TORONTO -- Bell Canada, a leading integrator and provider of converged solutions, today announced that it is working with Microsoft to expand existing and deliver new collaboration and unified communication solutions.

With these unified messaging, communications and collaboration solutions, Canadian businesses will benefit from a robust ecosystem that includes rich presence, real-time communication and access to information any time, anywhere. These features not only enhance an organization's productivity, but contribute to cost savings that help foster customer and supplier loyalty, and increase employee satisfaction, all while improving the potential for innovation.

"As workforce demographics change, more Canadian companies are demanding multidimensional and effective solutions to meet their evolving communication needs," said Stéphane Boisvert, President, Bell Enterprise Group. "At Bell, we complement a deep-rooted understanding of IP infrastructures with our proven success in real-time, networked application development. Our commitment is to enable Canadian businesses with effective unified communication tools that help speed decision-making processes.

"In addition, by working with Microsoft on collaboration solutions, we give customers who are running on a Microsoft-based unified communications platform the ability to integrate voice and data with desktop applications, simplify the management of their communications infrastructure and leverage their technology investment for future IP-based innovation."

BCE Inc. (Bell Canada) (NYSE/Toronto: BCE)

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)