Top Coverage Highlights from VoiceCon Orlando 2008
 Unified communications' next stop is the contact center
By Steve Taylor, Larry Hettick
March 31, 2008
Network World
At VoiceCon 2008 earlier this month, the buzz around unified communications in the contact center was abundant: it seems that almost every unified communications supplier has moved beyond unified communications as a horizontal enterprise application with an eye on the contact center market. One example is Microsoft's partnership with Aspect Software to bring Microsoft's unified communications and voice platform to contact centers.
 IBM pumps its unified comms strategy
By Steve Taylor
March 31, 2008
TechWorld
In his keynote address to the recent VoiceCon 2008 event in Orlando, Lotus Software's general manager Mike Rhodin gave five predictions about global unified communications. In a follow-up interview, we learned how IBM will invest up to $1 billion to help meet the changing business communications requirements.
Our First Squawk Box Podcast
By Marc Robins
March 27, 2008
IP Communications and Beyond Blog
Jon and I had the pleasure of being guests on yesterday's Squawk Box podcast, a very popular podcast series hosted by Alec Saunders, CEO of iotum. As partner Jon Arnold notes in his recent blog post, the turnout was really quite good, with about 27 people on the call at one point. We discussed a number of things, including the launch of IP Communications Insights. The discussion got really lively when we started contrasting and comparing the recent trade shows and conferences we'd all been to over the past few weeks, including eComm, VoiceCon and VON.
Unified Communications: Look at Products, Not Labels
By Carl Weinschenk
March 26, 2008
IT Business Edge
This posting at The VAR Guy reinforces the confusion surrounding UC. The writer, in a commentary centered on VoiceCon Orlando 2008, says that much product news carrying the UC label is little more than news about VoIP gear. He says most value-added resellers and customers would have trouble delineating the difference between VoIP and UC. He then provides some examples of UC, and concludes that the hype has reached its apex, and those considering purchases should be careful.
Microsoft and Aspect form global strategic alliance
By NDTV Correspondent
March 26, 2008
NDTV Profit
At the VoiceCon Orlando 2008 conference, Microsoft Corporation and Aspect Software Inc, a leading contact center company, announced a multiyear strategic alliance to help deliver unified communications (UC) to contact centers around the world.
 Up close and personal with telepresence
By Steve Taylor
March 26, 2008
Network World
One such telepresence interaction at VoiceCon was a discussion focused on mitigating climate change that was moderated by a journalist in London, with Cisco Chief Marketing Officer Sue Bostrom onstage at VoiceCon, John Chambers joining from Cisco headquarters in San Jose, and Nobel Laureate Al Gore from Nashville. The discussion was displayed live to international audiences in London, Paris, Dubai, and Warsaw, and a replay of the discussion is available at Cisco's site.
Power of Unified Communications to the People
By Blair Pleasant
March 25, 2008
Unified Communications Strategies
There were several themes at this spring's VoiceCon Orlando, but one that especially resonated with me was what I call "UC By and For the People." Avaya's Lou D'Ambrosio's keynote address started off with the notion of the "Democratization of UC" (try saying unified communications democratization three times fast!). This theme was also echoed by Microsoft's Gurdeep Sing Pall's keynote, and was evident in various product announcements made at VoiceCon aimed at reducing the entry costs to UC.
 Open platforms are essential to the future of unified communications
By Shamus McGillicuddy
March 25, 2008
SearchVoIP
In the unified communications (UC) arena, industry heavyweights are urging a new era of openness and interoperability -- so long as their own platforms are at the centre of everything. This message of openness was stressed during several keynote addresses at VoiceCon 2008 last week, including one from an unlikely source - Microsoft.
IBM Places Mobile Computing, Composite Apps on UC Pedestal
By Dan Burger
March 25, 2008
IT Jungle
To emphasize what he sees as product differentiation between unified communications coming from IBM compared to UC products on the Microsoft runway, Mike Rhodin, general manager of IBM Lotus software, made a few workplace predictions while he had the media's attention at the VoiceCon conference last week. Cubicle walls will be broken down as mobile computing unleashes workers from their desks and desktop PCs and phones, he predicted. Integrating business processes with the new mobile workforce will provide great advantages to organizations that move forward first, he continued. Interoperability will be the highest of priorities.
