IBM times 3(Com)

IBM and 3Com Corporation have announced their “System i Integrated Collaboration,” a product they’re dubbing as “the industry’s first solution to integrate IP telephony with email, messaging and core business process applications on a single, secure platform.”

System i Integrated Collaboration promises unified communications capabilities to streamline operations, and runs on a single System i.

The new Integrated Collaboration solution builds on the System i IP Telephony solution IBM and 3Com released in November. Collaboration uses open standards such as Session Initiation Protocol to create a platform by enabling the 3Com VCX system to be more easily integrated with collaboration and business applications running on the System i.

Features touted in the release are 3Com SDK for System i IP Telephony, System i IP Telephony Contact Center, System i IP Telephony Integration with Lotus Sametime 7.5, and System i IP Telephony Unified Messaging.

IBM and 3Com announced plans to work with over 100 Independent Solution Vendors to integrate their applications with the new solution. ISV iMessaging Systems, Inc. has provided a native System i IP telephony integration solution by enabling its iNspire solution with SIP, and CRM application provider VACAVA is using iMessaging’s iNspire to deliver telephony and call center-enabled software VACAVA Customer Care. Other ISVs planning to bring their application to System i Integrated Collaboration include Touchtone Corporation, RJS Software Systems, Inc. and KMR Systems.

The System i Integrated Collaboration solution is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2007, with pricing for Domino and Sametime integration starting at $500 per server for each application. The System i IP Telephony Express Edition starts at $37,900.