Lucent Brings Multimedia Call-handling Features to PCs

July 5th, 2007

Lucent Technologies announced yesterday that it expanded the call-handling capabilities of its Definity Enterprise Communications Server (ECS) to include desktop videoconferencing and data collaboration.

These enhancements to Lucent’s PBX will let you manage calls via multimedia PCs just as you would traditional voice calls, according to Lucent officials. The enhancements, announced at the ComNet 97 trade show, will be available in April.

You’ll be able to use common office phone functions, such as call forwarding, hunting, conferencing, and call coverage on multimedia calls with the same interface used for handling voice calls. You can carry out the extended functions on any PC compatible with the ITU H.320 multimedia standard.

Lucent will also add a feature allowing single-number call control, so you can handle desktop video and voice calls via one phone number, officials said.

Multimedia call-handling capabilities are already available on other Lucent products, including the MultiPoint Conferencing Unit and the Multimedia Communications Exchange.

The enhanced ECS capabilities are the latest offering in a strategy to eventually integrate the ECS with data networking products in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) multimedia infrastructure.

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