Vendors position themselves for telepresence market slugfest
By Martyn Warwick
March 25, 2008
TelecomTV
Tata's announcement with Cisco follows a flurry of announcements by the network equipment maker's main competitors in the area, Polycom and Tandberg, who took advantage of the VoiceCon Conference in Orlando, Florida to fire their own marketing salvos on the same day.
VoiceCon key themes
By Jan Dawson
March 25, 2008
Ovum
The bi-annual VoiceCon conference concluded last week in Orland, Florida. As ever the focus was IP telephony, although unified communications (UC) is an ever larger part of the show and was the focus of all the keynotes.
 Unified communications early adopters tout benefits
By Tim Green
March 25, 2008
Computerworld
Businesses presenting their stories at the recent VoiceCon Orlando 2008 found that unified communications can increase productivity, reduce costs, speed up customer service and even do good things for the environment.
Bidding on VoIP systems is all about the details
By Tim Greene
March 25, 2008
Computerworld
VoIP systems vary in so many ways that businesses need to comb through the gory details of what vendors offer to make sure they get the features and functions they need, attendees were told at VoiceCon Orlando 2008.
Avaya CEO: Bring unified communications to the masses
By Tim Greene
March 25, 2008
Computerworld
Unified communications needs to be brought to the masses, and in the process help solve the country's current economic woes, VoiceCon Orlando 2008 attendees were told at the recent conference.
VoiceCon: Cisco's Al-John Demonstration
By Peter Brockman
March 25, 2008
Brockman & Company
The large plenary room at VoiceCon Orlando was its fullest all week when Al Gore and John Chambers gave their impassioned pleas for corporate (and policy) changes in support of reducing carbon emissionsGreen-Business-Travel . By some estimates, there were 2000-2500 communications professionals in attendance in Orlando.
How IP Telephony and UC Will Be Sold
By Art Rosenberg
March 24, 2008
Unified Communications Strategies
So now that VoiceCon is over and the big announcements have been made, what's really new? Aside from a number of major announcements by enterprise telephony providers about moving forward with UC and "open" software applications, the biggest announcements seemed to come from Microsoft and IBM, separately and together. This is an indication that VoiceCon is no longer just a telephony show.
Early adopters sing the praises of UC
By Tim Greene
March 24, 2008
ITBusiness.ca
Businesses presenting their stories at the VoiceCon Orlando 2008 conference are finding that unified communications can increase productivity, reduce costs, speed up customer service and even do good things for the environment.
 UC Will Prove Challenging to Buyers And Sellers
By Judy Mott
March 24, 2008
InternetNews.com
In his keynote at this week's VoiceCon conference, IBM's Lotus General Manager Mike Rhodin predicted that enterprises will integrate VoIP into business applications and that new UC applications will evolve as more business software is pulled into the mix.
 Polycom and Tandberg announce interoperability with OCS 2007
By Chris Talbot
March 23, 2008
eChannelLine
Polycom and Tandberg announced at VoiceCon in Orlando that their videoconferencing systems had been made to be interoperable with Microsoft's Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 and Office Communicator 2007.
 IBM's top 5 predictions for unified communications: Desktop computers and phones will disappear
By Steve Taylor
March 23, 2008
Network World
VoiceCon 2008 wrapped up in Orlando last week and the conference was jam-packed with news, announcements, and observable trends so we will spend the next several editions reviewing a few highlights. Today, we'll focus on a keynote and related announcements from IBM. In his keynote address, Mike Rhodin, Lotus Software general manager gave five predictions about global unified communications and in a follow-up interview, Larry got the chance to find out how IBM will invest up to $1 billion to help meet the changing business communications requirements.
Tandberg and Nortel team for telepresence: what about Microsoft?
By Stuart Corner
March 22, 2008
ITWire
Through a non-exclusive global agreement announced at the VoiceCon show in Orlando Florida, Nortel and Tandberg will jointly deliver -managed telepresence and high-definition video conferencing solutions to enterprises worldwide. These will be offered through service providers or direct from Nortel.
UC Theme Expanded
By Marty Parker
March 21, 2008
Unified Communications Strategies
Unified Communications continued as a central theme at VoiceCon Orlando 2008 on Wednesday. The Early bird session on "Enhancing VoIP for Unified Communications" was packed at 8 AM (wow!) and an excellent panel comprising Avaya, Nortel, Microsoft and Mitel provided recommendations to the attendees on the incremental investments they could make and the costs and risks of those investments. Suggestions ranged from innovative suggestions on integrating communications into business processes for major ROI, to effectively and simply deploying the standard UC desktop features (e.g. IM and presence) and telephony features (e.g. mobility and audio conferencing).
