Verizon Rolls Out Enterprise Conferencing Tools For Lotus and Jabber

Web conferencing Microsoft Office Server

Aimed at large businesses and government agencies, users can initiate virtual meetings on the spot, with new capabilities such as conferencing integration with IBM Lotus Sametime Unified Communications & Collaboration.

The features let users to start conferences and send conference invitations directly from their Lotus Sametime Unified Communications and Collaboration system. During chat sessions, users can send a meeting invitation with audio and/or conference details and click-to-join links, which allow meeting leaders and participants to join both audio and net conferences. Users can also manage single or multiple conferencing accounts and import audio and net conference details into their conference preferences.

“Workforces are becoming increasingly distributed across various sites and these new capabilities meet a growing demand for tools to fuel real-time decision-making,” said Jim Tyrrell, vice president of global business voice solutions for Verizon, in a statement. “These capabilities help organizations to make the most of their existing work tools like instant messaging and calendar applications and hold the line on business travel costs.”

The new service also provides a plug-in feature for Lotus Notes that allows people to start and schedule conferences within a Lotus Notes appointment and send meeting invitations with audio and conference details. Users can also start or join meetings from the reminder screen.

Verizon Business Conferencing tools can also be integrated with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, a plug-in that lets users start and send conference invitations directly from Communicator. During chat sessions, users can send a meeting invitation with audio and/or net conference details and click-to-join links. Users will also be able to manage single or multiple conferencing accounts and import their audio and net conference details into conference preferences.

An integration with the Cisco Jabber XCP provides instantaneous collaboration for users of this enterprise IM system to create, send and receive audio conference and Net conference invitations. Participants receive invitations for audio and net conferences through their chat windows, which include conference coordinates as well as click-to-join links to enter virtual meetings. Recently acquired by Cisco, Jabber’s technology is being integrated into Cisco's unified communications and collaboration portfolio.

The new features were rolled out Wednesday. However, services for Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 and an international launch aren’t slated until sometime later this year.