Nectar and Plantronics offer the industry’s first ear-to-ear solution, extending call visibility past the desktop

JERICHO, NY – June 6, 2018 – Nectar Services Corp., the leader in the development and deployment of proactive network monitoring and performance management software for the Unified Communications (UC) industry, working with Plantronics, today released the industry’s first ear-to-ear (e2e) diagnostics solution. The solution extends beyond traditional UC diagnostic solutions that end at the desktop, to visualize network health all the way to the end user’s Bluetooth headset. Not only can enterprises and UC service providers leverage this capability to diagnose call quality issues faster, but they can also track and utilize insights over time to proactively improve overall user experience.

Nectar’s e2e diagnostic solution is the only platform on the market that provides Bluetooth connection quality in the full context of the network and session health, providing information on what type of call was conducted (peer to peer, conference call, outside dial) and what network elements could also be contributing to call quality issues (range and user behavior, high density and environmental interference). Nectar’s initial release of this solution will support Microsoft Skype for Business on-premise deployments, with additional UC platform and cloud service support to be added over time.

“Many factors can impact the quality of a UC session, and Nectar’s UC Diagnostics is a valuable tool to troubleshoot network issues that contribute to poor UC experiences,” said Christopher Thompson, vice president, enterprise product marketing, Plantronics. “The data-your-way philosophy built into Plantronics Manager Pro extends Nectar’s capability with e2e diagnostics for Plantronics touchpoints, providing an entirely new level of visibility into the last few feet of connectivity.”

“We’ve always known that the ‘last meter’ of the UC network can make or break the user experience – but IT has historically lacked a consolidated tool set to identify issues from the service all the way to the end user’s ear. The e2e diagnostics solution does just this, providing insight beyond the UC endpoint and correlating connection health details that are now truly end-to-end,” said Bill Haskins, senior analyst, Wainhouse Research. “This capability should translate into quicker UC issue resolution times, better customer service, and an overall improved user experience.”

“Nectar is committed to bringing innovative, new features to our partners that make a real difference in their day-to-day operations. Our solutions, like e2e diagnostics, make it easier for enterprises and UC service providers to create and maintain healthy UC endpoints, networks and applications,” said Tom Tuttle, SVP, UC strategy and global alliances at Nectar. “As a result, UC support engineers can diagnose call quality issues faster, improve UC health and optimize the end-user experience.”

Nectar recently announced its agreement with Plantronics to develop the e2e diagnostics solution. Initially, the link quality is collected for the Plantronics Voyager UC family of headsets* (excluding Voyager Legend, Voyager Edge and Voyager 104), and it is now officially available for purchase through select authorized Nectar and Plantronics partners.
* The Link Quality is currently collected for the Plantronics Voyager UC family of headsets.