Alcatel-Lucenttoday announced the release of its Office Communication Solutions 2008, its core SMB solution portfolio giving businesses the IP infrastructure, communication, mobility, collaboration and knowledge sharing features needed to succeed in today's rapidly changing business climate. Office Communication Solutions 2008 is complemented by open source for individual business needs, designed from the ground-up for the SMB market, and supported by a dedicated SMB channel program.

"Like many growing companies, we're under pressure to maximize the use of our internal resources in order to win new business; we also need to maintain a high standard of support for existing customers. While we've always recognized the value of CRM and resource-sharing tools, we were previously deterred by substantial license fees," said Steve Mills, managing director at A-1 Lofts, specialists in converting roof spaces into living accommodation in the greater London (UK) area. "Engaging with Alcatel-Lucent business partner The Comms Company has proved a far better investment. The company examined our daily business processes and identified Alcatel-Lucent's open source approach as the most successful and cost-effective way to improve each process."

Office Communication Solutions 2008 is predefined to provide a secure, integrated, future-proof voice and data infrastructure, with open source functionality to incorporate business critical applications. This reduces costs and ensures continuity in a company's communications network. Modular, cost-effective mobile solutions are included, providing single number service and push applications to strengthen customer relationships and improve employee productivity by facilitating efficient access to information.

The Alcatel-Lucent Open Source initiative goes beyond lowering investment costs, to boost revenues through retained consultancy while fostering closer long-term relationships with customers. "With Alcatel-Lucent Office Communication Solutions, business partners have direct access to a complete voice, data and applications portfolio with a unique one-stop-shopping experience, minimizing the investment and training needed to distribute the complete offer. Customers see us less as suppliers of 'phones on desks' and more as trusted business partners in the converged space," said Jeremy Ryan, Director at The Comms Company.

Office Communication Solutions 2008 supports the four key aspects of dynamic communications:

- NETWORK - IP is essential to both improve network performance and implement cutting-edge applications, and Alcatel-Lucent helps its customers make that transformation.

- OmniSwitch 6400 Stackable LAN Switch features Gigabit and Layer 2+ switching

- OmniAccess Wi-Fi bridging increases mobility

- Widely interoperable SIP trunking provides increased choice of Service Provider

- Alcatel-Lucent 8-Series Extended Edition phones feature Gigabit and support further SIP evolution

- PEOPLE - Personalized tools and mobility within a secure environment let employees, customers and vendors share information more quickly and effectively, resulting in bottom-line business benefits.

- Alcatel-Lucent's Extended Communication Server (4.1) includes new push mail to synchronize smartphone mail, contact, task and calendar content over-the-air, and offers embedded faxing.

- One number services, available at two levels: with any device, and with 2 clients for Smartphones (Alcatel-Lucent Cellular Extension for Windows Mobile and Intellisync Call Connect for Nokia eSeries)

- Web audio conferencing with OmniTouch My Teamwork Office Edition (5.0) is bundled through SIP-enabled OmniPCX Office for SMBs.

- PROCESS - Open source development, exemplified by a relationship with leading open source solution provider Red Hat, lets Alcatel-Lucent integrate real time voice into basic business processes.

- Innovative eCommerce, or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) based upon SugarCRM Inc. open source packages, deliver direct business benefits to SMBs such as A1 Lofts.

- The integration of an XML applications framework within the Extended Communication Server (ECS) provides real-time communication within business processes of the SMB.

- KNOWLEDGE - Facilitated by mobility, unified communications and enterprise 2.0 applications, knowledge sharing epitomizes dynamic communications. Open source packages (based upon Drupal*) deliver Web2.0 interactive collaboration platform for integration in the SMB.