISPs looking to build a
scaleable, customizable infrastructure that can easily support new service
development and delivery on demand.
About Lucent
The Octel Messaging Division, headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., was formed on
Sept. 29, 1997 through Lucent's acquisition of Octel Communications Corporation.
The division is a worldwide leader in providing voice messaging equipment and
services to telephone companies, cellular service providers, businesses,
governments and educational institutions in more than 90 countries. For more
information on Lucent Technologies Octel Messaging Division, visit its web site at
lucent.com.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and
delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and
software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic
components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. For
more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its web site at
lucent.com.
About Sun Microsystems
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer,"(TM)
has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW), to its position as a
leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide
intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $9 billion in
annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World
Wide Web at sun.com.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Sun Internet Mail Server, and The
Network is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
CONTACT: Sun Microsystems
Mary Camarata, 650/786-8645
800/SKY-8888 Pin No. 4850646
mary.camarata@sun.com
or
Lucent Technologies
Tara Finney, 408/324-3220 or 888/578-2024 (pager)
tfinney@lucent.com |
