Medium-sized companies often lack human and technical resources to implement and maintain an end-to-end converged communication platform. Traditional solutions for unified communications, contact center and for connecting mobile employees are often designed for large enterprises only and can be complex and expensive for smaller organizations.

Responding to this need, Alcatel-Lucent and Vodafone Germany have developed a comprehensive and complete enterprise communication solution that enables seamless and efficient communications for enterprises, their customers and suppliers. A key component of the package is the Alcatel-Lucent Business integrated Communication Solution (BiCS). In addition, Alcatel-Lucent provides related end-user devices as well as installation and maintenance services on behalf of Vodafone Germany.

The package, called “Business PBX”, is marketed by Vodafone Germany and offers a comprehensive range of features while being easy and intuitive to use. By pressing a button in the menu system, functions such as inquiry call, call transfer and brokering can be accessed. All the important functions of the communication solution are pre-installed on the BiCS platform and ready for immediate use. As a company’s requirements change, additional functions such as call centers can be added in a simple manner.

“We want to continue to grow faster than the market by better focusing on the needs of our enterprise customers than our competitors. The introduction of the Business PBX is an important step in this direction and expands our portfolio for business customers,” said Guido Kissner, product manager for enterprise fixed-line marketing at Vodafone Germany.

With Business PBX, mobile devices are included as full extensions and provide the same features as office phones. Users can access the central company phone directory, which simultaneously indicates the presence status of any person needing to be reached. The optimal form of communication – whether phone, instant messaging, video call or e-mail – can thus be determined. By connecting the Business PBX to the email system of the client (Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes), the contacts stored there can be directly accessed on any device. Similarly, faxes can be received or sent directly by email through an integrated fax server.

Marketing launch is scheduled for March 1, 2011, first day of CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany. A comprehensive live demo will be available at the Vodafone pavilion 32 during the entire CeBIT show.

Andreas Grossheimann, account manager Vodafone at Alcatel-Lucent adds, “We are very pleased to cooperate with Vodafone to shape the communications market and offer a unique package for enterprise customers in Germany.”