VoiceCon 08 : Al Gore's Giant Talking Head! Ahhhh!
By Lauren Shopp
March 21, 2008
Speech Tech Blog
Back in New York! Totally forgot that flights from Orlando are always 70%-occupied by small children and screaming babies. The whole flight was like a big tribal gathering, complete with shouting and the sounds of kids playing with their newest toys. Yeah. I'm glad to be back in New York. So, let's get rolling on what was arguably the biggest presentation at VoiceCon. Cisco wrangled in Al Gore to participate in a live meeting with other panelists via Cisco's TelePresence product. What is TelePresence? It's a fancy word for videoconferencing! Gore was in Nashville, Cisco president & CEO John Chamber was in California, and there was also a British reporter in London involved. Each of these panelists was projected on to a TV set in the VoiceCon keynote room. Three big talking heads in one room! It was hard to contain my joy.
 Unified communications dominated VoiceCon Orlando 2008
By Bill Detwiler
March 20, 2008
Tech Republic
Although VoiceCon Orlando 2008 offered tutorials, forums, and presentations on telecom topics ranging from IP telephony to next-gen contact centers, unified communications (UC) seemed to be the topic on everyone's mind. And, if you judged the conference's focus by its keynote presentations, UC won hands down.
During his opening remarks on Monday, Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair of VoiceCon, told the audience that:
1. UC improves personal productivity and transforms business process
2. UC will increased the decentralization of communication networks
3. UC changes what you buy and for whom
VoiceCon Day 2
By Jan Dawson
March 20, 2008
Twin Loops Blog
At VoiceCon still today. Two more keynotes early in the day: this time IBM and Cisco. Two more variations on the themes from yesterday. The IBM keynote was very dry, shorn of the visionary stuff from the Avaya and Microsoft keynotes from yesterday. It focused largely on new features and capabilities IBM is adding to its Sametime portfolio. And if anything, the key message was a slightly resentful, "we've been doing all this for 10 years, guys - how about giving us some credit?" The lack of vision stuff was probably helpful in reinforcing the perception that IBM is perhaps the most serious about UC, and just boring enough to pull it all off. With the rest, you're always left wondering how much of what they present is real and how much is just vision and no more.
 VoiceCon: Collaboration, Unified Communications Dominate The Agenda
By W. David Gardner
March 20, 2008
Information Week
As networking and communications vendors work to build out their portfolio of unified communications applications and services, many have discovered that the quickest way to add new features and capabilities is to enter into partnerships. That was evident at the VoiceCon show in Orlanda, Fla., this week.
 VoiceCon: Nortel Adds Mobility To Unified Communications Mix
March 20, 2008
Information Week
New communications server software from Nortel (NYSE: NT) lets enterprises extend VoIP and unified communications features to cell phones and smartphones, improving decision making and productivity, the vendor said Monday at the VoiceCon tradeshow in Orlando, Fla.
Al Gore joins Cisco in new technology demonstration
By Graham Tittering
March 20, 2008
Ovum
Al Gore joined an impressive global demonstration of Cisco's Telepresence and Unified Communications technology staged as part of the VoiceCon conference. Four speakers located in London and three cities in the US joined live audiences in Dubai and Paris, three telepresence rooms in Cisco establishments in various places, and a global audience on the Internet. The other speakers were Cisco CEO John Chambers, Cisco CMO and EVP Sue Bostrom, and ITN journalist Lawrence McGinty. The discussion was, unsurprisingly, about climate change and Cisco was able to relate the carbon savings it has achieved since President Clinton and Vice president Al Gore set it a challenge when they were in office. This includes a 10% reduction in travel, saving $150m per annum, along with savings in its manufacturing and building emissions.
 TANDBERG to Deliver First High-Definition Webcam for Microsoft
By Anshu Shrivastava
March 20, 2008
TMCnet
TANDBERG, a provider of telepresence, high-definition videoconferencing, mobile video solutions, and Microsoft Gold Partner, have announced a development initiative to deliver the "first high-definition webcam camera" for integration with Microsoft's unified communications platform. During a VoiceCon 2008 keynote address, which was delivered by Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president for unified communications at Microsoft, Microsoft showcased this development plan.
