CONCORD, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 26, 2012) - Aastra (TSX:AAH), a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market, is announcing the launch of the Aastra BluStar™ client at Enterprise Connect, March 26-29, 2012 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL.

This new UC client enables easier collaboration with a consistent customer experience across a choice of devices such as PCs and laptops as well as iPads and iPhones. The expansion of Aastra's BluStar portfolio will enable employees to use the most suitable communications tool for their environment such as instant messaging, video or voice, whether at their desk or on the move.

Aastra announced a new era of communications at Enterprise Connect last year with the launch of the first BluStar product, the Aastra BluStar 8000i desktop media phone. The BluStar media phone has since won numerous awards in the US, Europe and Asia in recognition of its ability to combine true HD video conferencing quality with unified communications and business features.

Now, with the launch of the BluStar client, Aastra is taking its collaboration offering a step further, making it available anywhere and on any type of device. Aastra's new BluStar ecosystem provides businesses with a comprehensive, end-to-end UC solution with a versatile client that can be used across devices. BluStar offers a totally natural collaboration experience and fully embraces trends such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). It helps users work together more effectively - for example, on-the fly video conferencing with remote workers, road-warriors and teams working on the same project to exchange ideas more easily and collaboratively. Aastra's focus across the portfolio is a unified customer experience, facilitating adoption with a consistent look and feel, regardless of the device used, while enabling users to be more productive.

Simon Beebe, Vice President of Product Line Management at Aastra explains, "A fundamental tenant for Aastra is to give customers choice. Businesses can enjoy better flexibility with a choice of devices and deployment modes. The BluStar ecosystem is simple to deploy and manage with an Aastra call manager, creating a fully integrated environment for high definition voice, video and other collaboration tools. Through the BluStar ecosystem, Aastra is offering businesses of all sizes a comprehensive solution for UC and collaboration"

BluStar can be used as a standalone product with its Application Server or integrated with Aastra enterprise call managers such as the Aastra MX-ONE ^® and Aastra 5000 as well as Aastra's offering for the SMB market giving new customers the benefit of a highly competitive call manager combined with a wider multimedia offering from a single vendor. Existing Aastra customers can adopt multimedia communications with an unrivalled migration strategy for their existing equipment. In all cases, the Aastra BluStar client also integrates with third party solutions such as Microsoft Office Communicator™/Lync ™ or IBM Sametime™. For example, the user's calendar can be linked into the BluStar presence feature to be contacted when available or can integrate with the company's directory to find the best contact.

Elka Popova, Program Director, Unified Communications & Collaboration, Frost & Sullivan, says "As companies look to deploy Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions to enhance productivity, simplicity of integration and use are paramount to adoption. BluStar allows Aastra's customers to flexibly and economically incorporate video and UC tools into existing communication networks, from a single vendor." Popova adds "Over the last few years, Aastra has built a stronger market presence and portfolio. BluStar offers an opportunity for Aastra to deliver greater value to its diverse customer base."

The BluStar desktop media phone began shipping in November. At Enterprise Connect, Aastra is now announcing the availability of the BluStar client for laptops and computers, with the iPad and iPhone client available in Q2 2012.

For more information please visit [ www.aastra.com/blustar-client ].

About Aastra

Aastra Technologies Limited, (TSX:AAH), a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market. Headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, Aastra develops and delivers innovative communications products and applications for businesses. With a strong focus on open standards, Aastra enables enterprises to communicate and collaborate more efficiently. Aastra's operations are truly global with more than 50 million installed lines around the world and a direct and indirect presence in more than 100 countries. Aastra is entirely dedicated to enterprise communications and offers one of the most complete portfolios of unified communications solutions individually tailored to satisfy its customers' requirements. These range from feature-rich call managers for small and medium businesses and highly scalable ones for large enterprises, associated UC applications, integrated mobility, multimedia call center solutions and high definition video communications to a wide selection of deskphones and cordless terminals. For additional information on Aastra, visit our website at [ http://www.aastra.com ].

Aastra® is a registered trademark of Aastra Technologies Limited in the United States and Canada. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

About Enterprise Connect®

Enterprise Connect® (formerly VoiceCon) is the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise IP Telephony, Converged Networks and Unified Communications in North America. Enterprise Connect® brings corporate IT decision makers together with the industry's vendors, analysts and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise networks and communications. Enterprise Connect® owns and produces No Jitter, ([ http://www.nojitter.com/ ]), providing daily blogging and analysis of enterprise communications, and it also serves the community with a weekly email newsletter, a Webinar Series and Virtual Events. For more information, visit [ http://enterpriseconnect.com/ ].

Contributing Sources

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Market Wire