Siemens Phone Systems

The Chief Executive of Siemens Peter Löscher has released a statement detailing his thoughts on the recession and recovery. In the statement he emphasises the fact that European economic recovery is exceedingly fragile and he also states that there is a decoupling of expectations and the reality.

Löscher believes that it will take years for the market to return to a stable state – this year saw a 9% drop in industrial production which indicates the heights the industry will have to scale to re-reach the production levels of 2007.

Siemens have suffered hefty losses in the recession and are currently bracing themselves for what is sure to be a difficult year in 2010.

Siemens have reached a settlement with former CEO Heinrich von Pierer after a long battle over Pierer’s alleged bribery scandal. The €5 million (around £4.5 million) damages was lowered by €1 million (around £909,562) and will be paid by Pierer to avoid legal action. The CEO after Pierer, Klaus Kleinfeld, will also have to pay damages of €2 million (around £1.8 million).

Siemens had to face the largest scandal in the history of the company, with accusations of Siemens top employees paying bribes to win contracts from different countries officials. Both Kleinfeld and Pierer deny any wrong doing.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has decided to diverge from the telecoms market a little in order to enter the energy sector. Although telecoms are to be the main focus of NSN, the phone system equipment maker is currently looking for partners in order to cater for the spike in demand for renewable energy, smart metering and intelligent power grids.

NSN has recently announced its scheme to merge its five separate businesses into three – Business Solutions, Global Services and Network Systems. Under this new scheme, the energy sector of NSN will fall under the Business Solutions category.

NSN has already made a start niggling its way into the energy sector; it has recently won a contract to provide its Open Element Management System (EMS) to ServusNet, a software company based in Ireland that enables wind farms to optimise power generation.

Zain, an African and Middle Eastern carrier has announced a new deal with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). The deal comprises of three outsourced networks in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya and involves modernising, optimising and managing 3,000 mobile sites. In light of the deal, 350 Zain workers will transfer to NSN and NSN will also be charged with implementing new energy efficient technologies.

The beginning of the week saw an announcement by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) that they had lost the bid for Nortel Networks Corp’s optical networking and carrier Ethernet division.

NSN said that they had offered a bid that signified fair value for the division, however it failed to beat a bid put in by Ciena who won the auction. Nortel reportedly said last month that Ciena’s bid would be a stalking horse offer for its assets.

LVM (Landwirtschaftlicher Versicherungsverein Munster a.G.) a German insurance company, is using Siemens Enterprise Communications Group (SEN)  and Digium to provide local small to medium sized businesses with integrated solutions and high-class IP telephony systems including DECT and SIP phones. Werner Schmidt, CIO of LVM said their company [Siemens] knows the importance of IT and understands that IP phone systems are the backbone of their business.

Westcon, an affiliate of Cisco has widened its horizons by joining up with Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN Group). Westcon has joined the Go Forward! partner programme in order to distribute IP phone systems to VARs in Europe. By distributing the IP telephony solutions, Westcon hopes to bolster its own position in the unified communications (UC) market, along with Cisco.

It’s official. The world has gone mad. Or, if not mad, then slightly odd for sure. Siemens, it seems, are launching a new range of products for (get this) “Green and Efficient Airports!” I mean, sure, they’re to be commended for trying but doesn’t it seem like a case of locking the barn door after the horse has bolted?…Bolted, grown up, raised a family and died.

I’m not saying that Siemens should abandon phone systems to come up with a contrail-busting system – but baggage sorting systems? Flight information services? A Siemens Phone System app. for boarding messages? I mean, really? In the world I thought I lived in, a ‘Green and Efficient Airports’ scheme generally offered more than a call service for the drunkards at the airport bar!

Gigaset Communications, a manufacturer of cordless telephones under the Siemens Phone Systems Gigaset brand and developer of Interference-free DECT technology, announced the release of a portfolio of technology products including the Gigaset One, a home plus mobile convergence technology system.

Gigaset said its One solution offers an all-in-one system allowing consumers to merge home and mobile Bluetooth systems into one. Designed to work with or without a landline and coupled with its one-time, one-touch application, consumers are now able to make and receive mobile calls on any corded or cordless phones around the home. With Bluetooth technology and Gigaset One, consumers can answer business mobile phones from any home phone extension and this new system helps eliminate poor audio quality or cellular dead zones.

“Siemens Gigaset works to respond to the needs of the American market,” said Rod Keller, CEO of Siemens Gigaset, North America. “We know that most consumers value the reliability, performance and quality of a landline phone but want the option to merge their home and cellular phones. We are introducing Gigaset One to provide consumers with the convergence solution they want from Siemens Gigaset, a brand they can trust.”