Nortel's IP telephony enables NHS Direct to unify 36 contact centres

Corporate IT Update, Nov 22, 2007

CORPORATE IT UPDATE-(C)1995-2007 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Nortel (NYSE:NT) (TSX:NT), a communications solutions provider, has announced that NHS Direct, a 24 hour telephone and e-health information service provider in England, UK, has unified its 36 contact centres through Nortel's IP telephony.

Nortel said an IP contact centre was implemented for NHS Direct, improving service and efficiency by uniting NHS facilities, resulting in cost savings and improved use of resources, through centralisation.

Nortel said its IP telephony contact centre, purchased by NHS Direct from Nortel partner BT, has contributed significantly to NHS Direct's consistent achievement of all Department of Health targets for response times, performance and speed with which patient issues are addressed.

NHS Direct, which handles up to 6m calls each year and provides advice to the public via the telephone and Internet, opted to establish a virtual IP call centre connecting 36 locations, with implementation completed in May 2007.

Communications hubs in Newcastle, Beckenham, Milton Keynes, Dudley and Nottingham use the Nortel Communication Server 1000 with Nortel Contact Center 6 to answer and route calls around England. Nortel IP Phone 2004s and Nortel CallPilot provide advanced telephony functionality.

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