A Cooperative Project of VoiceCon and UC Strategies

This week’s issue of Unified Communications eWeekly is sponsored by Unified Communication Strategies:

On March 28, 2007, UCStrategies.com will host a webcast that will highlight key events and observations from VoiceCon Spring and provide a unified communications industry update. The UCStrategies team will be joined by Fred Knight, VoiceCon Co-Chair. Join us for this distillation of the best, the newest and the essentials on unified communications. Register today.

The shape of UC applications became increasingly clear at VoiceCon Spring 2007, capping a wave of supplier announcements during the first quarter of the year. Four top themes are being supported across the board-Enhanced Conferencing, Team Collaboration, Professional Mobility and Business Process Integration. Here are highlights of each:

• Enhanced Conferencing: The increase in conference calls is attracting attention in several ways-there is a cost-savings play by moving the conference servers in-house, as well as a push to data sharing and videoconferencing. Cisco featured a live video call during its VoiceCon keynote and then, just one week later, announced its acquisition of WebEx. Microsoft also pushed conferencing in its VoiceCon keynote, garnering applause by adding an additional caller to an Office Communication Server conference call with simple drag and drop from an e-mail address entry. All the major providers are offering voice and video conferencing with data sharing, either directly or through partners.

• Team Collaboration and Workspaces: IBM announced Lotus Quickr for team workspaces with easy links to e-mail, IM, and folders; with document sharing and editing controls; and with RSS feeds for updates to users. Lotus Quickr responds to and, in some ways, even surpasses Microsoft’s very popular SharePoint. IBM also introduced Lotus Connections for “business-grade social computing” providing businesses with a single destination for building professional communities. Cisco joined this space in February, when it acquired Five Across, which enables customer websites with “full-featured communities and user-generated content.”

• Professional Office and Information Mobility Suites: Numerous software suites are promising seamless business processes for mobile professionals to minimize delay and maximize results. Microsoft’s Office Communication Server 2007 (OCS 2007) is now in broad beta testing for a mid-year release. Avaya introduced Avaya one-X Portal for integrated telephony, messaging, mobility and conferencing applications. Cisco announced Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator for office integration of cell phones as well as an 802.11 wireless phone for campus mobility. Siemens had earlier announced HiPath MobileConnect for enterprise dual-mode WiFi/cellular integration and followed up with a Nokia alliance to support MobileConnect on E-series phones. Nortel Multimedia Client for IBM Lotus Notes makes it simple for Lotus Notes users to access the capabilities of Nortel’s Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) 5100. Of course, there is integration of almost all products with Microsoft Exchange and/or Lotus Domino for links to messaging, contacts and calendar information.

• Business Process Integration Software and Alliances: The theme that communications has to be integrated to optimize business processes was on center stage at VoiceCon Spring. A keynote from Alok Kapoor, Merrill Lynch Managing Director, highlighted the significant customer and business value being produced by integrating Salesforce.com software with Merrill Lynch’s new IP-Telephony infrastructure. Avaya announced Communications Process Manager, a software kit for easy integration of six communication functions into business applications, supported by alliances including IBM. Cisco announced an initiative with IBM to deliver an open Client Platform for “unified communications and collaboration” (UC2). Microsoft announced publication of SIP-based Interoperation standards for OCS 2007. Nortel built on their January updates of the Integrated Communication Alliance with Microsoft, including their UC Integrated Branch, SIP integration between Nortel CS1000 and Microsoft UM, and 11 new integration professional services offers. 3Com promoted its deal to run its IP Telephony software co-resident with business applications on the IBM System i platform.

These emerging areas of focus are likely to drive Unified Communications forward in the coming five years. IP Telephony is now being positioned not as end in itself, but as an enabler of UC solutions. And the emphasis is increasingly where it needs to be: What UC will do for business.

For more detail and analysis of these issues and an industry update on Unified Communications, I hope you’ll join the UCStrategies.com team (along with VoiceCon’s Fred Knight), during a webinar on March 28. Register online here.

I welcome your feedback at marty@parkerbiz.com-or post your comments here in the VoiceCon Unified Communications eWeekly forum.

Marty Parker
Communication Perspectives and UCStrategies.com

Posted in Applications, Market Trends, Marty Parker, Tech Trends, Unified Communications |

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