Pictures of the Future    Fall 2007

Limitless Availability

Work can be made more efficient if employees can always be reached, regardless of location, time of day, or the networks and terminals they utilize. One solution for speeding up communication processes in this manner is offered by Siemens’ OpenScape system (see Pictures of the Future, Herbst Fall, The Mobile Office). "OpenScape uses the media-independent Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to bring together separate networks like the company LAN, mobile radio, and fixed lines, says Karl Klug, an innovation manager at Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN). SIP transmits voice communications over IP networks, determines the identity of callers, and routes calls to the phone where the employee can be reached at a given moment. OpenScape is used by many customers today, including Accenture and Telstra. The latter is Australia’s leading provider of communication services for businesses. IBM recently obtained a license to integrate specific OpenScape components into its Lotus telephony package.

"We’ve been working with open interfaces—and therefore with SIP—since 2006," says Klug. Utilization of SIP makes it possible even for small companies to combine Internet telephony (Voice-over-IP, or VoIP) with conventional telephone systems and mobile radio networks, as well as with software telephones in laptops. "We can do this with HiPath BizIP for up to 20 employees," says product manager Franz Kneissl. OpenScape doesn’t even require a telephone system, as each telephone handles switching functions, configuring itself automatically using the Peer-to-Peer Protocol (see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2005,  Phones with Brains).

SEN has also developed a solution known as HiPath Mobile Connect with Nokia. "HiPath Mobile Connect combines VoIP, Voice-over-WLAN, and mobile radio," says Marcus Birkl. The system is able to recognize as extension lines special Nokia cell phones (dual-mode) that can operate with either the GSM network or WLAN. Employees can always be reached at one number and also have only one voicemail system. The system’s cell phones also offer the common features of a fixed-line system, such as call forwarding, call waiting, and conference calling. Calls can even be switched from a company WLAN network to a cell phone wireless network without any interruptions. HiPath Mobile Connect, which has already been successfully tested at ten medium-sized businesses and large corporations throughout Europe, has been on the market since the summer of 2007. "To ensure completely seamless communication, we can also integrate video, text messaging, and all types of online instant messaging services," says Dr. Johann-Heinrich Schinke, who is responsible for system architecture at SEN.

OpenScape is set to be expanded to include a solution for videoconferencing at the end of 2007. "We’ve developed a low-cost telepresence solution for the mass market," Schinke reports. Telepresence refers here to a new generation of videoconferencing systems that utilize high-resolution cameras and large screens that make it appear as if conference participants from around the world are actually sitting opposite one another at the same table. The solution is based on SIP-enabled communication systems like HiPath 8000 that can be integrated into a company’s IT infrastructure and which make possible the convergence of voice and data services and multimedia applications. "With such a solution, it is possible for videoconference participants to make revisions to documents and exchange ideas via instant messaging," Klug explains.

Klug is convinced that such solutions will eventually include applications for the interactive Internet (Web 2.0), such as the joint indexing of images, commentaries, and geo-data (tagging). In fact, SEN is already working on the interfaces and products that will be needed for such applications.