IBM foresees no email, phones nor PCs
By Tom Burton
March 20, 2008
FierceVoIP
The scenario for the next workplace was detailed by the general manager of IBM Lotus software Mike Rhodin at VoiceCon 2008 this week. He predicted Enterprises will go beyond click-to-call and presence to integrate with business processes and this would be where the greatest benefits would be.
Avaya wants to be king of presence
By Tom Burton
March 20, 2008
FierceVoIP
Avaya has announced its multi-party presence server, designed to integrate presence data from a variety of sources and devices using standard protocols such as, SIP/SIMPLE and XMPP. Dubbed Intelligent Presence the server platform aggregates telephony, desktop and application presence information from either Avaya or third party sources, such as industry leaders Microsoft and IBM. The Avaya announcement was made at VoiceCon which was dominated by releases and discussion around UC. The UC space has been on fire since Microsoft signaled its determination to dominate the sector last fall.
 VoiceCon Calling: Hot Phones from the Show Floor
By n/a
March 20, 2008
ChannelWeb
VoiceCon Orlando 2008's entire message is around enabling voice communication, then wrapping in video, instant messaging, conferencing and a host of other applications. And nothing facilitates voice communications better than the phone.
Halleluiah! AT&T Gives In To Mobile UC
By Art Rosenberg
March 20, 2008
Unified Communications Strategies
VoiceCon produced many announcements this week, however, I didn't know AT&T would follow in the footsteps of Google. I believe that the vision of business UC cannot be completed without "open" mobile access to both enterprise applications, and any user device. A crucial aspect in the quest for business UC is a multimodal "smart phone" device that can really exploit personalized mobile access.
IBM says traditional e-mail, phones and desktops will go away
By Tim Greene
March 19, 2008
Network World
In his keynote address at VoiceCon Orlando 2008 today, IBM Lotus general manager Mike Rhodin put forward that prediction and four others about how unified communications will change the way businesses interact. (Compare unified communications products.)
Microsoft buys its way into call centers
By Tim Greene
March 19, 2008
Network World
The two companies announced at VoiceCon Orlando 2008 that they have made an alliance to develop the interoperability and for Aspect to push it as the lead call-center option to its customers. Microsoft has also made an equity investment of an undisclosed size in Aspect, the companies say. (Learn more about IP-based contact centers.)
Read the latest WhitePaper - The High-Availability Business: How a Simpler Network Can Meet the Demands of Business-Critical Applications
Getting ready for VoiceCon 2008
By Larry Hettick
March 19, 2008
Network World
With VoiceCon in Orlando opening this week it's been a busy few days for the unified communications sector. Today, we'll highlight a number of the announcements made prior to the show, from companies including Aspect Software, Clarus Systems, CyberData and XO Communications, and next week, we'll update readers with some more in-depth news on some of the additional announcements made at the conference.
 11 Green Scenes From VoiceCon
By Andrew Hickey
March 19, 2008
CRN
Maybe it's because Monday was St. Patrick's Day. Maybe green is just a nice color. Or maybe, just maybe, one of the main themes of VoiceCon Orlando 2008 focuses on what role new and emerging technologies play in the environment. Regardless the reason, there sure was a heck of a lot of green to be seen on the VoiceCon show floor as the event kicked off its 18th year Monday.
IBM To Virtualize Unified Communications
By Andrew Hickey
March 19, 2008
CRN
At VoiceCon Orlando 2008 IBM announced key partnerships with ShoreTel, VBrick Systems, NEC and Ericsson to round out its unified communications portfolio.
IBM Gets Sci-Fi and Al Gore Materializes
By Lauren Shopp
March 19, 2008
Speech Technology
From virtual worlds to carbon emissions, today's keynote speeches at VoiceCon ran the gamut in outlining the business benefits of unified communications (UC). The day's first speaker, Michael Rhodin, general manager of workplace, portal, and collaboration software at IBM, made a series of announcements related to the expansion of the company's Lotus software. Following that speech, former vice president and ultra-environmentalist Al Gore joined up with Cisco to highlight how videoconferencing can help companies shrink their carbon footprint by decreasing the need for travel. Though Gore brought considerable clout to the conference, it was IBM's announcements that drew the most industry attention.
