INDIANAPOLIS & MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Feb. 22, 2006--University of Miami said today that it has decreased costs and increased productivity as a result of deploying Communite(R), a unified communications software product by Interactive Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq:ININ).
According to the university, Communite helped it reduce costs by maximizing infrastructure resources as a result of the product's unique voice over IP and TDM hybrid deployment option. The University also reported increases in productivity as a result of enhanced applications, such as unified messaging and one-number find-me/follow-me.
"We replaced our legacy PBX's voice mail system to better meet the needs of our diverse and very large user community," said University of Miami's chief security and network officer, Stewart Seruya. "We selected Communite because of its many advanced applications - from unified messaging and fax services, to conferencing and one-number find-me/follow-me - which could all be easily integrated to our
multiple e-mail platforms. More importantly, the product offered these advanced applications using a standards-based, single-platform architecture for a 'choose-by-function' approach so we didn't incur the cost, complexity or 'silo effect' of deploying and maintaining multiple, disparate systems. These attributes make Communite a perfect fit for a university campus environment."
University of Miami uses Communite to support about 10,000 voice mail boxes with unified messaging, including the ability to view and listen to messages through a Web browser. The University also uses the product's speech-enabled auto-attendant. Communite users include university faculty, and administrative, hospital and clinical staff.
For applications running on the University's IP network, Communite makes use of built-in session initiation protocol (SIP) -- the open standard for VoIP. SIP, along with support of numerous other standards-based technologies, enable Communite to interoperate with a wide variety of third-party e-mail systems, hardware and end-point devices.
"VoIP and open standards such as SIP can be great enablers of unified communications," said Joseph A. Staples, Interactive Intelligence senior vice president of worldwide marketing. "However, not all unified communications products are created equal. Some use proprietary SIP extensions to make certain functionality only available with their systems and devices. In order to truly maximize benefits and avoid vendor lock-in, we urge organizations to do what University of Miami did: look beyond the 'SIP-supported' check box and make sure you select a vendor that builds open standards like SIP into its product architecture, and one that offers a product designed for your specific environment."
In addition to benefits realized as a result of Communite's SIP-based architecture, University of Miami has also reported positive user feedback based on product features.
"Our users absolutely love the ability to listen to voice mail messages via a Web browser, or whatever e-mail system they happen to use," Seruya said. "By not having to check for messages in different places, and by being able to access messages wherever they are, our employees are more responsive, thus more productive.
"Communite's find-me/follow-me feature has also enabled us to publish a single number for each employee, with options to route calls to a cell phone, home phone, or any alternate number, including a pager. These routing configurations can even be set based on day of the week, time of day, etc. Given the highly mobile nature of our medical environment, the university's hospital and clinical staff have especially embraced this feature."
Interactive Intelligence first released Communite in December 2001. The product is targeted at large, distributed organizations with specific emphasis on verticals, including higher education institutions and service providers with a high volume of subscribers. For more information about Communite, visit
About University of Miami
More than 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from around the world call University of Miami home during the academic semesters. UM has grown from its main location in the City of Coral Gables to include the medical campus located in Downtown Miami, the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key, the John J. Koubek Center in Little Havana, the James L. Knight Center in Downtown Miami, and the South and Richmond campuses in southwest Miami-Dade county. The University was chartered in 1925, and today has more than 9,000 full- and part-time faculty and staff, making it the largest private employer in Miami-Dade County. On the Net: https://www.miami.edu.
About Interactive Intelligence
Interactive Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq:ININ) offers business communications software solutions for contact center automation, enterprise IP telephony, unified communications, and self-service automation. The company was founded in 1994 and has more than 2,000 customers worldwide. Recent awards include Software Magazine's 2005 Top 500 Global Software and Services Companies, Miercom's 2005 Best Integrated Multimedia IP Contact Center product award, and Frost & Sullivan's 2005 Excellence in Technology of the Year Award. Interactive Intelligence employs approximately 350 people and is headquartered in Indianapolis. The company has 12 offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Interactive Intelligence can be reached at +1 317.872.3000 or [email protected]; on the Net: https://www.inin.com.
This release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are described in the company's SEC filings.
Interactive Intelligence Inc. is the owner of the marks INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE, its associated LOGO and numerous other marks. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Note to editors: There should be an accent symbol over the "e" in "Communite" in the text above. It has been removed for transmission purposes only.
