Siemens and Genesys Integrate SIP-Based Solutions to Provide Large-Scale Enterprises with Contact Centre Virtualisation from a Single Platform

Siemens Communications, Inc., and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel Company (NYSE:ALA, Paris: CGEP.PA), today announced a new integration of technologies – using open next-generation session initiation protocol (SIP) standards – to bring a single, centralised platform of rich contact centre and communication solutions to large enterprises. The integration includes the SIP-based Siemens HiPath® 8000 Real-Time IP System and the SIP-based Genesys 7 portfolio of contact centre management applications. 

“The joint solution consolidates contact centre applications on a SIP infrastructure and can help deliver key customer benefits such as centralised management operations and reduced total cost of ownership,” said Nicolas De Kouchkovsky, senior vice president of marketing and business development for Genesys. “This combination of SIP-based solutions means that all the resources of an enterprise, regardless of location, can be enabled with applications that produce high-quality contact centre service and customer care.”

Siemens and Genesys will show the power of the combined SIP solutions for both convergence of network communications and contact centre management. This new approach is designed to enable enterprises using the HiPath 8000 and Genesys 7 platforms to build on existing communication infrastructure investments. The combined solution is also designed to allow the migration to SIP one business unit at a time, with continued interoperability with legacy systems to extend the reach of next-generation SIP solutions throughout an enterprise’s IP network infrastructure.

The two companies are building on a longstanding partnership to integrate technologies to create a complete IP contact centre solution based around the HiPath 8000 voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution, one of the industry’s first unified communication softswitches to be built from the ground-up with native SIP architecture. The HiPath 8000 communications system is also designed to provide carrier-grade reliability and with scalability to support the data, telephony and multimedia needs of as many as 100,000 users.

“Our collaborative offering demonstrates the power of SIP and open standards,” said Mark Straton, senior vice president of marketing for Siemens Communications, Inc. “Genesys and Siemens each developed product offerings separately, but we integrated the two offerings using SIP. The combined solution is expected to result in a cost-effective, multimedia contact centre solution that can scale to support thousands of users and can run on many telephony networks.” 

Building upon a ten-year reseller relationship, Siemens and Genesys recently completed interoperability testing for the combined solution at the Siemens Labs in San Jose, California. Genesys is now completing certification tests prior to making the combined solution market available for proof-of-concept projects today and for production environments in early 2006. Once available, Siemens will also offer a complete set of managed services to support the Siemens and Genesys solutions.

About Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.
Genesys, an Alcatel company, is 100 per cent focused on software for contact centres. Leading companies in the Global 2,000 and Fortune 1,000 use Genesys to deliver interactions that drive better business. With 3,000 customers in 80 countries, Genesys directs more than 100 million customer interactions every day. Genesys allows enterprises to achieve key business objectives by tying together customer interactions, people and customer information in both traditional telephony and IP environments. Sophisticated routing and reporting across voice, e-mail, documents and Web interactions, coupled with integrated self service, ensure that customers are quickly connected to the right resource – the first time. Genesys solutions stop customer frustration and allow enterprises to deliver superior customer satisfaction and improved business results. For more information, visit us at www.genesyslab.com.

About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.3 billion in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com.

About Siemens
Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $91.5 billion in fiscal 2004. Founded more than 150 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $16.6 billion and employs 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Thirteen of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 440,000 people in 190 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com

About Siemens Communications, Inc.
Siemens Communications, Inc., offers its customers a broad portfolio of communication products and services and is a leader in convergent technologies, products and services for wireless, fixed and enterprise networks. The company’s portfolio ranges from devices for end users to complex network infrastructures and complementary services for enterprises, carriers and service providers. Siemens Communications, Inc., is headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/communications

Note: HiPath is a registered trademark of Siemens AG or its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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