Nortel has announced enhancements to its Agile Communication Environment (ACE) and Media Processing Server, in addition to the upcoming availability of Contact Center 7.0 worldwide.

According to the company, communications functionality like instant messaging, voice, video, location and presence can be accessed via open web service interfaces with ACE. These capabilities can then be blended with business processes and tools such as customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, GPS or WiFi asset tracking and video monitoring to create new applications.

The company said it is also introducing Release 2.0 which includes a desking application which is not reliant on a VoIP-quality network but provides single number access to employees on any type of phone in any location. The new system is expected to be suitable for enterprises with multi-vendor telecom environments, as it integrates with third-party PBX systems.

ACE Release 2.0 also introduces a new architecture to integrate with IBM Lotus Sametime 8.0.2 and delivers support for the Microsoft Windows Server operating system and remote call control features for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Additionally, it also brings a set of desktop tools for Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer.

In addition, Nortel is also introducing Release v3.5 of its Media Processing Server (MPS), a web-centric, IVR self-service system engineered to meet the needs of call centre environments. Release v3.5 builds upon MPS’ natural language capabilities with support of the IBM and Nuance speech engines – VoiceXML – to provide an environment for application development and third-party integration support into Avaya AES.

The company has also announced the availability of Contact Center 7.0 worldwide on June 30. It is a SIP-based system with unified communications capabilities and service oriented architecture and includes features such as open interfaces, predictive outbound dialing and a graphical user interface for orchestrating contact centre workflows.