IBM, 3Com Deliver First “All-in-One” Solution for Both IP Telephony and Business Applications

IBM, 3Com Deliver First “All-in-One” Solution for Both IP Telephony and Business Applications

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and 3Com Corporation, a leading provider of secure, converged voice and data networking solutions, today announced that customers have begun deploying the first-ever scalable IP telephony solution designed to run on a single system along with a customer’s core business applications.

The IBM System i IP Telephony solution represents a dramatic shift from the current appliance model for IP telephony environments, which requires that customers dedicate one or more separate servers to support each function of the telephony suite — call processing, messaging and conferencing, for example — presenting integration and systems management challenges, especially for small and medium-sized businesses that may have limited IT resources. In contrast, the new IBM System i IP Telephony solution, based on IBM’s “all-in-one” business computing platform and 3Com’s VCX™ systems, makes IP telephony accessible to businesses of all sizes and requirements by allowing them to implement a complete IP telephony solution on one powerful, yet easy-to-manage platform.

Attracted by its simplicity, customers and business partners are already taking advantage of IBM System i IP Telephony in their businesses. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) is a Southern California-based college dedicated to educating its 5,500 full-time students for careers in fashion, graphics, interior design and entertainment. FIDM recently selected IBM System i IP Telephony to merge voice and data capabilities on one integrated platform.

“System i has proved itself as a reliable, secure platform to run FIDM’s business. We were evaluating IP telephony offerings from other companies, but when we heard about the new System i IP telephony solution we couldn’t pass it up,” says Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, CIO of FIDM. “With our System i IP telephony solution, we expect to save several thousand dollars per month, simplify our infrastructure, respond to business recovery situations faster and, best of all, set the foundation for FIDM’s growth over the next decade.”

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