GN is the first headset company in the world to have wireless office headsets certified to Microsoft® Office Communicator, which was launched in October.

Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007 allows the use of a personal computer for VoIP (Voice over IP) telephony in full wideband audio quality. With the corded Jabra GN2000 OC and the wireless Jabra GN9350 OC and Jabra GN9330 OC headsets, GN provides a plug-and-play sound interface that enables users to interact real-time in full wideband sound quality.

"The partnership with Microsoft® is not only about technological collaboration and innovation but also about the coming together of two leaders to provide world class unified communications for enterprises. In today’s fast paced environment, this collaboration will deliver increased productivity, mobility, greater connectivity and, most importantly, satisfy end user needs. And the potential is huge," says Vice President Jan McNair, head of GN’s Office business.

260,000 Resellers

With more than 260,000 Microsoft® resellers worldwide, the Microsoft® partnership has huge potential for GN. “This is a fantastic opportunity for GN to expand our network of partners selling Jabra headsets. Not only are we working closely together with one of the worlds strongest brands, we also get access to a huge number of new IT resellers. Reseller acquisition and strategic alliances are two fundamental success factors for GN – factors that can drive our growth in the Office business going forward,” says Jan McNair, who expects to see the first positive effects from the agreement with Microsoft® in Q4 2007.

Microsoft® Gold Partner

Microsoft® has been very satisfied with the partnership and GN recently achieved Microsoft® Gold Partner status. “During the last year we have strengthened the ties between GN and Microsoft®. Our technical departments have been collaborating on the seamless integration of three headsets with the Office Communicator,” explains McNair.

“Combining Microsoft’s® unified communications software with GN’s headsets offers customers a rich and integrated communications experience,” says Eric Swift, senior director, Unified Communications Group, at Microsoft®. “Microsoft’s® strategic relationship with GN provides customers with new levels of business value, helping to streamline communications and collaboration.”

Continued Cooperation with Microsoft®

GN continues to cooperate closely with Microsoft® and will be involved in product development when Microsoft® upgrades their OC software in the future. But already now, Jan McNair reveals, GN has more up its sleeve for the coming years:

“We have a number of interesting wireless products in the pipeline that will be optimized for Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007 and developed in close cooperation with Microsoft®,” he says.