SOA/Web Services

Concordia University, an academic institution in Montreal, Canada, recently decided it was time to upgrade its communications system. The university sought a solution that would allow it to incorporate Internet-based voice calling functions into existing business processes, applications and services.

 

More specifically, Concordia needed a scalable telephony solution to better serve its roughly 40,000 students by extending incumbent VoIP telecom and IT infrastructure to deliver more economical IP-based communications services.

 

After considering a variety of solutions, Concordia decided to go with three products from BlueNote Networks (News - Alert), a provider of service oriented architecture (SOA)-optimized communications solutions. The products selected were SessionSuite SOA Edition, SessionSuite WebCaller and the SessionSuite Desktop softphone client.

 

The three products from BlueNote have made it possible for Concordia to quickly add click-to-talk functionality to its Web-based business application and also to offer new, Internet-based voice services for its distributed community of users. All of this is done using a single, extensible platform.

 

These solutions not only met Concordia’s immediate needs for more advanced communications functionality, but also are helping the university maintain its tradition of accessibility and inter-disciplinary approach to learning.

 

“In reviewing and selecting a communications services solution, we were focused on companies that understood our current needs, and that also had the vision to provide for our future growth,” said Andrew McAusland, associate vice president at Concordia’s department of instructional and information technology services, in a statement.

 

McAusland continued: “BlueNote's SessionSuite solution allows us to efficiently deploy advanced interactive communications capabilities for our faculty, staff, students and extended user community. This is made possible by using a single, flexible software platform that utilizes our current infrastructure.”

The university was already using Cisco Call Manager, and needed to extend that platform’s capabilities without doing a rip-and-replace. The SessionSuite SOA edition, with its highly interoperable functionality, provides just such flexibility. Concordia combined this core solution with WebCaller, a thin client that let the university quickly roll out advanced features like click-to-call for its IT help desk Web site.

 

In addition, the university chose SessionSuite Desktop, a windows-based PC application that makes it possible to support new IP and Internet-based collaboration solutions—such as support for remote users, teleworkers and business continuity.

Tom Burkardt, president and CEO at BlueNote Networks, explained that the company is dedicated to delivering an innovative approach to deploying real-time collaboration services for businesses and organizations.

 

“This is a clear example of how BlueNote is driving the creation of communications-enabled business applications with our extensible and yet easy-to-deploy solutions. We are committed to delivering products that allow our customers to leverage their current infrastructure, and take advantage of new leading-edge communications solutions as their needs expand,” Burkardt said of the deal with Concordia, in a statement.

To learn more about BlueNote’s communications solutions, please visit the company’s TMCnet.com channel, SOA/Web Services.

 

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SOA/WEB SERVICES