IBM taps Alcatel for unified-communications strategy

IBM and networking provider Alcatel-Lucent are teaming up to take Microsoft head-on in the unified-communications market.

Through the partnership, announced in Boston at the Fall VON conference Tuesday, Alcatel-Lucent is offering integration of its OmniTouch audio-conferencing feature into IBM Lotus OmniTouch audio conferencing  the companies said.

Customers that have both Alcatel-Lucent's OmniTouch Unified Communication software and IBM's Lotus Sametime product can take advantage of the new offering, which will be available in the next few weeks on IBM's Web site for Sametime partner applications.

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IBM and networking provider Alcatel-Lucent are teaming up to take Microsoft head-on in the unified-communications market.

Through the partnership, announced in Boston at the Fall VON conference Tuesday, Alcatel-Lucent is offering integration of its OmniTouch audio-conferencing feature into IBM Lotus OmniTouch audio conferencing  the companies said.

Customers that have both Alcatel-Lucent's OmniTouch Unified Communication software and IBM's Lotus Sametime product can take advantage of the new offering, which will be available in the next few weeks on IBM's Web site for Sametime partner applications.

The move is the first time IBM and Alcatel-Lucent have collaborated on unified communications, though IBM counts other networking providers -- such as Cisco, Avaya and Nortel -- as partners in this market.

IBM is positioning itself as an open-standards alternative to unified-communications offerings from Microsoft, which made a big splash earlier this month in San Francisco when it launched Office Communications Server, the linchpin of its unified-communications strategy. 

Microsoft also has cozied up to telecommunications companies and networking and wireless handset providers to push its products in this market.

The deal announced Tuesday calls for Alcatel-Lucent and IBM to offer the OmniTouch My Teamwork for Lotus Sametime, a free plug-in that provides the ability to click-to-conference directly from both Lotus Sametime and Lotus Notes, as well as to provide audio-conference scheduling and management from Lotus Sametime's Web conferencing feature.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.