Siemens and IBM are teaming up to offer VoIP (Voice over IP) technology to the enterprise.
The two companies are planning to intergrate Siemens HiPath softswitches for VoIP into IBM"s Lotus Notes and Domino servers.
Customers will be able to launch phone calls and conferencing from within their email clients or over instant messaging.
The intergration is expected to be complete by summer.
As Lotus Notes is the main competitor to Exchange in the enterprise, it will be interesting to note Microsoft"s response with their upcoming Office 12 suite of Office applications. Microsoft recently unveilved their plans for the future of MSN Messenger with Windows Live for consumers. Users of Windows Messenger Live will have inbuilt VoIP functionality.