Intel, Siemens Join on Enterprise VoIP

Intel and Siemens announced plans Thursday to take VoIP from a largely consumer-based medium and expand its use in the corporate world. To achieve that goal, the two companies will work together on new technologies. The first focus would be on VOIP communications over secure wireless networks.

"Siemens has a strong commitment to this joint-development effort and to ongoing collaboration with Intel," Siemens enterprise division head Thomas Zimmermann said in a statement. The company is currently in the process of transforming both its telecommunications and enterprise businesses into joint ventures to save on costs.

In addition to the initial work, the agreement also calls for work to integrate VoIP into the business processes of such fields as telecommunications service providers, financial services and digital healthcare. Additionally, the two companies would jointly market the products to enterprise customers.

The first products as a result of the joint effort would begin to appear in the fourth quarter of 2006. Solutions will be built on top of Intel's dual-core processor and server technology, in conjunction with Siemen's HiPath 8000 and OpenScape telecommunications technology.

Intel said it would offer its labs as a central location for third-party developers and ISVs to build their solutions on top of the two companies' technologies. Intel and Siemens would also jointly optimize Intel's processor technology to work with the VoIP solution.