Bell Canada plans to invest CDN$200 million (approximately US$146 million) over three years in Nortel Networks’ IP and multimedia messaging platforms to provide new services to its large enterprise customers. Bell Canada is pursuing a “One Network” approach to the development and delivery of services,” said Michael Sabia, Chief Executive Officer of BCE and Bell Canada, based on an “evolutionary” strategy as opposed to a totally new network implementation. However in western Canada, the approach may be more as a greenfield deployment.
Bell Canada will be using Nortel Networks’ Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) 5200 (formerly known as the Interactive Multimedia Server or IMS) as an open, SIP-based media server. Bell also plans to deploy Nortel Networks Succession Communication Server 2000, which is a “Superclass” softswitch. The companies said both platforms would position Bell to fully evolve to a full VoIP infrastructure. Some of the enhanced applications that will be available to Bell customers could include: Instant Video Calling, Hot Desking (allowing mobile workers can establish an instant workspace equipped with their phone numbers and calling preferences); Unified Messaging, Single Directory and Collaboration Tools.
Bell Canada, in conjunction with Aliant and Bell West, will launch an Innovation Centre in Ottawa by Q4 focused on creating new services based on IP Telephony and multimedia standards, while working with third parties to address compatibility issues. The new Innovation Centre will complement and extend the work of Bell’s iTechCentre, a CDN$50 million lab established in 2001 to test new IP-based technologies and services. Initial work at the Innovation Centre will focus on hosted IP telephony applications that could be adopted by large enterprises, as well as small to medium-sized businesses. Longer term, the goal is to create an ecosystem for IP telephony applications.
Eugene Roman, Group President of Networks & Technology for Bell Canada, said the move to IP is all about innovation and providing simplicity to its customers. Al Safarikas, Vice-President Marketing for Nortel Networks, predicted that this delivery of multimedia services would be the next inflection point for the telecommunications industry.
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