TW Exclusive - Interview with Motorola’s Imran Akbar
Imran Akbar is Vice President and General Manager, Converged Enterprise Communications for Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business.
Telephony World editors recently sat down with Mr. Akbar to discuss Motorola’s recent announcement of an Innovative Voice-over-Wireless-LAN Solution, the first offering from its Total Enterprise and Access Mobility (TEAM) integrated voice and data portfolio.
Designed to provide enterprise users with instant mobile access to voice and data services typically tethered to the desk, the TEAM solution helps businesses improve customer service, collaboration and productivity. Motorola’s TEAM solution goes beyond voice with mobile email, calendar/contact sync, text messaging, Internet/intranet access, and the flexibility of Windows Mobile 6.1 for line of business applications. In addition to offering toll-quality telephony services integrated with the PBX and enterprise-grade push-to-talk (PTT), the TEAM solution can also interoperate with existing two-way radio systems.
Motorola excutives point out that customers are demanding enterprise-grade voice and data solutions that can help them improve productivity while reducing operating costs. The Motorola’s TEAM VoWLAN solution meets those needs by turning the desk phone and desktop into a pocketable virtual office that provides comprehensive business functionality in a consumer-style, enterprise-grade device built to withstand all-day, every day use.
As adoption of wireless LAN networks grows across industries, more and more businesses are looking to VoWLAN solutions to drive workforce mobility, increase productivity and reduce operating costs. A recent research report from Frost & Sullivan predicts that “the North American market for enterprise VoWLAN devices will grow from $110.5 million in 2007 to $2.15 billion in 2014.
According to Mr. Akbar, interorperability and easy deployment were key design requirements for the TEAM solution which is architected as a non-intrusive overlay and can be easily deployed without changes to existing infrastructure. Tthe TEAM solution can be easily integrated into existing WLAN and PBX infrastructure, creating a single common platform for the delivery of integrated voice and data services.
The complete TEAM solution includes two servers, the Wireless Services Manager (WSM) and Network Services Manager (NSM), and Windows Mobile VoWLAN smartphones. The WSM provides PTT services, text messaging, PBX interoperability, as well as enhancements to battery life, mobility and security. The NSM provides centralized provisioning and management. The forward-looking design of this solution can scale from a handful to up to 4,500 users, and will easily incorporate future TEAM solution capabilities, including dual-mode (VoWLAN and cellular) and the extension of services to other voice-capable Motorola devices, including mobile computers and bar code scanners.
The TEAM solution interoperates with WLAN infrastructure from leading vendors and the initial release supports selected IP and TDM PBXs from several market leaders. The TEAM VoWLAN solution is now available in North America through TEAM-certified members of Motorola’s award-winning PartnerSelect program. Global availability is planned for early 2009.
The bottom line: The new TEAM solution from Motorola raises the bar for VoWLAN with toll-quality voice and the industry’s first Windows mobile VoWLAN smartphones