Cisco Unified Communications

In today's fast-paced business world, making the most of time and maximising efficiencies are crucial factors in the overall success of any organisation. Efficient interaction between customers and employees is a key element in helping to deliver business productivity.

Telstra’s Unified Communications Solution, built on Cisco technology, enables you to collaborate from diverse locations such as the office or remote sites - using a unified system supporting integrated voice, video, presence and mobility applications. Mobile workers can access many desktop-like functions on their compatible smartphone using mobility solutions, helping to improve collaboration and productivity while on the move.

Telstra provides a comprehensive service - design, integration, implementation and management - with the advanced technology of Cisco Unified Communications. 

Each organisation has individual needs, so flexibility of design is essential. Telstra tailors services and technology to your company’s individual needs, through:

• Professional Services Consulting
• A range of voice network access including SIP Connect
• A range of data network options to interconnect customer sites and the capability to manage those customer data networks

The Cisco Technology provides well proven and broad functionality options integrated into consistent user experience:

• Call Control
• Mobility
• Presence
• Collaboration
• Messaging
• Contact Centres

Enhance productivity and collaboration
Telstra Unified Communications can improve the way individuals and groups within your organisation interact, communicate, transact and perform. Integrated communication enables information sharing and direct interaction through online meetings. Monitoring the availability of your contacts offers choice on how to reach people.

The combination of the Telstra Next IP® network and Next G® network provides Australia’s largest fully integrated national IP platform and gives you access in more places.

Enhance workplace flexibility
The integration of the Telstra Next IP® network and Next G® network with Cisco Unified Communications applications enable your people to access communications and applications from a range of devices, providing workplace mobility and multi-site integration.

Empower mobile workers
Telstra’s mobility solutions can extend many of the communication capabilities of the desktop to compatible mobile devices, supporting more intelligent and productive interactions. One phone number for multiple devices and one mailbox for voice and text messages enables faster responses and reduces delay of email exchanges. Functions like Click to Call, hold, resume, transfer and conferencing can improve collaboration. Switching quickly between voice calls, voicemail and instant messaging can help mobile staff do more in the day.

Choice and effective cost management
A Telstra Unified Communications Solution provides a single, flexible unified communications network across your organisation that empowers you with choice – choice of what is purchased, plus when and how upgrades occur, allowing you to tailor the solution to your business needs as they change.
 
Manage your unified communications solution more effectively
Telstra’s management services are designed to take on the responsibility for the operation of your equipment and the network. This helps ensure continuous operation, alleviates the need to create your own specialised team of experts and helps resolve technical issues as they arise. Reactive management may be adopted in conjunction with your Telstra Managed Data Network (MDN) service.

Customers can still make day to day changes e.g. adding a user – the customer’s end user support team is able to do this. Out sourcing this role to Telstra is an option.

Benefit from our experience and best practice
Not only does the Telstra Unified Communications Solution offer highly developed capabilities, Telstra can also provide you with proven Professional Network Services that span design, integration, implementation and management, alleviating the customer from developing these highly specialist skills in-house.

Better Together
Telstra and Cisco bring you innovative solutions, delivered as a managed service, from two of the most trusted brands in networking solutions. With our shared vision and roadmap, you can realise the benefits of game-changing applications and services as they emerge. 

Platforms
Telstra has a range of Cisco-approved platforms for implementing Unified Communications. These range from routers servicing small local sites, server-based models for medium to large organisations and finally virtual servers, built on Cisco Unified Computing System hardware in a customer’s data centre. Telstra tailors the configuration of equipment models and deployment locations to meet the customer needs for scale, price and availability.

Applications
With the Telstra/ Cisco alliance, you will find it simple to choose the applications and features that best fit your business needs, as per the following sections:

Call Control: Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) is the call processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications Solution.  It is a scalable, highly available enterprise IP telephony application.  CUCM is the heart of an IP communications solution that provides the call handling, messaging and collaboration that joins people via a multimedia experience.

Messaging: Cisco Unity Connection/Cisco Unity Expess
Telstra offers a range of voice messaging applications that operate in conjunction with Cisco call control.  The prime purpose is to allow a caller to record a message for the recipient when a call is not answered.
 
Mobility: Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator/Mobile 8
This application can securely link select mobile smart phones to Cisco’s enterprise unified communications applications and provide desktop-like functions.   It provides an easy-to-use, graphical interface that allows users to manage powerful communications features simply by scrolling and selecting.
 
Collaboration: Cisco MeetingPlace Enterprise
This is a rich-media collaboration application that delivers integrated voice, video and web collaboration and industry-leading setup, attendance and in-meeting controls.  In addition, external participants can be included in a conference through WebEx.  Collaboration includes voice conferencing, video conferencing, browser based meetings and document sharing.

Presence: Cisco Unified Presence
Cisco Unified Presence collects information about the availability of another user within your network, such as whether the user’s phone is busy, idle or available at a particular time.  It also collects information regarding that user’s communications capabilities, such as the ability to support voice, video, instant messaging and web collaboration. The collected information is presented via the applications and devices each person uses – fixed phone, mobile, PC and so allows people to make informed decisions about who to contact and by what means (office phone, IM, mobile etc)
 
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft® Office Communicator (CUCIMOC/CUCILYNC)
Cisco UC’s desktop integration with Microsoft Office Communicator is easy-to-deploy and provides instant access to unified communications functions from Microsoft applications. This tight integration can provide a transparent collaboration with Cisco Unified Communications services including softphone, mid-call control, messaging, conferencing, desk-phone control, and phone presence, all directly from a user’s PC.

Contact Centre: Cisco Unified Contact Centre Enterprise /Express
Cisco Unified Contact Centre is a proven on-premise contact centre solution that can help to increase efficiencies across agents, processes and infrastructure, reduce operational costs and improve customer service. Suited for large, sophisticated or multi-site contact centres, down to smaller departmental situations Cisco Contact Centre applications combine Cisco’s advanced call centre technologies with Telstra’s proven expertise in integration, design, deployment and support. Read more about the Unified Contact Centre.

Virtualisation: Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), a virtualised computing platform, not only adds capabilities for Unified Communications applications, but also leverages the underlying UC computing platform to support other applications. This provides virtualisation benefits such as reduced capital expenditure with fewer servers, lower data centre operating expenditure, more flexibility to deploy new applications and faster provisioning of additional users.

Cisco CIUS WiFi Tablet
CIUS is a built for business tablet that combines communication, collaboration and computing in one, easy to use device. It integrates with other Cisco applications, including HD Telepresence and WebEx, while the Android OS allows you to use third party or self-developed applications, either on the tablet or in the cloud. Inbuilt security and control measures make CIUS ideal for enterprise deployments.

IP Phones
The Cisco Unified IP Phone portfolio includes an impressive array of user-friendly, full-featured phones that allow you to choose the most appropriate mix of devices to meet business and personal needs.

Telstra Unified Communications Solutions

Telstra management options
You can choose how you would like us to manage your solution. Each service management option includes design and implementation services as follows:

Reactive Management
Reactive Management provides access to the Telstra Technical Support desk 24/7. Repairs on critical services are also investigated and actioned 24/7.

Self Management
Telstra manage the design and implementation of your total solution and hand the completed solution to you for ongoing operation.

* Telstra has developed an end-to-end capability to design, deliver and manage Cisco’s Unified Communications services and applications.  The product offering is known as Telstra Unified Communications Solution and the terms for this product are located here.