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Blackberry Converges on the Corporate DesktopBy Erik Linask Associate Editor Thought by some to have been on the verge of extinction, Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry mobile communications devices, has not only survived its court battle with NTP, but has burst onto the converged solutions scene with a vengeance.
Fresh off its $612.5 million with NTP, RIM has acquired Ascendent Systems, a provider of enterprise telecommunications software. With Ascendent's software, RIM will be able to integrate its Blackberries into corporate phone systems. Ascendent makes the Ascendent Voice Mobility Suite, a standards-based software solution that augments existing PBX and IP PBX systems and supports heterogeneous telephony environments to ‘push’ voice calls and extend corporate desk phone functionality to mobile users on their wireless handset or any wireline phone. “The Ascendent Voice Mobility Suite is a perfect complement to the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. This deal allows us to further extend and enhance the use of wireless communications in the enterprise by offering a voice mobility solution that helps customers align their mobile voice and data strategies,” said Jim Balsillie, Chairman and Co-CEO at RIM.
By integrating the software into RIM’s Blackberry portfolio, Blackberry devices will be able to act as extensions of employees’ desk phones. Any feature of a PBX, such as call transfer or teleconferencing, will be extended to the Blackberry. Telephone calls will be ‘pushed’ to the Blackberry as e-mails are.
The Ascendant solution provides a consistent experience across a mix of telephony systems and simplifies the migration to newer IP-PBX systems. What makes this deal even more beneficial for RIM is that the product is also SIP-enabled for VoIP and supports BlackBerry WLAN deployments.
What is abundantly clear is that, with its legal trouble now a distant memory, RIM is intent on again making its presence felt in the mobile — and corporate — market. Erik Linask is Associate Editor of INTERNET TELEPHONY. Most recently, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, an international securities services publication. To see more of his articles, please visit Erik Linask’s columnist page
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