NEC Expands Global Partnership with Intermedia Cloud Communications, including Extension of Contract Term, Launch of UNIVERGE BLUE® CONNECT BRIDGE Solution, and $40M Commitment to Invest in Intermedia Shares Concurrently with Planned IPO
NEC Corporation of America (NEC), leading provider and integrator of advanced IT, communications, and networking solutions, today announced that it has extended the length of the initial term of its exclusive global partnership with Intermedia Cloud Communications – a leading provider of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) applications to businesses and the partners they serve – from 5 to 10 years. Additionally, the expanded agreement makes NEC the exclusive reseller of Intermedia UCaaS and CCaaS solutions in Japan, NEC’s largest market, for the extended duration of the initial term. NEC Corporation, Japan has also committed to purchase $40 million of Intermedia common stock concurrently with, and conditioned upon, the closing of Intermedia’s planned IPO, further evidencing NEC’s commitment to its Intermedia partnership and the UNIVERGE BLUE cloud communications suite.
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“CONNECT BRIDGE demonstrates NEC’s commitment to channel partners and customers to protect their investments, maximize the potential of their installations, and boost employee mobility and flexibility required by today’s hybrid world.”
Channel partners and business customers want a cloud solution that is easy to deploy, use, and manage. NEC selected Intermedia in April 2020, after a comprehensive review of the world’s cloud communications platforms, to be its exclusive provider. In the 18 months since the partnership was formed, the two have successfully developed and launched the NEC UNIVERGE BLUE suite of solutions, which includes cloud voice, video conferencing, chat, file sync and share, backup, omnichannel contact center, and more to markets in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
“The extension of this critical, strategic partnership and our long-term commitment to Intermedia’s future reflect the success achieved by the two companies together thus far. It also signifies the confidence we have in Intermedia’s innovative and focused approach for developing and delivering the cloud solutions that businesses want, and partners want to sell,” said Ram Menghani, President NEC Enterprise Communication Technology. “Intermedia has proven to be the excellent partner we thought they would be. From their highly talented and inventive engineering and product development teams that have produced the UNIVERGE BLUE suite of products that now includes CONNECT BRIDGE, to their powerful partner platform that enables resellers to brand Intermedia’s products as their own, to their comprehensive sales, marketing, and technical support that are unmatched in the market.”
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Your BRIDGE to the Cloud
This partnership expansion and investment announcement comes as NEC releases the latest addition to its UNIVERGE BLUE portfolio of cloud communications and collaboration solutions – UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE. Jointly developed by NEC and Intermedia, and powered by Intermedia’s cloud platform, CONNECT BRIDGE is a groundbreaking solution that extends NEC’s on-premises business phone systems to the cloud via mobile and desktop applications while also adding chat, video conferencing, and file collaboration capabilities. The result is an integrated, all-in-one, UCaaS offering that affords NEC customers the flexibility to communicate and collaborate from anywhere, extends the life and capabilities of their current NEC phone system, and allows them to keep their existing phone numbers.
CONNECT BRIDGE is easily deployed with no additional hardware to buy or software to update. When a business is ready to move fully to a cloud-based Unified Communications solution, it can smoothly transfer entirely to the cloud with zero downtime and no interruptions to user experiences.
“UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE not only uniquely brings together both on-premises and cloud-based ICT worlds, it also reinforces NEC’s approach to dynamic delivery of advanced solutions,” said Marc Hebner, Vice President of Enterprise Division of NEC Corporation of Americas. “CONNECT BRIDGE demonstrates NEC’s commitment to channel partners and customers to protect their investments, maximize the potential of their installations, and boost employee mobility and flexibility required by today’s hybrid world.”
