Channel will deliver Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and RingCentral UCaaS

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprisehas teamed up with RingCentral to offer a unified comms (UC) solution that will be delivered via channel partners.

Medium and large-sized enterprises are the targets for the solution and the firm is banking on partners taking it out to market to provide answers to some of the changing comms needs.

The Rainbow Office powered by RingCentral, a unified communication-as-a-service (UCaaS) solution, is being launched in the UK and has been available in a host of other European countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain, and in The Netherlands.

The two vendors announced a strategic partnership in August 2020. RingCentral is a popular choice for those looking for a UCaaS solution, and it is in partnership with Avaya, which launched its cloud comms option in autumn of 2020.

For Alcatel-Lucent, the UCaaS launch comes at a time when customers are evaluating their comms options because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the anticipated shift to more hybrid working.

“This public UCaaS solution, which includes outbound and inbound calling minutes, represents a fantastic opportunity for companies that want to accelerate their transformation to the cloud. These businesses can benefit from a secure business communication platform, which is both easy to implement and to use,” said Heather Zhang, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise country business leader for UK and Ireland.

Sahil Rekhi, vice-president of strategic partnerships at RingCentral, said that Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise had the routes into the mid and high-end customers that would help drive demand for the UCaaS solution.

“We are confident that customers can accelerate their digital transformation. Additionally, customers will now have access to a powerful UCaaS solution that will meet their growing communications needs and enable them to work from anywhere,” he said.

There has been quite a lot of movement on the UCaaS front, with vendors forming partnerships and looking into consolidation to position themselves for the future.

Earlier in June, Unisys Corporation entered into an agreement to acquire Unify Square for $152.5m as it looks to expand its UCaaS offering.

Speaking about the rationale for that deal, Amy Loomis, research director for IDC’s Future of Work Agenda practice, summed up some of the trends in the market.

“As we continue to navigate through uncertain times and new ways of working, the most successful organisations will be the ones that cultivate agile, dynamic worker experiences and work environments,” she said.

“Leaders must work across functions to develop the workplace infrastructure, support, policies and procedures that will enable employees to securely access the people, tools and data they need any time, anywhere and from any device. The acquisition of Unify Square by Unisys provides the software, services and support leaders will need to support hybrid work models of the future.”