* BlackBerry MVS 5 will be integrated with Cisco Unified Communications Manager
Research In Motion has announced its BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 (MVS 5) will support voice over Wi-Fi calling — providing users with the ability to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry smartphone.
Research In Motion has announced its BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 (MVS 5) will support voice over Wi-Fi calling — providing users with the ability to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry smartphone.
With the upgrade, employees will be able to use a single work phone number shared between their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone — adding to the existing capability available over cellular networks. MVS 5 will also support extension dialing from their BlackBerry smartphone, the ability to move calls from their smartphone to the user’s desk phone, and simultaneous ring on the employee’s desk phone and BlackBerry. BlackBerry MVS 5 is expected to be available later this year.
RIM and Cisco have worked closely to integrate BlackBerry MVS 5 with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. The solution has been tested for interoperability and will be supported by both RIM and Cisco. RIM also noted in its announcement that it is working with other companies to make BlackBerry MVS available for a range of PBX systems.
Commenting on the joint RIM and Cisco development in a statement, Laurent Philonenko, vice president and general manager, Unified Communications Business Unit at Cisco said, “BlackBerry Mobile Voice System and Cisco Unified Communications Manager provide and extend Cisco’s IP telephony features to BlackBerry smartphone users at companies of any size. With an integrated Cisco Unified Wireless Network, our customers will be able to have highly secure voice over Wi-Fi experiences and high quality phone calls with their BlackBerry smartphones while roaming across the wireless network.”
Additional key features offered by MVS 5 include:
* Wi-Fi network access controls to set which Wi-Fi networks employees can access.
* Network preference settings with the option of prioritizing the use of Wi-Fi or cellular for making phone calls.
* Authentication to help ensure that only authorized BlackBerry smartphones have access to the corporate phone system.
* Incoming call filtering based on allowed and blocked caller lists.