 VoiceCon Daily Update-Monday, March 17, 2008
By Eric Krapf
March 18, 2008
No Jitter
As usual, I spent my first morning here at VoiceCon doing podcast interviews (they'll be posted on the VoiceCon website shortly). I got some interesting perspectives on presence from Paul Lopez of NEC (details at this No Jitter blog post), and I also got some more data on contact center attitudes from Tom Chamberlain of Aspect (info about their announcement is here here and here).
 VoiceCon: Nortel Adds Mobility To Unified Communications Mix
By Terry Sweeney
March 18, 2008
InformationWeek
New communications server software from Nortel (NYSE: NT) lets enterprises extend VoIP and unified communications features to cell phones and smartphones, improving decision making and productivity, the vendor said Monday at the VoiceCon tradeshow in Orlando, Fla.
 Avaya Creates Unified Communications Bundles
By Tim Greene
March 18, 2008
PC World
Avaya is introducing four bundles of its gear at VoiceCon Orlando that are designed to address specific business needs: teleworkers, mobile workers, home call-center agents, small businesses. The company is also offering a bundle for branch offices for chain stores and banks.
 VOICECON: Extreme Networks, HP boost VoIP security
By Jim Duffy
March 18, 2008
ComputerWorld
March 18, 2008 (Network World) LAN switching vendors are expected to roll out voice product enhancements and partnerships at this week's VoiceCon Orlando conference.
 VoiceCon: Microsoft Boosts Unified Communications With Videoconferencing Links
By David Gardner
March 18, 2008
InformationWeek
At this week's VoiceCon conference in Orlando,Fla., Gurdeep Singh Pall, Microsoft's corporate VP for unified communications, delivered an update on customer and partner adoption of its unified communications platform. He said Microsoft now has partnerships with videoconferencing vendors that supply more than 73% of worldwide business conference systems, according to a market research survey conducted by Frost and Sullivan.
 In the spotlight: Tandberg's Rick Snyder
By n/a
March 18, 2008
Telephony Online
Tandberg is one of a number of companies riding the popularity wave of telepresence, announcing yesterday that it has signed agreements with both Nortel Networks and Micosoft. Rick Snyder, president, Americas, for Tandberg, spoke to Editor-in-Chief Carol Wilson from the VoiceCon show.
Bidding on VoIP systems is all about the details
By n/a
March 18, 2008
Network World
VoIP systems vary in so many ways that businesses need to comb through the gory details of what vendors offer to make sure they get the features and functions they need, attendees were told at VoiceCon Orlando 2008.
 Sagem-Interstar launches XMediusFAX 5.5.2 fax server
By Staff
March 18, 2008
Computer Business Review
Jean Champagne, general manager at Sagem-Interstar, said: "Consistent with this year's VoiceCon theme, our XMediusFAX FoIP solution enables customers to profitably leverage their IP Telephony and Unified Communications implementations and bring all their fax traffic online."
Toktumi available at no cost
By Vicky Burger
March 18, 2008
IT Web
According to Network World, LAN switching vendors are expected to roll-out voice product enhancements and partnerships at this week's VoiceCon Orlando conference.
Motorola Showcases Enterprise VoWLAN Solutions at VoiceCon 2008
By Staff
March 18, 2008
IT News Online
Motorola Inc. announced that its Enterprise Mobility business is demonstrating high quality, feature-rich voice-over-wireless LAN (VoWLAN) solutions at VoiceCon 2008 in Orlando. The demonstrations at VoiceCon also showcase the seamless extension of voice services from the enterprise wireless LAN to cellular networks.
VoiceCon : Word Counts
By Lauren
March 18, 2008
SpeechTech Blog
Here's a tally of the number of times I've heard the following phrases at VoiceCon. These represent the first three keynote speakers: Avaya, Microsoft, and Bank of America. These will be updated as needed. I'll post a news story today about day one at VoiceCon...until now, let the words represent the hot topics at VC -
SecondLife: 3
Telepresence: 8
Teleworking: 1
Teleportation: 1
'Wow' Factor: 2
Some key phrases...this presenter loved rhyming!
"Paralysis by analysis."
"Here are some tricks and real-world tips."
 Nortel Wins $300M VOIP Deal
By Paula Musich
March 18, 2008
eWeek
At the VoiceCon show in Orlando, Fla., Nortel announced that, like its Innovative Communications Alliance partner Microsoft, it had penned a global deal to jointly deliver high-definition and telepresence videoconferencing with Tandberg.
