Aastra Partners with VMware

Aastra has recently signed an OEM partnership with VMware, virtualizing voice and unified communications for small and mid-sized businesses.

The Aastra 700, an all-in-one communications manager, will have VMware embedded, providing it with a single virtualized server environment for easy deployment and management. Furthermore, the VMware vSphere is fully supported by the Aastra MX-ONE and 500, delivered as a virtual appliance image for an existing customer's VMware vSphere environment. The High Availability and Fault Tolerance options support Software-as-a-Service and ensure continued service in a large data center by shifting operations between data centers without interruption.

The combined virtualized offering has been deployed by various Aastra customers already. VMware OEM partners are given the tools for bundling VMware products with their solutions simply and effectively. Through their partnership, Aastra has increased control over virtualized deployments, designed to meet its requirements and preferences.

"This is really an interesting approach. Instead of simply offering a call manager that works with VMware, Aastra is also offering VMware with its call manager. The A700, which is a scaled down version of the MX-ONE actually comes bundled with VMware on a hardware appliance. Virtualizing unified communications can be a bit tricky, but offers tremendous savings and operational improvements. Aastra has done the heavy lifting so its customer's won't have to," said Dave Michels, president of TalkingPointz and UCStrategies Expert. 

For more information, visit www.aastrausa.com.