Herndon, Virginia, Interactively

Interactive Intelligence Inc., a developer of business communications software, has opened a new Eastern regional headquarters office in Herndon, Va., with a mission “to give customers and resellers better access to service, sales support, and education for its contact center automation and enterprise IP telephony software solutions.”

Herndon is located approximately thirty minutes west of Washington, D.C., and was undertaken as part of Interactive’s strategy to add education centers around the globe that supplement the company’s primary North American training facility at its global headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. The new Herndon office will initially be staffed by Interactive Intelligence sales, support, and professional services specialists, and officially opens on Thursday.

Among Herndon clients to be serviced by the regional headquarters include 1-800-PetMeds, AIG, BMW, Ceridian, Dollar Tree Stores, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, Harvard, Motorola, Shiseido, StanleyWorks, the University of Pennsylvania, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In addition to its new Herndon office and a recently opened Western regional headquarters office in Irvine, Calif., Interactive Intelligence relocated its U.K. headquarters to a larger office near London last month, and the company has plans to expand its Amsterdam sales and support office later this year.

On the software development side of things, Interactive Intelligence Inc. announced this week the release of its new contact center workforce management software module, Interaction Optimizer. Interaction Optimizer is designed to offer affordable forecasting, scheduling, and real-time adherence capabilities to contact centers of all sizes. Interaction Optimizer will be offered as an optional, pre-integrated component of the Interactive Intelligence contact center automation software suite, Customer Interaction Center.

Particularly touted in the release is the Interaction Optimizer demand forecasting feature, which promises the ability to create schedule simulations based on virtually unlimited scenarios, such as variances due to seasonal effects and promotional campaigns.

Interaction Optimizer is currently available worldwide, and is offered through the Interactive Intelligence channel of approximately 250 value-added resellers.

Interactive Intelligence Inc. is a provider of business communications software and services for contact center automation and enterprise IP telephony. Interactive Intelligence was founded in 1994 and today boasts over 2,500 customers worldwide. Recent awards on the ol’ mantelpiece at Interactive include the 2006 Network World 200, CRM Magazine’s 2006 Rising Star Excellence Award, Network Computing Magazine’s 2006 Well-Connected Award, and Software Magazine’s 2006 Top 500 Global Software and Services Companies. Interactive Intelligence employs approximately 450 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind.