Comverse today announced the commercial availability of its unified communications offering that allows telecom providers to deliver seamless mobile and PC-based voice and data communications to small and midsize businesses inside and outside the office setting.

The solution, which is built on the Comverse Netcentrex Converged IPCentrex telephony solution and the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) 4.5, integrates messaging and presence services on a business desktop PC environment with high-quality, packet-based services to create a wide range of voice and data features for users:

• Control phone calls from desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows Messenger and the Microsoft Office Communicator, all integrated within the Microsoft Office desktop environment;
• Click and call contacts listed in the computer’s address book, which also informs them if their contacts are online;
• Begin a phone call on their office phone and continue the conversation on their mobile phone when travelling to an out-of-office appointment; and
• View and manage all voice messages in an inbox with date, time, message length, caller number, and identity when available. Known as visual voicemail, this allows employees to return phone calls by simply clicking on the message.

“We see significant synergy in this collaboration with Microsoft,” said John Bunyan, chief marketing officer at Comverse. “This strong offering combines our field-proven Converged IPCentrex with Microsoft’s well-rounded Unified Communications solution. Because this solution offers many benefits for small- and medium-sized companies, telecom providers can make a compelling business case, which will help drive revenues while decreasing churn.”

Tech Mahindra is the Microsoft Unified Communications system integrator with whom Comverse has partnered for the launch of this offering. Upon deployment, telecom providers can offer hosted services in a pre-IMS or IMS environment, offering a package of integrated Unified Communication services, including email, Instant Messaging (IM) and phone lines.

“Comverse’s offering enables telecom providers to offer an integrated communications solution for businesses, which can increase employee accessibility and responsiveness, as well as improve real-time collaboration among employees, partners and customers,” said John Zanni, general manager of the Worldwide Software Plus Services industry team for the Communications Sector at Microsoft.