Motorola Phone Flips between Wi-Fi, Cell Networks
By Raju Shanbhag
March 18, 2008
TMC
Motorola (News - Alert) is looking to showcase wireless handsets connect to Wi-Fi and cellular networks and hand off calls between the two. The company is expected to display these products at VoiceCon this week. The gear--Total Enteprise Access and Mobility (TEAM) will support native business applications as well as Internet access. It will support push-to-talk capabilities designed to take the place of two-way radios used in industrial and retail settings.
 Al Gore, John Chambers to discuss climate change
By Marguerite Reardon
March 18, 2008
CNET
Chambers and Gore will use Cisco's telepresence system to communicate with a live audience at the VoiceCon trade show in in Orlando, Fla. They will discuss how unified communications technology, like the telepresence platform, can play a role in reducing carbon emissions, which are impacting climate change.
Microsoft Broadens Unified Communications Partnerships
By Andrew Hickey
March 18, 2008
ChannelWeb
At VoiceCon Orlando 2008, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant unveiled key new partnerships to leverage its unified communications solutions offered by OCS and Office Communicator, its unified communications client. Microsoft on Tuesday announced partnerships with Aspect Software, a contact center company; and pairings with both Tandberg and Polycom to deliver high-definition video solutions.
Microsoft Broadens Unified Communications Partnerships
By Carl Weinschenk
March 18, 2008
IT Business Edge
Mobile devices' inability to support those applications presented a hurdle to the true marriage of mobility and UC. Recent announcements, however, clearly say those limitations have been surmounted. At the VoiceCon Show this week in Orlando, Nortel introduced a number of mobile UC products. The company said mobility has been embedded in the Communication Server 1000 IP PBX 5.5 (available next month) and Mobile Communication 3100 for fixed/mobile convergence. The vendor also introduced the IP Softphone 2050 3.0 laptop for PCs and a DECT system for international markets.
VoiceCon Daily Update: Tuesday, March 18
By Eric Krapf
March 18, 2008
No Jitter
Today, the opening of the conference sessions at VoiceCon, featured a couple of major vendor keynotes--Lou D'Ambrosio, CEO of Avaya and Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate Vice President, Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. But I want to start with the type of keynote that's become something of a calling card for VoiceCon and a perennial audience favorite: The end user keynote.
Avaya, Microsoft Ask If You See the Future in UC
By Lauren Shopp
March 18, 2008
Speech Technology
The number of workers operating remotely across the U.S. enterprise landscape is a massive figure -- and growing rapidly, according to Louis D'Ambrosio, president and CEO of Avaya. As enterprises in every industry focus on slashing budgets, increasing employee productivity, and keeping everyone connected, D'Ambrosio kicked off VoiceCon 2008 stressing the paramount role unified communications (UC) solutions will play in the technology space, catering heavily to those remote workers. Becoming a truly indispensable part of a company's infrastructure means that UC must cater to that organization's needs -- something that can only be achieved, D'Ambrosio told attendees, by "democratizing" a UC solution.
VoiceCon offers range of unified communications products
By Tim Greene
March 17, 2008
Network World
Unified communications will be the rage at the VoiceCon Orlando conference this week with big-name vendors such as IBM, Microsoft and Nortel announcing products and alliances while others charge in with UC products they announced last week in order to generate pre-show buzz.(See a slideshow of products to be on display at VoiceCon.)
Avaya creates unified communications bundles
By Tim Greene
March 17, 2008
Network World
Avaya is introducing four bundles of its gear at VoiceCon Orlando that are designed to address specific business needs: teleworkers, mobile workers, home call-center agents, small businesses. The company is also offering a bundle for branch offices for chain stores and banks.
Extreme Networks, HP boost VoIP security
By Jim Duffy
March 17, 2008
Network World
LAN switching vendors are expected to roll out voice product enhancements and partnerships at this week's VoiceCon Orlando conference.
VoiceCon 08 : Orlando, Here I Come
By Lauren
March 17, 2008
Speech Technology Magazine Blog
Remember how Ryan basically live-blogged the entire Voice Search conference? Well, I'll put my hand to the test and try the same thing this week, when I'm attending VoiceCon in Orlando, Tuesday - Thursday. I'll be the tall, awkward one walking around in a daze. What do you expect? New Yorkers haven't experienced sunshine or warm weather in months. See you tomorrow. And I'm sure our own Ryan Joe will return the favor and make me my own conference-reporting logo...
