Alcatel Wins $15 Million Voice Network Contract

March 13, 2002 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Communications network developer Alcatel (alcatel.com) announced on Wednesday that Advocate Health Care (advocatehealth.com), a fully integrated healthcare delivery system based in metropolitan Chicago, has chosen Alcatel’s Omni family of IP communications solutions for its telecommunications network.

The multi-year contract for the upgrade of the health care provider’s telecommunications network, says Alcatel, is valued at $15 million.

Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel will supply Advocate with the OmniPCX 4400 IP communications system and the Alcatel OmniTouch contact center suite for upgrading the company’s telecommunications network over the next four years.

The project, says Alcatel, will involve 65 locations including eight acute care facilities, two children’s hospitals, numerous clinics and administrative centers and several large call centers in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Advocate’s decision to use Alcatel and its technology, says Alcatel, will allow the company to standardize and consolidate its telecommunications systems, allowing for centralized management and support, while creating a seamless system for Advocate’s patients, physicians and associates.

"With built-in mobility capabilities, media independence, and networkability, the OmniPCX 4400 is the ideal solution to meet the specific communications needs of healthcare organizations. We are pleased that the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 has been selected by Advocate to provide critical communications for its physicians, nurses, administrators and patients across its network," said Tom Wilburn, senior vice president of Alcatel North America enterprise business.

Alcatel says its Omni family of networking solutions is designed to meet the needs of enterprises converging voice and data networks. Based on a client/server UNIX architecture, the OmniPCX4400 is an IP-PBX with dual IP-TDM capabilities that supports scalability from 50 to 50,000 users, innovative telephone handsets, one-number mobility, unified messaging and voice over IP networking.