Nortel, Polycom Give Voice to Videoconferencing

Nortel Networks and Polycom on Tuesday at Networld Interop in Las Vegas said they are working together to build converged solutions that combine standards-based video telephony, presence and instant messaging.

Through the pact, the companies plan to develop fully-interoperable multipoint video capabilities that will enable Polycom systems to tap into Nortel telephony features such as voice call processing, forward, transfer, hold, presence and instant messaging.

Solutions demonstrated at the conference paired Nortel's Multimedia Communication Server 5100 with Polycom's VSX 7000 and its MGC 50 multipoint control unit/gateway.

In addition, the companies are drafting and sponsoring video standards based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), an emerging call control standard.

The two companies already have a long-standing partnership. William Owens, Nortel's recently appointed president and CEO, was previously a member of Polycom's board of directors. He resigned from the Polycom board last week.