Nortel Debuts Latest Unified Communications Solution for Web 2.0 Customer Care

Easy-to-Install Software Enables Real-Time, Round-the-Clock Self-Service with Voice, Video, IM and More
DALLAS – Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] is expanding its unified communications portfolio to give customer care centers the power to meet and exceed expectations in the Web 2.0 world, where customers increasingly insist on interacting with businesses regardless of time, device, or application. With a new easy-to-install software solution – the Nortel Interactive Communications Portal (ICP) – features such as IM, email and click-to-call can be quickly added to self-service and speech applications to expand service options beyond menu-driven interactive voice response (IVR).


ICP also helps businesses manage the cost of enhancing customer contact. Research shows, well-designed self-service solutions can eliminate many unneeded agent interactions costing between $3 and $12 per call. By using technology like the ICP to provide customers with the same information, businesses can realize significant savings with reduced costs of 30 cents to $1 per call.

As a native, SIP-based platform, ICP fits directly into a business’ existing IP environment and can be installed with a few simple clicks from a single DVD-ROM. No costly proprietary hardware is required, so businesses can shrink the equipment footprint of their IVR systems and speech applications to reduce facility needs, power consumption, and demands on the environment.

Best of all, ICP goes beyond traditional self-service voice capabilities to let users experience a variety of applications like video and instant messaging all within the same transaction. The ICP application framework also fits directly into a Services Oriented Architecture such as the Nortel Agile Communication Environment to enable faster delivery of innovative applications by reusing existing services and pre-built code modules.

Suzette Bouzane Meadows, market development director at JAM IP**, a leading contact center services organization in the United Kingdom, said, “Nortel’s ICP is a powerful, collaboration application which is a valuable addition to our Contact Centre and Unified Communications portfolios. We believe it will provide incredible value to our JAM IP clients by giving them a broad range of choices for how they want to interact with us.”

“The collaborative qualities of unified communications are creating an opportunity for businesses to touch more customers at less cost, to build their loyalty through more compelling interaction, and to achieve a strong competitive differentiation,” said Ravi Chauhan, general manager, Multimedia Applications, Nortel.

This software-only solution is built on Nortel’s Media Application Server, an advanced multimedia-processing platform that provides extensive support for conferencing, messaging, and interactive voice/video response features.

Nortel is transforming business communications with solutions that orchestrate the powerful benefits of the Contact Center, Speech & Self-Service, Unified Messaging, Multimedia Conferencing, and Expert Anywhere solutions to let enterprises engage with customers in new ways, helping businesses achieve greater customer loyalty and competitive advantage.

To see the new ICP solution in action, visit Nortel’s booth #-801 at SpeechTek 2008**, August 18-20 in New York City. The European debut of ICP will be take place at Call Centre Expo** in Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

JAM IP

JAM IP is a leading contact centre services organisation specialising in consulting, professional services, software development, systems integration and managed services. JAM IP operates independently as a Centre of Excellence within the KCOM Group and has delivered innovative customer contact solutions for many organisations across the UK, including Admiral Insurance, Teleperformance, Travelsphere, Ocado, and Dial-a-Phone. JAM IP is part of the KCOM Group.
Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as “could”, “expects”, “may”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “targets”, “envisions”, “seeks” and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different from those contemplated in forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel’s Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

*Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.
**This is a 3rd party link as described in our Web linking practices.