Alcatel-Lucent Provides Cloud-Based Unified Communications to SMBs and Enterprises

Alcatel-Lucent is introducing cloud-based unified communications to businesses of all sizes, with a new solution for SMBs and expanded services for enterprises. The new OpenTouch Office Cloud (OTOC) solution provides Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS), and uses Alcatel-Lucent's OmniPCX Office RCE technology as a foundation to build upon the latest advances in communication technology.

OpenTouch Office Cloud will let Alcatel-Lucent's SMB customers move their CPU to the cloud. From there, they can access the latest and greatest in unified communications services, so that their employees can focus on their business activities while still having fast access to their communication capabilities.

OTOC services are based on ALU's OmniPCX Office, which provides a pre-configured server for business operations, customer service, and business telephony.

For enterprise customers, Alcatel-Lucent is also updating its OpenTouch Enterprise Cloud solution, and will provide a new CPE-2-Cloud transformation program, so that channel partners can better assist customers looking for cloud options.

According to Blair Pleasant, co-founder of UCStrategies, "More and more companies are turning to the cloud for their UC requirements, especially SMBs that are generally priced out of the premise-based market." She added, "ALU has years of UC experience and has always been an innovator, and now they're leveraging this expertise to provide cloud options for customers."

"The ability to help business adopt cloud-based services is the focus of our OpenTouch Cloud suite," says Eric Penisson, Alcatel-Lucent's General Manager of the Enterprise Communications Business Division. "Both OpenTouch Office and OpenTouch Enterprise Cloud give employees the collaborative experience they want, and have been extremely well received by our channel partners who recognize the value our cloud-based services bring to their existing and potential customers."

With the ever-growing use and capabilities of the cloud, companies of all sizes can benefit from moving certain functions or services to it. WIth Alcatel-Lucent's UC services available through the cloud, SMBs can gain in productivity and efficiency, without the high costs of premise-based solutions.