Nortel, Polycom Give Voice to Videoconferencing

Nortel Networks and Polycom on Tuesday at Networld Interop in Las Vegas said they are working together to build converged solutions that combine standards-based video telephony, presence and instant messaging.

Through the pact, the companies plan to develop fully-interoperable multipoint video capabilities that will enable Polycom systems to tap into Nortel telephony features such as voice call processing, forward, transfer, hold, presence and instant messaging.

Solutions demonstrated at the conference paired Nortel's Multimedia Communication Server 5100 with Polycom's VSX 7000 and its MGC 50 multipoint control unit/gateway.

In addition, the companies are drafting and sponsoring video standards based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), an emerging call control standard.

The two companies already have a long-standing partnership. William Owens, Nortel's recently appointed president and CEO, was previously a member of Polycom's board of directors. He resigned from the Polycom board last week.During a keynote address at the conference, Malcolm Collins, president of enterprise networks at Nortel, Brampton, Ont., told conference attendees that convergence is more than just Voice over IP.

"The real driver is multimedia collaboration and presence-based applications that are available to you anytime, anywhere," Collins said.

In a press conference following the address, Collins admitted that the company is "doing work" to allay customer fears following the company's management shakeup.

Nortel last month fired President and CEO Frank Dunn and two other executives "for cause" in the midst of ongoing investigations into the company's finances by U.S. and Canadian regulatory authorities. The board named Owens to replace him and delayed release of the company's first-quarter financial results.

The shakeup came as a result of an internal investigation at Nortel, though U.S. and Canadian regulatory authorities have also launched investigations.Article appears courtesy of CRN.