Nortel announed that it has enhanced its portfolio of carrier Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services with the latest release of the Communication Server (CS) 1500 solution.

 

The newest release is equipped with new communication services such as a subscriber Web portal and on-demand conferencing. According to company officials, the new features are designed to help carriers increase customer satisfaction and retention.

 

Nortel’s (News - Alert) CS 1500 provides compelling bundled applications to give regional households and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) communication services. Officials said that these services unify their communications and messaging across landline, mobile and Web platforms.

 

Samih Elhage, president for carrier voice and applications solutions at Nortel, said that applications such as unified messaging, on-demand conferencing or single number services can be deployed “quickly” and “cost-effectively” without disrupting the end user's service.

 

Elhage said that the CS 1500 is created specifically to address the budgetary constraints of the regional carrier market allowing them to offer the same advanced voice and multimedia services to their customers as carriers located in large metropolitan areas.

 

The new consumer applications now available on the CS 1500 are unified messaging, voice-over cable, personalized call blocking, single number service, and more.

 

Unified messaging allows users to combine multiple messages, such as email, voicemail, and more, into a single mailbox. Officials said that users also have access to their voicemails from multiple locations like a PC or they can dial-in from a phone. Also, with unified messaging, users can retrieve all of their voicemail while online.

 

With voice-over cable, cable service providers can reduce churn and drive incremental revenue by extending voice communications like calling line ID, message waiting, and call logs to the TV for existing cable and internet subscribers.

 

Officials said that personalized call blocking enables subscribers to take back their leisure time by blocking unwanted calls and determine the times at which calls can be received.

 

The single number service applications allows consumers and businesses to define up to six telephone numbers that ring simultaneously or in sequence in response to an incoming call. Plus, officials said that subscribers can transfer calls from their home phone to their mobile phone.

 

Moreover, business voice and multimedia like Nortel's IP Powered Business solutions provide end-to-end solutions for large enterprises and small and medium-sized business (SMBs). Officials said that this solution delivers rich business voice features combined with unified communications capabilities.

 

The new business applications now available on the CS1500 are on-demand conferencing, subscriber Web portal, customer premise equipment (CPE) solution bundling.

 

On-demand conferencing provides business users with simple ways to manage conference calling, according to company officials. Subscriber Web portal is a customized web capability that carriers can offer under their own brand. Officials said that this allows users to manage their voicemail and service subscriptions within an easy-to-navigate user interface.

 

Customer premise equipment (CPE) solution bundling allows carriers to sell and host pre-tested IP solutions to the growing SMB market.