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Tag: unified-communications

  • Jabber now available for virtual desktops

    Cisco has announced that Jabber, its unified communications (UC) product, is now available for virtual desktops. Cisco says based on an estimate by research and advisory firm Gartner, there will be around 77 million Jabber users on virtual desktops by 2016.

    How does Jabber integrate with virtual desktops?

    Through a new piece of software called the Virtualisation Experience Media Engine, Jabber is now available for Cisco thin clients and will soon be rolled out to other thin platforms as well as to mobile devices.

    What is Jabber?

    Jabber is a sophisticated communication solution that builds on Voice over IP (VOIP) technology popularized by video calling products like Skype. Its enterprise users have the opportunity to access their preferred method of communication to collaborate with others anytime, anywhere. Enterprise users can take advantage of Jabber's voice, video, presence, web conference and instant messaging capabilities to get the job done and can exchange information swiftly and securely. Users can arrange virtual meetings, work collaboratively on documents or simply stay in touch, regardless of whether they are using a mobile device, virtual desktop or a traditional PC. Jabber increases productivity by linking seamlessly with Microsoft Office.

    Jabber is an ideal solution for telecommuters or businesses whose employees travel frequently – it is in many ways the closest thing to being in the office in person, and is flexible enough to adapt to all kinds of workplaces and working situations.

    Cisco has so far sold 1.4 million Jabber 'seats' or licenses.

  • Mobile UC Deployment the Key to Higher Productivity, Says Survey

    Adding mobile technology to a Unified Communications strategy could allow the average business to recover $5,500 per employee per annum in lost productivity.

    Webtorials has collected survey responses from 200 people employed at companies which have over 500 employees, most of which are located in the United States. The survey, which was commissioned by the SIP communications company Sonus Networks, has some results that will interest business owners.

    Only one-quarter of the businesses surveyed stated that the saturation of Mobile UC in their workforce was intermediate, while another quarter said they were just starting to deploy the new technology. Another twenty-one percent said they had limited deployment of Mobile UC.

    With this technology only effectively deployed in around one-third of the businesses surveyed by Webtorials, there is a lot of room for improvement. The technology allows employees to communicate with each other on different mobile devices, such as tablets and smart phones, and can therefore boost employee productivity significantly.

    The report also stated that the shortfall in the widespread adoption of offsite UC capability could promote the development of a "productivity gap" between remote workers and onsite workers. This leads to a loss of around 2.5 hours per week per employee, a significant waste in productivity. Mobile UC allows enterprises to recover around $5,500 per annum in lost productivity.

    The use of smartphones and tablets at work is now widespread. According to the survey, two-thirds of knowledge workers in enterprise use their mobile devices at least one-quarter of the time.

    Steve Taylor, editor-in-chief of Webtorials, highlights the importance of this new technology, stating that mobility and flexibility is the key to the UC conundrum, especially for large enterprises. "Enterprises must push their Unified Communications capabilities beyond the office walls if they wish to get the maximum return on investment from their technology investments and the employees who use them."

    Wes Durow, the vice president of global marketing at Sonus, added: "Enabling mobility across the enterprise should be the first consideration as companies plan their UC deployments and that means having a robust, open-standard, SIP-based communications architecture in place that can support employees no matter where they are or what device they use."

  • 4PSA Enhances VoIP Suite with Cloud Telephony Service

    4PSA, known for its VoipNow Unified Communications platform, has announced the public availability of Cloud Telephony, the flexible, next-generation SIP trunking service that "can be provisioned within minutes."

    The new service delivers access to the telephony network using the SIP protocol and features unlimited concurrent incoming and outgoing calls. Moreover, it is possible to choose local phone numbers in over 30 countries around the world with best rates for domestic and international calls. Using VoIP technologies and the Cloud Telephony service, it is not necessary to install physical phone lines and incoming calls are always free.

    "The Cloud Telephony solution is designed to deliver great value to a wide variety of customers, from small businesses to enterprises and also service providers. We cover a wide range of expectations and requirements." said Mike Ross, 4PSA's President. "With the addition of Cloud Telephony to our VoipNow Cloud Instance and Unified Communications suite, the go-to-market time for these services has been greatly reduced." Mr. Ross also stated.