Top Stories from VoiceCon
By n/a
March 17, 2008
VoIP Phone Info Blog/Network World
VoiceCon is one of the leading conferences on IP telephony - and Network World has it covered.
 Avaya Changes the UC Game
By Dave Geenfield
March 17, 2008
ZDNet
The battle for enterprise Unified Communications took a pivotal turn this morning when Avaya announced its Intelligent Presence server here at VoiceCon.
 VoiceCon vs. VONx
By n/a
March 17, 2008
Fierce Markets
The two competing conferences this week, United Business Media's VoiceCon in Florida and Pulver Media's VONx, reflect some of the industry trends at play. VON has always been an evangelist's conference driven by the celebrity power of Jeff Pulver and his acolytes. Quirky but interesting, VON has struggled to find buzz in recent years as VoIP has become more and more plumbing like. The attempt this year to broaden VON beyond its VoIP heritage with the new VONx brand is an admission the show needed a new direction. But the lack of top-line speakers suggests the show is struggling to maintain its place in a crowded trade show calendar.
Motorola Aims For All-Wireless Enterprise
By Richard Martin
March 17, 2008
InformationWeek
Motorola also said it will launch a line of next-generation voice products under the Total Enterprise Access and Mobility (TEAM) brand, unveiling the new systems at the VoiceCon 2008 conference this week in Orlando, Fla.
 "And The UC Product of the Year Awards Go To..."
By Art Rosenberg
March 17, 2008
UC Strategies
To highlight the fact that UC is still a Pandora's Box of different communication "visions," with different flavors of products and /or services that will be difficult to compare, take a look at the list of eighty-two "winners' of TMC's Unified Communications Magazine "First Annual Product of the Year Award." Apparently timed to coincide with the big VoiceCon show (which is becoming more of a UC show than pure telephony), not only are these products hard to compare on a functional basis, but they don't indicate whether they will work as a premise-based product or a hosted services product (or both). Since we are finally starting to see some of the UC solution providers rightfully emphasizing the flexibility of end user "role-based" features, including customer contact activities, where are such "contact initiator" vs. "contact response" capabilities differentiated and highlighted?
Nortel hooks up with Tandberg to target Cisco TelePresence
By n/a
March 17, 2008
Network World
If you had any doubts about Nortel's aggressive stance against Cisco, you should read the heated debate by the two vendors over at the Brad Reese on Cisco blog. On Monday, at the VoiceCon show, Nortel plugged a piece of its portfolio to compete against Cisco by signing a non-exclusive deal to sell Tandberg's high-def telepresence systems. Nortel already has a similiar deal with Polycom.
Motorola Unveils New Telephony Strategy
By Ted Stevenson
March 17, 2008
Voip Planet
If you stop by the Motorola booth at the VoiceCon 2008 show in Orlando this week (Booth 308), you can get a demonstration of the company's new Total Enterprise Access and Mobility solution or TEAM.
25 Cool Things To See At VoiceCon Orlando 2008
By Andrew Hickey
March 16, 2008
ChannelWeb
VoiceCon Orlando is in a transitory stage this year. What was once a show focusing solely on voice has become ensnared in the web of unified communications and other applications that start with voice as a platform but integrate other forms of communication, like messaging and videoconferencing, into everyday applications running on the network.
Aside from a host of technologies, VoiceCon, in its 18th year, is also, in a sense, going green. There will be sessions and speeches dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint through the use of innovative communications tools, one such presentation featuring a former vice president and a soldier in the war against global warming.
CompTIA presents at VoiceCon
By Patricia Pieterse
March 14, 2008
IT Web
advertisement
CompTIA will feature its Convergence+ certification at this month's VoiceCon conference, says PRWeb.
On 19 March, at VoiceCon Orlando, CompTIA and BCR Training will present an educational programme titled The Convergence of Employer Needs and Future Employee Skills.
 Go Green: Al Gore speaks at VoiceCon 2008
By Leigha Cardwell
March 13, 2008
Tech Target
Al Gore will underline the importance of innovation and climate control at VoiceCon 2008 in Orlando.
At VoiceCon 2008 in Orlando, the conference is showing its true color: green. With a strong go-green initiative in place, keynote speaker Al Gore, and the event's kick-off on St. Patrick's Day, going green is the only reasonable way.
