Siemens Enterprise Communications Simplifies Complex, Multi-Vendor UC Deployments With OpenScale Service Packages

RESTON, Va., Jan. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Leveraging its extensive experience with Unified Communications (UC) installations, Siemens Enterprise Communications today introduced OpenScale Service Packages to eliminate the complexity and address the unique deployment issues faced by customers. Traditional telephony and IT services have not effectively addressed the needs of today's multi-vendor, multi-site UC deployments, but OpenScale Service Packages are designed to provide unique capabilities and options based on a customer's individual needs, while realizing the cost-savings and scalability of a standardized global package.

Available either directly from Siemens Enterprise Communications or from reseller partners, OpenScale Service Packages enable enterprises to purchase the exact level of services needed in any location, with flexible snap-on options, site-specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and custom reporting options. At the same time, standard remote services are at the core of the offering, helping to keep price points low.

"Services are integral to the adoption of UC since they help streamline costs and speed deployments while enabling enterprises to remain focused on their core business issues," said Dr. Gerald Kromer, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Business Unit Services for Siemens Enterprise Communications. "Based on customer feedback from our extensive experience with complex, multi-vendor deployments, we have developed these OpenScale Service Packages to address each customer's unique requirements with more flexibility and options while still reducing cost and complexity."

OpenScale Service Packages help customers manage their UC deployment to speed adoption, reduce downtime and improve productivity, without acquiring incremental staff. The three available packages deliver standardized services for protecting, maintaining and improving the performance of a customers' communications infrastructure. Each package can be purchased discretely or bundled with another package for greater coverage and discount potential. Additionally, the packages offer unique configuration of service level agreements (SLAs) by site, rather than just by product. This allows customers to create a customized plan to address their specific needs, without overpaying for services.

OpenScale Service Packages include:

• OpenScale Total Care offers remote break/fix maintenance with flexible SLAs and options for on-site service, parts replacement and moves, adds and changes (MACs) that can be customized for each site.

• OpenScale Proactive Support delivers resources to manage all the day-to-day activities that are vital for ensuring a reliable and stable communications infrastructure, including a single point of contact for closed-loop fault monitoring, back-up and restore, and service level reporting. It also includes a named Service Account Manager who provides reports and periodic service reviews to enhance operational efficiency. Plus, options for user assistance, remote MACs and cost management.

• OpenScale Advanced Performance provides customers with complete visibility across their network infrastructure and how each component is performing individually so they can respond to changes before they become problems. This includes Application, Server and Network performance monitoring of capacity thresholds for complete transparency to network health and tracking of changes within the Configuration Management Database. Customers can define their own thresholds, providing the flexibility to accommodate individual customers' risk tolerance.

Siemens Enterprise Communications provides all three packages to channel partners to re-sell a complete end-to-end product support solution for their customers. In addition, Siemens Enterprise Communications is also offering OpenScale Active Monitoring exclusively for channel partners. It provides the monitoring and polling of covered devices for alarm and threshold violations and critical alarms by Siemens Enterprise Communications to their partner. This offering makes it easy and cost effective for channel partners to add voice, server, network and application monitoring capabilities to their existing service stack and provide new services to their customers.

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 Siemens Enterprise Communications 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.

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