Alcatel-Lucent offers video collaboration solution for SMBs, enterprise

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is looking to catch the wave of video applications for business, today announcing it is rolling out a Visual Collaboration suite that extends enterprise video to any endpoint and location, including desktop PCs, smartphones, laptops, tablets, interactive whiteboards and display screens across offices, meeting rooms and boardrooms.

The Visual Collaboration suite includes the new Alcatel-Lucent Interactive Whiteboard Solution (pictured).

The open solution approach combines best-of-breed collaborators, including Smart Technologies, Radvision and Lifesize, to create a range of video collaboration solutions for enterprise customers, including infrastructure, applications and end points.

The Visual Collaboration suite leverages presence, an easy to use interface and "drag-and-drop" capabilities to allow employees to contact each other across any device and establish a video link for a real-time "face-to-face" conversation with content and collaboration, or share content via web portals.

"Video is just blowing down the doors of enterprise," Joseph Heinen, VP of corporate marketing for Alcatel-Lucent told FierceEnterpriseCommunications. "And much of that comes from the perspective of the personal tools people expect to bring to the workplace, like Facetime and Skype.

"We think Visual Collaboration will catch the imagination of enterprise workers, too."

The Visual Collaboration suite includes the new Alcatel-Lucent Interactive Whiteboard Solution, integrating content sharing using the Alcatel-Lucent My Teamwork application with employee workgroup collaboration enabled by the SMART Board 685ix interactive whiteboard system. The whiteboard connects participants across conference rooms and remote locations.

"You can be doing annotation on a tablet with your finger or use a software app on desktop," Heinen said. "We've extended that interactive whiteboard system to any employee and place and on any device. We believe that will increase use cases as a a day-to-day thing."

The Visual Collaboration suite also includes web-based video conferencing clients for employee desktops and a range of solutions that feature infrastructure and dedicated end points from Radvision (NASDAQGS: RVSN) and Logitech's (NASDAQ: LOGI) Lifesize for small, medium and large conference rooms and boardrooms.

"Many enterprises have already adopted telepresence and are now looking into new and more affordable video solutions, reaching desktops and smart devices, to extend video beyond the meeting room," said Melissa Fremeijer, a research analyst for IDC. "As video becomes a business requirement and a channel demanded by customers, businesses will rely on solutions that increasingly reach more people across more end points and connect more locations."

For more:
- see this release

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