L M Ericsson Telefon AB has launched a multi-media messaging system, MXE, and also announced an agreement with Intel Corp to work together on a personal computer-based communications system. The idea behind MXE is to combine the flexibility and storage capabilities of a computer with real-time call processing and signalling. The company claims that the hardware-software system provides an infrastructure for messaging applications across all types of network. MXE will handle applications such as voice mail, facsimile mail, electronic mail and wide area paging. An applications generator tool enables providers to customise voice and data services. MXE is Unix-based, and uses standard software interfaces such as Posix, the Distributed Computing Environment with X Open Co Ltd Portability Guide compliance, providing an interface to all common analogue and digital protocols, says the company. The message-switching kernel, on which the system is based, is an X400 Message Transfer Agent which provides access to the messaging applications via specialised user agents. The agreement with Intel provides for the integration of telephony, video and data transfer applications. At the CeBit show, the two companies demonstrated a personal computer running Microsoft Corp Windows, and equipped with a communications interface board jointly developed by Ericsson and Intel. The personal computer was linked by an ISDN 2B+D interface – as used by a digital telephone – to an Ericsson MD10 digital PABX. Ericsson has also signed an agreement with Cisco Systems Inc, Menlo Park to resell Cisco’s complete line of internetworking routers, as well as other internetworking hardware and software. The agreement expands on an existing deal under which Ericsson sold Cisco kit only in conjunction with its own Telecommunications Management and Operations Support Unix application. Under the new agreement, Ericsson will now supply the Cisco products to end-users worldwide.
