ADTRAN Adds UC to Its Slate of Next-Gen, Converged Communications Solutions

By: Paula Bernier

ADTRAN (News - Alert) has expanded into the unified communications space, having last month introduced a handful of new UC products to complement its existing voice over IP solutions.

“We’ve had excellent momentum on our IP telephony solutions,” says Gary Bolton (News - Alert), vice president of global marketing at ADTRAN, adding the company recently expanded its 7100 product from 50 users to 100 users. “Our NetVanta 7000 series is getting some really strong traction from not only end users and resellers, but also from our service provider market. So we’re very, very excited.”

The NetVanta Unified Communications (News - Alert) Solution Suite of products deliver voice mail, unified messaging, fax server and auto attendant. ADTRAN says the solutions are notable due to their ease of use, interoperability with legacy equipment, user-defined functionalities and tie-ins to communications-enabled business processes.

The first four members of the suite are the NetVanta UC Server, which works with any existing PBX; the NetVanta Business Communications System, a solution that includes ADTRAN’s existing VoIP solution with UC integrated; the NetVanta Enterprise Communications (News - Alert) Server, a solution for 75 to 2,000 users; and the NetVanta Business Application Server. All of the above can be delivered as individual solutions or as part of a broader solution that may also entail ADTRAN routers, switches and/or IP telephony phones.

The Business Application Server allows businesses to tie their existing communications systems in with their databases. There are variety of business verticals – including banking, education, health care, hospitality, real estate and retail – for which this makes sense, but Bolton provides an example of how the solution might work in a real estate application.

With the Business Application Server a real estate office could implement a solution whereby potential buyers could come up to a house and dial number on real estate sign on the lawn of an available home, and if a person wasn’t available to take their call the call could go straight to a database and using text-to-speech functionality it could provide the caller with more details about the home. The system could also be configured to allow callers to use their phone touchpads to request additional information be sent to them via email or fax, he says. ADTRAN’s find me/follow me feature, he continues, could help callers track down realtors. Conversely, Bolton explains, realtors would be able to use the solution to get information on who’s been inquiring about which homes, and enable those agents easily to follow up with those prospects.

“As you look at communications going forward, they become more and more integrated,” says Bolton, adding that UC can enable people to do things like update websites, notifying patients of their appointments, checking messages and much more from wherever they are.

The bulk of the technology underlying these new UC offers comes from Objectworld (News - Alert) Communications Corp., a unified communications solution provider that ADTRAN bought for approximately $1.5 million in cash back in September, according to a 10-Q filing.

The deal enabled ADTRAN to advance quickly its position in the UC space and allows Objectworld to be part of a company that is able to get a bigger share of customer spends. Objectworld’s one dozen employees are now part of ADTRAN and the former Objectworld CEO Dave Levy is now an ADTRAN consultant. IT

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