BroadSoft announced that it has joined forces with IBM to make it easier to provide real-time communication and collaboration tools in a cost effective and comprehensive way to businesses of all sizes.

 

The BroadWorks Connector for Lotus Sametime helps service providers to expand their BroadWorks UC solutions to large enterprises with IBM (News - Alert) Lotus Sametime, and small and medium-size businesses with the IBM Lotus Foundations Reach appliance.

 

Offered by the BroadWorks Connector for Lotus Sametime, the powerful Lotus Sametime plug-in allows enterprises to access BroadSoft’s (News - Alert) IP telephony and UC capabilities from within IBM’s unified communications and collaboration platform.

 

Akiba Saeedi, director for UC and collaboration at IBM, noted that when selecting a UC solution, many SMBs prefer the simplicity and affordability offered by a hosted UC service or an appliance that does not require IT staff to deploy and manage.

 

He said that with BroadSoft, the company plans to deliver the best of both worlds in a hybrid cloud and on-premise appliance for unified communications and collaboration.

 

This solution will provide enterprise-level functionality in a “compelling” new offering for service providers to bring to market by using the autonomic technology in Foundations to simplify the integration and provisioning of desktop applications and telephony, added Saeedi.

 

IBM officials said that IBM Lotus Foundations Reach appliance is a comprehensive solution that extends the IBM Sametime UC2 capabilities in a single appliance designed with all of the essential collaboration tools needed by SMBs.

 

The combination of the BroadSoft Hosted PBX (News - Alert) solution and Lotus Foundations Reach is expected to help minimize the cost and complexity of traditional UC solutions.

 

BroadSoft said that it is working with IBM to make UC more accessible to SMBs by providing a complete solution that couples the automation of everyday tasks with the ability to remotely configure and manage the system. Moreover, the solution eliminates the need for onsite IT personnel for administration and maintenance.

 

For Lotus Sametime and Lotus Foundations users, the BroadWorks Connector for Lotus Sametime adds capabilities such as click-to-dial to BroadWorks-enabled devices from the Sametime UC client; “In a Call” presence updates to the Sametime UC client; Configure key BroadWorks services from the Sametime UC client.

 

“The BroadWorks Connector for Lotus Sametime and our integration with Lotus Foundations Reach opens a new option for service providers to offer UC with a powerful combination of hosted and on-premises systems,” said David Bukovsky, vice president of products at BroadSoft.

 

Jonathan Lieberman, CEO at ISN Telcom (News - Alert), said that as a longtime innovator on BroadWorks, the company thinks packaging UC and managed services by combining BroadWorks hosted voice and the Lotus Foundations appliance forms a service bundle that the customers will find “very enticing.”

 

The BroadWorks Connector for Lotus Sametime is expected to be generally available in the first quarter of 2010.