NEC recently announced plans for UNIVERGE Cloud Services UCaaS, a set of enhanced software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. The initial UNIVERGE Cloud Services SaaS offering is unified communications as a service (UCaaS), providing a comprehensive suite of voice, data and video services that feature a Web-based end-user client that can be deployed across any device including a PC, smartphone or tablet.
With launch scheduled for the second calendar of 2012, UNIVERGE Cloud Services UCaaS will be offered in three simple packages — basic, standard and premium. The NEC UCaaS offering leverages UNIVERGE 3C, the company’s recently announced software-based unified communications and collaboration solution designed to operate in both private and hybrid and public-cloud deployment models.
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UNIVERGE Cloud Services UCaaS features include IP telephony, unified messaging, audio and videoconferencing, Web collaboration, mobility, presence and IM, and support for contact centers. The service-based pricing model alleviates capital costs with a monthly fee. The service can be purchased from NEC’s network of authorized dealers and directly from NEC’s enterprise sales group. The underlying cloud infrastructure for the service resides in geographically redundant virtualized environments powered by NEC’s Express5800 servers and M-Series Storage Disk Arrays.
Commenting in a statement, Jay Krauser, director of cloud services at NEC, said, “From early in the development of this project, we knew UNIVERGE Cloud Services needed to leverage the best of NEC’s proven technology and to be as easy as possible for customers to use, deploy, manage and purchase. By leveraging our infrastructure and software at the core and surrounding ourselves with an ecosystem of partners, we’ll be bringing a service that we already know SMBs and large enterprises will find attractive.”
