Unify Announces Details for Project Ansible, its Solution for the New Way to Work

MUNICH AND NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Unify, formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications, announced details of Project Ansible, a secure and engaging communications and collaboration platform first officially debuted to wide acclaim from customers and analysts in June 2013. Based on strong interest from customers, partners and carriers, Unify announced an acceleration of the timeline for Project Ansible, including initial customer trials in January and expected general availability scheduled for July 2014.

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As part of today's news, Unify announced that the platform's first version will support four communication channels simultaneously – voice, video, text and remote screen sharing. The platform's first version will also enable users to move multichannel conversations intact from device to device using a simple gesture or "call swipe." Also, Unify confirmed that the first version of Project Ansible would be delivered as a cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SAAS) offering. Furthermore, Project Ansible will be designed to complement a broad array of existing solutions, including Unify's own award-winning OpenScape portfolio, as well as corporate telephony solutions from other vendors like Cisco and Avaya.

Unify made this announcement in conjunction with the launch of its new brand and updated business vision focused on the future of work. The launch took place in a global web cast and at events in New York and Munich. Read details of the new company brand here.

"We are challenging the status quo of what businesses should expect of enterprise communications technology, so that we can answer the call of the new way to work and help enhance our customers' business performance," said Hamid Akhavan, CEO of Unify. "The expectations of the next generation of enterprise workers go beyond today's systems. Customers, partners and carriers are excited about the possibilities they see in Project Ansible and we are moving rapidly ahead. With Project Ansible, we can help existing customers enhance their return on technology investments through an evolutionary approach. We will significantly expand our market opportunity, in a move likely disruptive to our competitors, by offering the benefits of Project Ansible to their customers," Akhavan said.

Developed with frog after extensive industry and customer research, Project Ansible will reshape the way businesses and their employees interact, communicate and collaborate. The platform pulls together and manages the daily flow of communications into rich and meaningful conversations by aggregating communications across virtually any channel into a single view. Project Ansible features a unique, consumer technology-like user experience that encourages adoption and brings joy of work to users. The new platform also seamlessly integrates into enterprise business processes, providing opportunity for enhanced business operations.

Project Ansible leverages an agile development methodology, where  constant customer validation and feedback are critical. To this end, the company announced the establishment of the Project Ansible Customer Advisory Council. The company also said that registration for Unify's initial beta testing of Project Ansible is already oversubscribed, a further indication of customer, partner and carrier interest in the offering.

"Interestingly, we are seeing an entirely new company – redesigned and ready to go head to head with the industry's biggest competitors," said  Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research. "Unify is putting forth the vision, brand and -- with Project Ansible -- the right platform, to make it happen. The Project Ansible user experience is a great example of how enterprise communication should work and how we as users want to work. It will redefine how we all interact, communicate and collaborate as part of daily work."

About Project Ansible

The result of a two-year development effort, including extensive research on user requirements and preferences, Project Ansible is a next-generation communications and collaboration platform from Unify. Developed in collaboration with frog, Project Ansible is the first platform to deliver a unique, single-pane-of-glass user experience across virtually all devices and is designed to extend beyond the promises of unified communications (UC), aggregating information and data across virtually every channel, including social software, business applications, video, text, analytics, and traditional voice communication. For more information, please visit www.ProjectAnsible.com, www.unify.com/ProjectAnsible or #ProjectAnsible.

About Unify

Unify—formerly known as Siemens Enterprise Communications—is one of the world's leading communications software and services firms. Our solutions unify multiple networks, devices and applications into one easy-to-use platform that allows teams to engage in rich and meaningful conversations. The result is a transformation of how the enterprise communicates and collaborates that amplifies collective effort, energizes the business, and enhances business performance. Born out of the engineering DNA of Siemens AG, Unify builds on this heritage of product reliability, innovation, open standards and security to provide integrated communications solutions for approximately 75 percent of the Global 500. Unify is a joint venture of The Gores Group and Siemens AG.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Unify's management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here.  Unify does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Additional Resources

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/UnifyCo
Facebook:: https://www.facebook.com/SiemensEnterpriseCommunicationsGroupOfficial
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/UnifyCo
Google+: https://plus.google.com/111071689459694265451/posts
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/UnifyCo
Unify blog – http://blog.unify.com

SOURCE Unify