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3Com Brings Enterprise-Caliber IP Telephony to SMBsMARLBOROUGH, MASS. --(Business Wire)-- 3Com Corporation today announced a comprehensive solution that brings enterprise-caliber IP telephony to small and medium-sized organizations seeking to unify communications and applications on an open architecture platform. 3Com designed its new Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solutions for application integration so even small organizations can improve communications and collaboration to support growth and business continuity. This supports 3Com's next-generation Secure Converged Networks strategy by driving even greater application integration into the network infrastructure for businesses of all sizes. Targeting organizations with 30 to 250 phone users, 3Com is introducing the 3Com(R)VCX(TM) Connect, an all-in-one platform that delivers Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) software-based IP telephony call control and unified messaging in a single-server package. There are two versions of the product. The VCX Connect 100 delivers high-performance voice capabilities for organizations with 30 to 100 users. The VCX Connect 200 delivers the same robust performance for up to 250 users. As part of 3Com's commitment to providing the platform and support for clients to implement best-of-breed Open Source solutions, the company also is launching the 3Com Asterisk Appliance, an Open Source voice-over-IP (VoIP) system based on Digium's Asterisk Appliance. Designed for five to 30 phone users, it delivers plug-and-play operation right out of the box backed by 3Com's warranty, service and support. The 3Com Asterisk Appliance works with 3Com's full line of telephone handsets. "Small and medium-sized businesses demand flexible and affordable communications solutions to ensure effective collaboration and productivity," said Brian Riggs, research director for Current Analysis' Enterprise Communications practice. "With these new products, 3Com is bringing enterprise-caliber VoIP communications and applications to organizations of all sizes." The new products join 3Com's portfolio of voice products, including the 3Com NBX(R) IP Telephony platforms for small and medium-sized businesses and the 3Com VCX IP Telephony platforms for mid-sized and large enterprises. "VCX Connect provides even small organizations with enterprise-class IP telephony features and performance such as integration of communications with productivity applications and system redundancy to ensure survivability in an easy-to-use, low-cost package," said Bob Dechant, 3Com's senior vice president and general manager. "Additionally, 3Com Asterisk delivers easy-to-deploy telephony features in an Open Source environment. This clearly will position 3Com as the leader in driving the deployment of Open Source solutions into the fabric of the network." The voice initiative is the next generation of the 3Com Secure Converged Networks (SCN) strategy, where voice is one of many applications on the business network. It drives the convergence of communications and applications on secure, open platforms. 3Com provides customers with unmatched choice, enabling them to deploy 3Com, third-party and Open Source technologies and services as part of their application-enabled communications systems. "Convergence is about more than just unified communications. It is enabling communications tied with an organization's applications of choice - proprietary or Open Source - and available today or developed in the future. These applications can be phone-, PC- and server-based and include tightly coupled security and data infrastructure. 3Com VCX Connect changes the VoIP marketplace by delivering an application-enabled communications platform today," said Dechant. Bringing Enterprise VoIP Capabilities to SMBs The new VCX Connect solutions leverage the same SIP-based technology utilized in 3Com's award-winning VCX Enterprise IP telephony application at an SMB price, providing a complete IP-based telephony system with full-range of both traditional and advanced PBX features. The software is integrated with applications such as unified messaging that provides a single inbox, connecting voicemail and fax with email and find-me/follow-me capabilities. Both VCX Connect platforms and VCX Enterprise run the same software, which delivers unprecedented scalability to customers. The same feature set is now available for organizations as small as 25 users and companies as well as global enterprises. This is also the same software that is available for users of the 3Com IP Telephony solution for IBM System i. VCX Connect provides company, departmental and personal auto attendant features, and supports mobility so users can access the telephony application from any location without dialing in to a company server. Both VCX Connect base packages come standard with 25 user licenses. Web-based administration interfaces are designed for fast system deployment and enable easy self-administration by both system administrators and end users. VCX Connect can be deployed in both single- and multi-site organizations and can be configured with primary and secondary servers to provide a completely survivable solution for organizations that require business continuity. VCX Connect provides advanced SIP-based options such as IP conferencing and presence that enable remote collaboration with any combination of voice, video and desktop sharing services. In addition to standard IP phones, VCX Connect enables calls to be made from multimedia devices, including SIP-based video phones and software applications, such as the 3Com Convergence Center Client, which provides instant messaging, voice, video and desktop sharing. 