Interwise, a global provider of enterprise conferencing solutions, today announced that it will demonstrate ECP Connect, an integrated voice, Web and video conferencing solution for converged networks at VoiceCon in Orlando, Florida on March 6-9. ECP Connect allows enterprises to apply the compelling economics of VoIP to two major components of enterprise communications budgets that have until now, have been excluded from corporate convergence strategies--standalone TDM/voice and Web conferencing. In addition, ECP Connect affords corporations a powerful business tool that advances everyday business processes with real-time communications and collaboration.

 

According to IDC, almost three quarters of global enterprises plan to migrate to a fully-converged network by the end of 2008. Among the major drivers are: anticipated cost savings from reducing TDM voice services, improvements in business processes and enhanced IP network capabilities. However, making the transition is not simple.

 

Infrastructure and desktop equipment overhauls are expensive and complex, hitting the IT budget well before any measurable ROI can be reported. By deploying Interwise ECP Connect, an IP-based conferencing software, companies can reap the benefits of VoIP early and in advance of PBX replacements and IP phone purchases. The substantial savings gained by migrating expensive third party voice and Web conferencing services to Interwise's IP-based conferencing software can help offset the costs of IP Telephony equipment and other purchases while supplying a powerful business tool to everyone in the organization.

 

Enterprises Are Being Ripped Off by Legacy, Standalone Conferencing Services

The majority of enterprises today hold multiple contracts for outside conferencing services that are priced on a per-minute usage or concurrent user basis. The bills are expensive: global companies of 1,000 employees can pay $160,000 per year, while companies of 10,000 employees can pay in excess of $1 million per year for basic conferencing support. On top of these costs, the communications required to lead global companies such as "all hands meetings" can cost in excess of $10,000 per event! At these costs, it is little wonder that only 10-20% of employees have support for conferencing where they work. For geographically-spread companies, a convergence strategy that tackles the costs of group, customer and one-to-many communications is clearly needed.

ECP Connect Applies the Economics of VoIP with IP-based Enterprise Conferencing

Interwise ECP Connect unifies voice, Web and video conferencing with corporate convergence strategies by allowing them to run across the data infrastructure with similar benefits to IP Telephony toll by-pass. In addition to cutting conferencing costs by 50 percent, ECP Connect enables company-wide access and unlimited usage of

conferencing--for a fixed price. ECP Connect:

 

-- Consolidates customers' legacy conferencing services onto a single, IP-based solution that cuts existing conferencing costs in half

-- Provides unlimited voice, Web and video conferencing to everyone, like email

-- Allows telephony- and computer-based users to attend conferences/virtual meetings together

-- Accepts TDM phones, IP phones, computers, headsets and wireless devices

-- Allows unlimited company-wide broadcasts and web events at no extra cost

-- Provides enterprise-class scalability, reliability and security with leading voice quality, bandwidth efficiency and simple administration

-- Ensures global reach through a unique hybrid premise/hosted deployment model

-- Provides certified integration and interoperability with leading telephony platforms

-- Integrates with existing IT systems and applications

 

"NetworkWorld recognized the value that ECP Connect brings to convergence initiatives when it named Interwise as a winner in its "Best of the Tests" for convergence products last month," said Frank Zvi, president and CEO of Interwise. "In addition to cutting traditional conferencing costs dramatically, ECP Connect improves how people work as a result of the its ability to deliver rich media and collaborative features in an immediately available, virtual meeting environment." To view Network World's "Best of the Tests" award for Convergence see: http://www.networkworld.com/best/2006/022706convergence.html (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field.).

 

ECP Connect is a leading choice of Global 2000 companies, with more worldwide deployments of 5,000-plus seats than any other enterprise conferencing solution on the market. Other awards include Network World's "Clear Choice" for Web conferencing, Internet Telephony's Product of the Year, Internet Telephony's Excellence Award, Open Systems Advisors' Crossroads A-List and Red Herring 100. Companies such as MediaLive and TMC.net use Interwise's technology to deliver high-quality Web seminars to their audiences.

 

 

About Interwise

 

Interwise provides complete Enterprise Conferencing -- unlimited voice, Web, and video conferencing in one integrated platform for a fixed price. Interwise's fixed price / unlimited usage business model and enterprise-class technology combine to make it easy for companies to replace multiple conferencing and collaboration products with a single, integrated solution that can reduce overall conferencing expenses by up to 50 per cent. Leading IT industry publications and analyst firms have recognized Interwise for changing the way conferencing is done by replacing unpredictable per-minute and overage charges with a complete solution that can be deployed as broadly and economically as e-mail. Interwise is a privately held company, backed by investors that include Lazard Technology Partners, UBS Capital, GE Capital, JP Morgan, Leeds Weld, and NTT. The company sells to and supports customers globally through a direct sales force, distributors, value-added resellers, communications service providers, and network-oriented systems integrators.