Network Equipment Technologies, Convergent Implement VoIP Solution for Red Wing Shoe Company

Network Equipment Technologies, a provider of network VoIP solutions to enterprises and government agencies, and Convergent, a Minnesota-based providers of Microsoft unified communications, announced that they have successfully implemented NET's (News - Alert) VX Series as the organization's strategic VoIP unified communications solution for Red Wing Shoe Company.

 

Qualified for Microsoft (News - Alert) Office Communications Server or "OCS" 2007, NET's VX Series gives Red Wing Shoe a core switching point for all its voice-related services, allowing for migration to a unified communications environment, company officials said.

 

As a result, the company anticipates new levels of efficiency, productivity and cost savings, particularly related to travel and collaboration.

 

Together, NET and Convergent set up the VX Series platform as an integration point into the client's current Avaya (News - Alert) PBX with Microsoft OCS, featuring telephony and VoIP capabilities.

 

The system is designed for future migration to full Microsoft Enterprise Voice services in Red Wing's headquarters facility and their branch stores, company officials said.

 

Red Wing Shoe Company has been a long-time client of Convergent to design, deploy and maintain their communications system.

 

"We brought NET into the relationship for two reasons, their product is the best available and the company is committed to outstanding service and support,' said Khai Tran, CEO of Convergent. 'This made the difference in solidifying NET's role in a full-circle partnership with the customer."

 

NET's products are ideal for companies like Red Wing that want to bridge legacy systems with new technology because these products have the ability to interface with an Avaya PBX (News - Alert), Microsoft OCS and Active Directory, added Tran. The solution, according to Tran, also offers robust security, ease of management and differentiated call processing capabilities.

 

According to Matthew D. Krueger, vice president of Corporate Marketing and Business Development at NET, Convergent's expertise with Microsoft unified communications allowed for seamless implementation of the technology.

"This was a result of their relationship with Red Wing Shoe combined with a vast knowledge of media gateways and legacy telephony systems," Krueger said.

 

Earlier this year, NEC (News - Alert) announced it has forged a strategic sales and product-solution partnership with UC Planet to deliver WAN bandwidth-management solutions for unified communications, TMCnet reported.

Under the terms of this partnership, NET will resell UC Planet's Lookout software for IP WAN Bandwidth Management to NET's enterprise and government customers, channel partners and carriers worldwide.