NEC and Intermedia Announce Strategic Global Partnership

NEC Corporation, a global provider and integrator of advanced IT, communications, and networking solutions, has announced a global strategic partnership with Intermedia, a global provider of cloud-based Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions. Together, NEC and Intermedia are launching NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT, a fully integrated and born-in-the-cloud UCaaS solution, and NEC UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE, a CCaaS solution for businesses of all sizes.

This partnership agreement with Intermedia represents NEC’s rapid global expansion into cloud-based communications and collaboration services.

With over 1,000 employees, 125,000 business customers, and 6,600 active channel partners, Intermedia develops and delivers tightly integrated, extremely reliable, highly secure, award-winning cloud communications software. Sold primarily under private label through a large network of reseller partners and major IT distributors, Intermedia’s solutions drive the communications for businesses.

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and ENGAGE are built on Intermedia’s innovative, proprietary technology and world-class support and will be brought to market through the firm’s robust partner ecosystem. With the new solutions, NEC is bolstering its global cloud communications offerings to fully support customer organisations in their migration to the cloud.

“NEC is committed to helping businesses meet the demands of today’s digital workforce through our Smart Enterprise portfolio, and we recognise that enabling customer migration to the cloud is a key component,” said Paul Kievit, President and Head of NEC Enterprise Solutions EMEA and Americas. “To support this rapid migration on a global scale, NEC aimed to team up with a born-in-the-cloud partner that could provide a best-in-class, fully-integrated suite of UCaaS and CCaaS solutions.”

“It’s an incredible honour to enter into this relationship with NEC – not only because they are such a trusted leader and well-respected brand in the global unified communications space, but, like Intermedia, they also put partners first,” said Michael Gold, CEO, Intermedia. “Partners serve as the trusted IT advisors to the business community, and I’m proud that we’ve built Intermedia into the leading, partner-first cloud communications software company that it is today. By teaming with NEC, we look forward to working together to provide our UCaaS and CCaaS solutions to help drive better communications for a broader global audience.”

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and ENGAGE are born in the cloud and designed specifically for business of all sizes and the channel partners that serve them.

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT is a cloud-based business communications platform that combines a full-featured cloud-based phone system, chat, video conferencing, and file sync and share, all available to users through desktop, web, and mobile applications. Built on Intermedia’s born-in-the-cloud UCaaS environment, the solution is intuitive, reliable, and easy to deploy, while remaining highly scalable and extremely cost-effective. The solution helps improve the communications and collaboration of businesses, while being easy for partners to sell, install, and support.

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE is a cloud-based contact centre designed to fit business needs from the small, single channel to the large and sophisticated omni-channel environment. A dynamic CCaaS solution, it combines robust functionality with carrier-grade reliability and world-class deployment and support services. It helps businesses differentiate from the competition where it matters most – the customer experience.

Intermedia is NEC’s exclusive UCaaS and CCaaS provider world-wide, with rollout commencing in the United States within Q2 2020.

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and ENGAGE will be brought to market exclusively through NEC’s Business Partner community, complementing their existing offerings and creating opportunities for partners to earn increased revenue through new programs designed to facilitate deeper customer relationships.

Customers will have access to a new set of cloud-based solutions for unified communications and contact center under the NEC UNIVERGE CONNECT and ENGAGE brand name. The follow-on expanded offering will integrate with NEC premise-based systems, enabling NEC customers to leverage their existing on-premise telephony investments while additionally providing the option of expanding to new locations with cloud-based video and collaboration services.