3Com's world-class Global Service offerings provide customers with the full range of service and support for small and medium-sized businesses. Open Source VoIP System 3Com Asterisk targets small businesses that want a small-footprint, Open Source VoIP system for a single site. It is a combination of pre-configured software and hardware for easy deployment. The system has a rich telephony feature set including voicemail, auto attendant, voice menus, integrated voice response, and conferencing and comes standard with four ports for CO lines, four ports for analog devices such as single-line phones, and four LAN ports for IP phones. 3Com Asterisk supports up to 25 simultaneous SIP sessions and no user licenses are needed. Customers can easily deploy the 3Com family of IP phones with the application. Unlike many low-end IP telephony solutions, which leave users on their own if problems occur, 3Com Global Service offers a complete portfolio of services for its Asterisk product including onsite and remote maintenance and installation services. New Capabilities for 3Com's Solution for IBM System i 3Com also is announcing the availability of VCX 7.2.5 software for deployment on the 3Com IP Telephony solution for the IBM System i. This release brings enhanced applications to the award-winning VCX software, enabling IBM customers to deploy contact center solutions and integrate voice mail to Lotus Notes e-mail. Users also can deploy call control and presence from their desktops, take advantage of Lotus Sametime's Click to Call and Click to Conference features, and synchronize user profiles from a common data store. Designed with ease of deployment in mind, 7.2.5 furthers the 3Com-IBM telephony value proposition by continuing to offer applications that install within the server partition, and by integrating telephony into commonly used applications enabling employees to become more productive. Customers are able to leverage existing expertise and IT resources on the System i platform to deliver advanced communications services throughout the enterprise. Expanded Telephone Offerings 3Com is expanding its portfolio of standards-based IP telephone offerings to provide customers with additional choices to meet their business needs. In addition to its complete line of 3Com phones, the company has formed a partnership with Polycom under which 3Com and its partners will sell jointly branded 3Com-Polycom handsets. Polycom's IP phones are SIP-based and work seamlessly with 3Com's new and existing voice products. Pricing and Availability The VCX Connect 100 integrated server and gateway has a U.S. list price of $7,000 for a single or primary server. A secondary server has a U.S. list price of $5,500. The VCX Connect 200 has a U.S. list price of $7,500 for a single or primary server. A secondary server for the VCX Connect 200 has a U.S. list price of $6,000. VoIP Gateways for the VCX Connect 200 are available separately. The 3Com Asterisk Appliance has a U.S. list price of $1,595. All three new products are available now in North America through the 3Com reseller channel. The products will be available worldwide in early 2008. About 3Com Corporation 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) is a leading provider of secure, converged voice and data networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes. 3Com offers a broad line of innovative products backed by world-class sales, service and support, which excel at delivering business value for its customers. 3Com also includes H3C Technologies Co., Limited (H3C), a China-based provider of network infrastructure products. H3C brings high-performance and cost-effective product development and manufacturing and a strong footprint in one of the world's most dynamic markets. Through its TippingPoint division, 3Com is a leading provider of network-based intrusion prevention systems that deliver in-depth application protection, infrastructure protection, and performance protection. For further information, please visit www.3com.com, or the media site www.3com.com/pressbox. Copyright (C) 2007 3Com Corporation. 3Com, the 3Com logo, TippingPoint and NBX are registered trademarks and VCX is a trademark of 3Com Corporation. Digium, Asterisk, and Asterisk Appliance are trademarks of Digium, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders. |
