Convergence /

Nortel and IBM get chummy over VoIP

By Phil Hochmuth
Network World, 10/29/01

Nortel last week said it has ported its call center products to IBM's application server and database platforms and has tapped Big Blue's integration arm to install those products and other Nortel voice-over-IP gear in large companies.

The agreement lets users deploying Nortel's Symposium call center software use IBM's WebSphere application server and DB2 database to integrate other IT resources. The partnership also makes IBM Global Services Nortel's preferred integrator for installing IP-based telephone and call center systems.

Symposium servers connected to Nortel PBXs or IP PBXs make it possible to route customer calls to agents based on their skills (such as product expertise) while delivering customer data to agent desktops from back-end customer relationship management (CRM) applications.

WebSphere, the first application server to which Nortel has tied Symposium, should make it easier for customers to integrate back-end CRM systems from companies such as Siebel and SAP. The link should also make it possible to speed delivery of customer information, Nortel says.

Existing customers using Symposium on standard SQL- and Open Database Connectivity-compliant database servers (such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle) will still be supported, and non-IBM platforms will still be offered.

Nortel says it has tested Symposium on IBM's Intel- and Windows-based servers and has given its stamp of approval for Symposium to run on IBM's eServer xSeries products.

The Marketing Store, a Toronto marketing firm, has used Symposium for the last year to run its customer contact center, which serves clients such as McDonalds USA, Nissan Canada and Infinity Canada.

Julie Card, manager of contact center operations, says the Nortel-IBM pact "could be beneficial to us as a Nortel customer because it expands the kinds of products they'll have to offer."

While Card plans to keep Symposium on Microsoft SQL Server, she foresees her firm going with IBM Global Services for future call center rollouts.

In addition to working with IBM on hardware and software integration, Nortel has named IBM its preferred integrator for installing Nortel enterprise voice-over-IP products, such as Succession Communication Server for Enterprise (CSE) IP PBX, which supports 640 IP phones; Business Communication Manager (BCM) small-office IP PBX; and i2004 line of IP telephones.

This move could signal a shift for Nortel in terms of how it sells telephony and call center products. Traditionally, Nortel has teamed with integration companies such as Williams Telecommunications Systems to sell and install PBXs and call centers. IBM is a more IP- and datacom-oriented integrator.

But Eric Ross, president of Nortel's enterprise solutions, says this is not a shift in how the company will deploy voice products.

"IBM simply becomes another vehicle to move IP telephony," he says.

However, Ross points out IBM Global Services has a well-trained IP force and the company's experience in deploying IP networks was a factor for choosing IBM.

Ross says Nortel is also looking into migrating other voice-over-IP server-based products - such as the Windows Server-based Succession CSE and BCM - to IBM's Wintel server products. He would not say if such a move was definitely in the works.

The Nortel/IBM partnership is similar to a deal made two weeks ago, in which IBM agreed to integrate voice-over-IP products from Cisco, and Cisco, in turn, certified its CallManager IP PBX software to run on IBM's eSeries xServer products.