Market Update: Siemens and Polycom to Partner

Newsmakers for the week of January 18 also include ShoreTel, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Polycom, Voxeo, ClackPoint, Verizon Business, Toshiba America Information Systems, 8x8, NEC Corporation of America, Mitel, ScanSource, Zultys and the Target Distributing Co.

ShoreTel 10 Serves Larger Enterprises with Integrated Multi-location Capabilities: ShoreTel, the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems with fully integrated Unified Communications (UC), announced ShoreTel 10, the latest version of its award-winning UC software.

Siemens Enterprise Communications and Polycom Announce Unified Communications Partnership: Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, a leading global provider of unified communications (UC) solutions, and Polycom, Inc., a global leader in telepresence, video, and voice communications solutions, announced a strategic alliance and global resale agreement that will enable customers to leverage the productivity and cost-saving benefits of Polycom telepresence, high-definition (HD) video conferencing solutions and desktop video collaboration applications through seamless integration with the OpenScape UC environment.

Voxeo Acquires ClackPoint: Today Voxeo Corporation, the leader in Unlocked Communications, announced it has acquired ClackPoint, the leading real-time multi-media collaboration platform.

Verizon Business Takes Mystery Out of Adopting Unified Communications and Collaboration Technology: Although enterprises increasingly recognize that unified communications and collaboration technologies can improve business performance, they often don't know how to integrate these technologies in specific processes to achieve the best results. To help business leaders meet this challenge, Verizon Business is expanding its comprehensive suite of UC&C Consulting Services.

Toshiba's New Strata Call Manager Brings Powerful Unified Communications Capabilities to Enterprise and SMB Users: Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication Systems Division announced Strata Call Manager, Toshiba's powerful new unified communications solution that is compatible with Toshiba's Strata CIX family of IP business communication systems. Strata Call Manager is now available nationwide through Toshiba's network of Authorized Dealers.

8x8 Introduces 'Virtual Office Pro' Integrated Unified Communications Solution: 8x8, Inc., a provider of innovative business communications solutions, announced the introduction of "8x8 Virtual Office Pro," a powerful unified communications service that allows subscribers to manage essential, advanced business communications functions online through a centralized portal.

NEC Announces Enterprise-class Unified Communications for SMBs, Fully Integrated with IBM's Lotus Foundations Appliance: At the annual IBM Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Florida, NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a leading provider and integrator of advanced communications, networking and IT solutions, announced UNIVERGE Sphericall for IBM Lotus Foundations, a unified communications solution that is fully integrated with IBM Lotus Foundations, an appliance that extends IBM Lotus Sametime unified communications and collaboration (UC 2) tools.

Mitel Launches Mobile Voice and Data Service: Mitel announced the launch of Mitel Mobile, a wireless voice and data service designed for corporate customers. The service is fully integrated with Mitel's leading unified communications and collaboration (UCC) applications and offers business customers the ability to work with a single vendor for all of their customer premise, wireline, wireless, voice, and data communications needs.

ScanSource Communications Enters Agreement With IBM And ShoreTel: ScanSource Communications, a leading value-added distributor of communications products and a sales unit of ScanSource Inc., announced at IBM's Lotusphere conference that it will be offering an integrated unified communications (UC) solution from IBM Lotus Foundations Reach and ShoreTel.

Zultys Announces Target Distributing as a New US Distributor for North America: Zultys Inc., a leading provider of Unified Communications and VoIP Business Phone Systems since 2001, announced a distribution partnership with Target Distributing Co.of Germantown, Maryland.

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