Orange launches enterprise FMC service

French operator Orange made the enterprise version of Unique, its fixed mobile convergence (FMC) offering, to the first corporate users in France on Tuesday.

The Business Together package, which is a suite of SIP-based multimedia services, unifies telephony, collaboration, instant messaging and multimedia communications into a single interface, which can be accessed from a computer, an IP Phone or a mobile smartphone.

Under a strategic partnership signed in 2004 between France Telecom and Nortel, the Canadian equipment vendor will be supplying the back end infrastructure including Nortel’s SIP Multimedia Communication Server 5200.

Orange launched the consumer version of its Unique service at the start of this month, effectively going toe to toe with BT’s Fusion service.

The Unique service will enable Orange’s customers, for a monthly fee, to make unlimited calls to landlines and other Orange mobiles at any time while at home.

The service works over wifi via the operator’s Livebox modem. Outside the home, the phone operates over Orange’s mobile network.

The enterprise version works much in the same way, but integrates with an enterprise SIP server.

Barbara Dalibard, executive vice president of Orange Business Services said the company would expand the business service to other countries in 2007.