IBM: Lotus to get part of $1B investment
By n/a
March 12, 2008
Massachusetts High Tech Business Journal
At a meeting in its Somers, N.Y., facility, executives of IBM (NYSE: IBM) said the company would make the investment over the course of three years as it targets business customers with more than 1,000 employees for the new Sametime Unified Telephony product, which it plans to unveil at VoiceCon 2008 in Orlando, Fla., this week.
 Seven Unified Communications Trends At VoiceCon
By The VAR Guy
March 11, 2008
Var Business
VoiceCon kicks off March 17 in Orlando. But tech vendors are getting a jump on the event with unified communications announcements this week. Here are seven unified communication trends that will emerge at the show, The VAR Guy predicts.
 EVENT: VoiceCon Orlando 2008
By n/a
March 11, 2008
VoIP News
VoiceCon Orlando 2008 is slated for March 17-20 at the Gaylord Palms Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The conference, which is put together by TechWev, includes new product exhibitions and market announcements. It's expected that this year's conference will show that enterprise communications is expanding beyhond voice and telephony to Unified and Communications software-based architects.
VoiceCon Preview - Zeacom Communication Center
By Blair Pleasant,
March 7, 2008
UC Strategies
In the weeks leading up to VoiceCon, many vendors have been having pre-briefings with the UCStrategies.com team to tell us about their VoiceCon announcements. I've been following Zeacom for quite a while and was pleased to hear from them about their latest announcement, which positions them as a significant player in the UC space. For those of you who may not be as familiar with Zeacom, the company focuses on SMBs, especially mid-sized companies that have both contact center and communication management needs. Rather than taking an enterprise product and trying to fit it to the SMB market, Zeacom has developed its products and solutions specifically for SMB customers.
UC Friday: It's That Time of the Year
By Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion/UCStrategies
March 7, 2008
No Jitter
Tis the season - no, not Christmas - VoiceCon! This is the time of year when many vendors contact press and analysts to set up briefings, pre-briefings, and pre-pre-briefings about their VoiceCon announcements. I've been involved in several of these pre-briefings over the past couple weeks, and one of the more interesting companies I've heard from is Zeacom. I've been following Zeacom for several years and was always impressed with some of the unique features of their products. I especially like the personalized call greetings functionality - when I call a particular contact there, the system knows it's me calling based on my phone number and plays a greeting recorded by that person just for me, and provides me with the option of having the system try to find that person, leave a voice message, or be transferred to someone else. It's very slick.
Former Vice President Al Gore To Speak In Orlando... Sort Of
By Matt Parcell
February 27, 2008
WFTV.com
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Former Vice President Al Gore will appear at the Gaylord Palms Resort for a discussion on climate change and the role of technology at VoiceCon Orlando 2008. Technically, he won't be there but it will seem as though he is.
I'll be down at VoiceCon Orlando in March 2008...
By Dan York
February 27, 2008
Disruptive Telephony
FYI, I will be down at VoiceCon Orlando on March 17-20, 2008. I'm moderating two panel sessions (see the schedule). First, up, bright and early at 8am on Tuesday, March 18th, I'll be moderating a panel on "Top VoIP Security Threats". This should be a fun one as it has VOIPSA Chair Dave Endler, Mark Collier of SecureLogix and Sachin Joglekar of Sipera Systems. I know all three of the guys, particularly Dave and Mark who have both worked on VOIPSA matters, and this session should be a good bit of fun. I'm planning on making it a rather interactive session. :-)
VoiceCon Gets Real
By Greg Royal
February 4, 2008
NetworkWorld
This year VoiceCon Orlando widens its scope beyond IP Telephony to the broader enterprise communications market, and will focus on how enterprises are leveraging their new IP Telephony platforms with applications that increase revenues and improve productivity and customer satisfaction. There will be a special spotlight on customer case studies in critical vertical markets such as health, finance, higher education, government and manufacturing. The main stage and breakout sessions will be full of customer case studies with IT executives describing what they did, why they did it, the lessons learned and, most importantly, why it matters.
Good on Voicecon for understanding that telephony is not about phones but about communications. And communications are applications....
Jim Burton, UC Strategies: "IBM is way ahead of Microsoft"
By Adam S Gartenberg
February 1, 2008
Adam Gartenberg's Blog
Brent will be an instructor for a tutorial at VoiceCon Orlando called "Choices in Unified Communications Solutions: Comparing Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to IBM Lotus Sametime 8,"
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