Businesses Benefit From Sprint's Convergence Leadership When Adopting Unified Communications

Sprint Global MPLS and SIP Trunking support Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2; internal deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 saves Sprint millions of dollars

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Feb 03, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced that it is building on its convergence leadership by integrating its Global MPLS network and SIP (session initiation protocol) Trunking for customers with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 to help businesses make a smooth transition to unified communications. Sprint is one of the first United States-based providers of SIP Trunking services qualified for use with Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Sprint SIP Trunking is the first solution available from Sprint to support Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and will deliver the benefits of increased productivity, reduced costs and improved customer satisfaction for businesses. It leverages the Sprint Global MPLS network by using a single IP connection to facilitate the convergence of voice, data and video communication.

In addition, the internal deployment of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 at Sprint has delivered voice over IP (VoIP) and unified communications technology to its offices nationwide, and is saving Sprint more than $6 million per year in telecom costs.

"Sprint is working with Microsoft to help businesses achieve a new level of efficiency and collaboration with unified communications," said Dan Dooley, president of Wireline, Sprint. "Sprint's SIP Trunking qualification with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 highlights our commitment to provide best-in-class enablement of unified communications solutions. Our wireless/wireline convergence leadership uniquely positions us to meet customer requirements for new and innovative ways to operate more effectively in the challenging business environment."

"The combination of Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 and Sprint SIP Trunking provides a powerful new way for people to collaborate and offers customers a rich and integrated communications experience," said Eric Swift, senior director of the Microsoft Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. "Sprint is adding significant value to enterprise communications and enabling businesses to better connect people, information and business processes."

Benefits of Sprint SIP Trunking

Sprint SIP Trunking builds upon MPLS technology as an enabler for VoIP, and allows IP PBXs to deliver the features and functionality of combined local LEC and LD-provider services along with Class of Service support of other real-time data. The solution provides connections to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 based on SIP, a signaling protocol for setup and teardown of voice communications sessions over the Internet.

While available now to support an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 customer deployment, Sprint SIP Trunking will be generally available to all businesses in mid-2009.

Sprint SIP Trunking provides the following advantages to customers:

• Transport over a highly secure Sprint MPLS network
• Can substantially reduce business voice charges
• Offers cost savings with no or low-cost calling features, and pricing based on annualized minutes
• Reduces the amount of trunking equipment on the customer premise
• Maximizes efficiency of voice, video and data traffic with a single connection
• Provides Sprint as a single source for all communication needs, thus simplifying vendor management

Sprint delivers unified communications to its employees

Sprint is making unified communications real for its employees by deploying the technology to nearly 500 offices nationwide to replace a legacy PBX infrastructure and support a growing mobile workforce. For example, a typical 100-person office required an ISDN PRI circuit, a "last mile" VPN circuit and a "last mile" voicemail circuit. All of these elements could be eliminated and centralized. Now voice traffic is converged with data over the Sprint Global MPLS network and its internal Office Communications Server infrastructure supports all Sprint offices nationwide, which results in significant cost savings. When fully deployed, the effort is expected to save the company $6 million per year in local carrier charges alone, plus another $2 million every 18 to 24 months by eliminating the need for PBX upgrades and maintenance.

In addition, employees find it easy to employ unified communications features because these are tightly integrated with the Microsoft Office system they use routinely. From the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client, they can instantly see the availability and presence status of colleagues, and then select the most appropriate means of communication. By clicking on a name, they can initiate an IM session and elevate that to a voice, video or conference call with just a couple of clicks.

Mobile phones are connected as well. A user can enter a mobile phone number and have calls to the desk phone simultaneously ring at both numbers, or forward calls to a mobile number. For the mobile workforce, with a laptop and broadband Internet connection, users can make and receive calls and use all the other tools as if they were in the office.

For more information on Sprint business solutions, visit www.sprint.com/convergence [1] or contact your Sprint account team. To join in the latest discussions and learn more about business solutions available through wireline convergence, visit the Seamless Enterprise at www.seamlessenterprise.com [2].

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving nearly 51 million customers at the end of the third quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com [3].

 

SOURCE: Sprint

Sprint
Stephanie Greenwood, 913-794-3658
Stephanie.greenwood@sprint.com [4]