Industry’s First Open Source Desktop Client for Unified Communications is Released

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. - LiteScape Technologies, Inc., a leading developer of unified communications applications, has announced the availability of the OnCast Communications Client, an Open Source desktop client that unifies access to disparate business applications and data sources with real time IP-based communications systems. In conjunction with this announcement, LiteScape also introduced the LiteScape Developer Network, a developer community for ISVs, systems integrators and end users that provides tools, documentation and support for applications leveraging the OnCast Communications Client.

“With the launch of the open source OnCast Client, LiteScape has taken a significant step toward making unified communications as ubiquitous within organizations as email and voicemail are today,” said LiteScape’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Rod Hamlin. “Enterprise business users can now leverage VoIP clients that have had significant consumer adoption such as Skype, in a corporate environment – fully integrated with core business applications such as directories, presence, conferencing, and other forms of collaboration.”

The OnCast Communications Client is a standalone desktop client that natively supports a combination of different communications services including authentication, presence, remote call control, directory/application integration, collaboration/conferencing and broadcasting/paging. The Open Source application will give users the ability to customize these services and embed them directly into their own unified communications applications to transform their specific business processes and environments. Hamlin adds, “For the first time, organizations can now unify best of breed business applications, presence systems, collaboration solutions and IP telephony systems in one unified communications solution.”

LiteScape is working with several large SI’s and service providers using OnCast to develop and deliver new unified communication applications for their customers, on-site and hosted.

“The OnCast Communications Client gives organizations tremendous flexibility and power to transform their businesses without sacrificing functionality,” said Kayvan Alikhani, executive vice president of product development and management at LiteScape Technologies. “A company can leverage the OnCast Communications Client as a standalone client to provide a single interface to access multiple corporate directories, presence information and click to call functions on an adjacent IP phone. At the same time, another organization can use the OnCast Communications Client to integrate this same functionality into AOL Business Edition or Skype, using these as the primary interface for unified communications.”

To support the adoption and development of solutions using the OnCast Communications Client, LiteScape has also launched the LiteScape Developer Network today. Through this forum, developers will have access to reference code samples and detailed documentation that clearly demonstrates how to develop applications using the OnCast Communications Client. In addition, developers will be able to download the LiteScape patented Multi-modal Application Platform (MAP) to test their applications against.

The OnCast Communications Client is based upon LiteScape’s core OnCast unified communications application. OnCast integrates real time communications with business processes on any IP device, including IP phones, wireless devices and PCs. OnCast communications-enables business process by unifying disparate applications and data sources with multiple types of telephony systems and devices, including Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco and Polycom, to help users automate functions, improve communications and reduce complexity so productivity is increased.