http://blog.divitas.com/blog/divitas-networks/0/0/a-letter-to-blackberry-team-up-with-divitas-and-take-the-mobile-market-by-storm

A Letter to Blackberry: Team Up with DiVitas and Take the Mobile Market Communications by Storm
Posted Thursday, February 26, 2009
To: RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie
From: DiVitas Networks

Dear Mr. Balsillie,

We are writing to you as a fellow player in the mobile communications market – not as a RIM competitor, but as your future Mobile UC partner.

After reading your recent interview with the Financial Times – and learning how RIM is responding to Blackberry competition from the likes of Apple’s iPhone – we feel compelled to extend an important message: Let’s unite Blackberry devices with DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications.

RIM is a proven winner in the market for enterprise smartphones. And DiVitas is the leader in Mobile Unified Communications. You stated the need to offer this technology to your customers in your interview with Financial Times’ Ingrid Lunden. Why reinvent the wheel? Integration between DiVitas and Blackberry will enable you to quickly deliver a competitive edge in a cutthroat market.

We are convinced this would be a win-win for both parties. And judging by your comments about discussions with CIOs, you probably agree. “There is a “real urgency” around wanting more mobile unified communications … having the ability to integrate the BlackBerry devices with their existing PBXs,” you told Ms. Lunden.

Your perceived demand among your customers for Mobile UC/PBX integration makes perfect sense to us. We know CIOs want to reduce their mobile communications costs. At the same time, they want to make their employees more reachable. Mobile Unified Communications (Fixed Mobile Convergence technology combined with Unified Communications apps) lets companies reach these goals (cost cutting and increased mobility) by providing several capabilities:

1- WiFi calling to reduce monthly telecom bills (WiFi minutes don’t count against the cell plan):

* WiFi calls placed or received on-campus calls are free.
* International calls are free when placed or received over WiFi.
* WiFi calls placed or received from hotspots (home office, airport, coffee shop, hotel, etc.) are free.
* Mobile users can additionally create their own WiFi hotspot in any hotel room with WiFi – they can place free calls via WiFi and use their laptops simultaneously.
* Bridge vendors (who can charge thousands of dollars per month) can be eliminated by using DiVitas for free, in-house bridge lines for conference calling (international and local).

2- Mobile workers carry a single device and a single number to make them consistently reachable:

* Support for the Single-Number Reach capability makes a mobile device behave like a deskphone. This means mobile workers are available by a single phone number – the deskphone number – which results in fewer missed calls and helps eliminate the waste of expensive cell minutes

3- Companies leverage their existing communications investment:

* Deploying voice over the existing WLAN gives companies more bang for the WiFi buck.
* PBX integration provides support for existing deskphone features (call forward, extension dialing, call waiting, etc.).
* Mobile workers are available as if they were seated at their desks, regardless of where they are located (on-campus, in cellular mode or in a WiFi hotspot) when they place or receive calls.

4- Taking advantage of productivity gains through Unified Communications applications:

* Presence ensures that mobile workers are consistently reachable by allowing them to broadcast their availability and how best to be reached (phone, text, not available, etc.).
* Micro-blogging provides status details about where the mobile worker is and what they are doing (in a meeting, catching a flight, in the office, at the dentist, etc.).
* Instant Messaging (IM) can replace expensive text messaging for brief, discreet communication … but at no additional cost (provided there is a data plan).
* Visual Voicemail allows mobile users to eyeball messages sitting in their inbox, and decide which should be read first. This saves expensive cellular minutes and time.
* Single Voicemail Inbox Management means that mobile workers have only one voicemail inbox to manage — the corporate mobile phone and corporate deskphone inboxes are one and the same.

Mr. Balsillie, the smartphone market is white-hot right now. And RIM needs to act quickly to maintain Blackberry’s position as the leading enterprise smartphone. There’s no quicker way to getting there than by dropping a proven solution into the Blackberry mix and offering it to your existing and prospective customers ASAP.

Sincerely,

DiVitas Networks