Siemens Enterprise Communications Announces New Partnership with VMware for Virtualized Real-time Communications Deployment

ORLANDO, Fla., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- VOICECON BOOTH #601 -- Siemens Enterprise Communications, a premier provider of enterprise communications solutions, announced today at VoiceCon that it has entered into a strategic partnership with VMware to develop virtualized unified communications solutions that will help organizations optimize their data center resources and lay the foundation for future cloud deployments. The move supports the Siemens Enterprise Communications' Open Communications commitment to offer partners and customers the most open, flexible and future-proof telephony and unified communications (UC) platform, as well as building on support for virtualized real-time communications from VMware.  

"Our companies share a common goal of delivering real-time communications as a virtual appliance, thereby enabling UC technologies to leverage the benefits of the VMware platform: significant improvements in total cost of ownership, high availability, performance and business continuity," said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances at VMware.  "Through our companies' collaboration, we are enabling customers who use VMware vSphere™ to use a common management toolset for all of their applications, including new OpenScape UC 2010 UC solutions, further driving data center efficiencies and providing a clear path to cloud computing."

Working with VMware, Siemens Enterprise Communications will virtualize the OpenScape Voice, Unified Communications and Contact Center portfolio. All of the company's solutions will benefit from real-time telephony and unified communications that support true server consolidation, storage and processing optimization and energy efficiency for progressive data centers.  

Virtually Channel-Friendly

Channel partners will also benefit from Siemens Enterprise Communications virtualization strategy by leveraging the 'Virtual Appliance' software solutions model, which provides pre-packaged initial configuration and installation routines, making it easier to deploy, manage and service virtualized enterprise communications solutions.  In addition, the open standards of the OpenScape portfolio and the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) ensures that channel partners can provide their customers with bundled solutions that are hardware agnostic, allowing them to deliver packaged solutions that run on industry standard server hardware. For channel partners that want to provide Communication as a Service (CaaS) or extend offerings to the cloud, the virtualization of Siemens Enterprise Communications portfolio provides an innovative, future-proof solution.  

Shared Technologies, a key Siemens Enterprise Communication partner specializing in the design, implementation and ongoing maintenance and support of communication solutions for enterprise customers across the United States, sees the potential of virtualization and how it will be a growing migration imperative with customers.

"Virtualization will allow us to provide even more value for our customers because we can use our vertical expertise, as well as our communications best practices, to provide tailored solutions that are optimized for their data center," said Glenn Means, chief operating officer of Shared Technologies. "As customers continue to look for ways to reduce costs and leverage existing assets, the ability to consolidate their IT infrastructure and leverage our expertise to manage the entire data center for them so they can focus their resources on other critical projects, becomes very attractive."  

"One of the key technology trends emerging in the enterprise today is the fundamental re-architecting of the data center, which is being driven by several strategic imperatives including cost optimization, regulation and compliance, flexibility and agility," said Eve Aretakis, executive vice president, voice and application platforms, Siemens Enterprise Communications. "Partnering with VMware for virtualization addresses these imperatives by offering a consolidated, optimized environment and clear evolution path for Siemens Enterprise Communications UC customers. Our company is committed to providing solutions that meet our customers' needs, and this is just another proof point of how we are delivering on that commitment."

Virtualization is a key element of Siemens Enterprise Communications OpenScape Unified Communications Server 2010, the company's next iteration of its award-winning software-based enterprise communications platform, also being unveiled at VoiceCon.

For more information, see Siemens Enterprise Communications at Booth# 601 at VoiceCon in Orlando, March 22-25th.

About Siemens Enterprise Communications

Siemens Enterprise Communications is a premier provider of end-to-end enterprise communications, including voice, network infrastructure and security solutions that use open, standards-based architectures to unify communications and business applications for a seamless collaboration experience. This award-winning "Open Communications" approach enables organizations to improve productivity and reduce costs through easy-to-deploy solutions that work within existing IT environments, delivering operational efficiencies. It is the foundation for the company's OpenPath® commitment that enables customers to mitigate risk and cost-effectively adopt unified communications. Jointly owned by The Gores Group and Siemens AG, Siemens Enterprise Communications companies include Siemens Enterprise Communications, Cycos, and Enterasys Networks.

For more information about the SEN Group or Enterasys please visit www.siemens-enterprise.com or www.enterasys.com

Note: Siemens Enterprise Communications & Co K.G. is a trademark licensee of Siemens AG.  HiPath, OpenOffice, OpenScape and OpenStage, are registered trademarks of Siemens Enterprise Communications & Co K.G. or its affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

VMware and VMware vSphere are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens' management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Siemens Enterprise Communications