3Com Targets BrightArrow

BrightArrow's ExecutiveAssistant software adds speech recognition, speech dialing and find me/follow me call routing to 3Com's NBX 100 and SuperStack 3 NBX systems, giving users the ability to set their availability status so calls can be routed efficiently.

"BrightArrow turns [IP telephony] from a standard tool into a real productivity tool," said John Graven, COO of Computer Telephony Concepts, a solution provider in Mentor, Ohio. "If you have to go to a meeting, but you really need to talk to this one client, that call will come through."

BrightArrow's Call Recording and Monitoring module gives individual users and contact centers the ability to record inbound, outbound and extension-to-extension calls.

The latest marketing agreement expands an existing relationship between 3Com and Redmond, Wash.-based BrightArrow, which is already a member of 3Com's Solution Provider Program for ISVs, said Andreas Gast, voice channels manager at 3Com, Santa Clara, Calif.

Under the new agreement, 3Com's channel of 500 North American voice VARs and integrators will be able to source BrightArrow applications through 3Com's distribution partners, including Alltel, the Comstor division of Westcon Group, Ingram Micro, Synnex Information Technologies and Tech Data, Gast said.

The partnership should help generate additional product and service revenue streams for 3Com solution providers, he said.

Reseller pricing for ExecutiveAssistant starts at $1,100. The software runs on a Microsoft Windows server and requires 3Com's media drivers, Gast said.

In other news, 3Com and Seattle-based Citel Technologies introduced the CITELlink High Density IP Analog Handset Gateway, which enables customers to use analog phones with 3Com's IP-PBXes.