    The new service is part of 4PSA's strategy to bring the cloud flexibility to resources that traditionally required complicated provisioning processes. Cloud Telephony follows cloud Unified Communications and cloud software licensing as a way to simplify the deployment of traditional telephony services.

    Cloud Telephony can be used with any communication system that implements a VoIP SIP interface. When paired with VoipNow Cloud Instance that already offers software, infrastructure and support, it is a complete solution for service providers so that they can start delivering services to their customers immediately, and also for businesses that are looking for a turn-key Unified Communications solution.

    "Some customers prefer to host VoipNow® on their own infrastructure and choose their favorite carriers. VoipNow Professional is already the optimal solution for these customers with its comprehensive set of features, its flexibility and ability to scale. The new Cloud Telephony helps these installations too because it provides additional carrier services that reduce costs and improve reliability," added Mr. Ross.

    4PSA's Cloud Telephony is available in three packages – Starter, Business and Service Provider, which offer free credit every month and require no commitments.

  • Logitech Teams Up with GN Netcom on Unified Communications Solutions

    Logitech is teaming up with GN Netcom to fuel the Unified Communications market. As a first step in their collaboration, the two companies have entered into a distribution agreement under which Logitech will offer select products from the award-winning line of Jabra headsets and speakerphones through distribution channel partners in North America.

    The two companies also plan to roll out the offering globally as well as collaborate on the development of future audio peripherals for UC.

    As part of the initial agreement, Logitech will begin offering select Jabra headsets and speakerphones for Unified Communications, beginning in July 2011. Logitech will offer the Jabra products, which will be co-branded “Logitech powered by Jabra” as part of a portfolio of audio and video business solutions for UC.

    The products Logitech will be offering are currently certified to work with Avaya, Microsoft Corp., Cisco and Polycom under the Jabra brand. Logitech plans to confirm certifications with these partners as well as others for the “Logitech powered by Jabra” headsets and speakerphones.

    According to Roopam Jain, principal analyst at Frost and Sullivan, with LifeSize meeting rooms, Logitech webcams and ‘Logitech powered by Jabra’ headsets, Logitech is leveraging its strong brand and simplifying deployment and support for customers. “With the convergence of VOIP and video conferencing in unified communications solutions, we see a significant opportunity for Logitech to be a full solution provider,” he said.

    “This collaboration with GN Netcom will enable Logitech to be a full solution provider for Unified Communications,” said Gerald P. Quindlen, Logitech president and chief executive officer. “Businesses will now have a single company for a full range of UC solutions – from the meeting room with LifeSize video conferencing end points and infrastructure products to PCs, Macs and tablets with Logitech webcams, headsets and speakerphones.”

    “Jabra is already a leader in the UC space and we will continue to market the full range of Jabra branded solutions for Unified Communications. The agreement with Logitech enables GN Netcom to further expand the presence of Jabra products in North American sales channels,” said Mogens Elsberg, chief executive officer of GN Netcom. “We believe this agreement will lead to more people using Jabra headsets and speakerphones for their UC solutions.”

  • Hosted Communications Services Present Excellent Growth Opportunities to European Service Providers

    Although the on-premise model with its control and security advantages will dominate the enterprise communications market in the immediate future, the revenue share of hosted services is poised to increase significantly, according to Frost & Sullivan. Hosted communications services present an ever more popular alternative for deploying IP telephony and unified communications applications.

    New analysis from Frost & Sullivan – European Hosted IP Telephony and Unified Communications Services Market – finds that the hosted IP telephony market in Europe earned revenues of €0.9 billion in 2010 and estimates this to reach €4.9 billion in 2016.

    "The hosted IP telephony and UC services market in Europe is witnessing rapid growth mainly due to the increasing awareness about hosted solutions and improved feature sets," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Dorota Oviedo. "The economic slowdown and limited capital availability for investments urged many enterprises to consider alternative communications delivery methods."

    Once companies experience the actual functionality and service level offered, they become more comfortable with communications being delivered as a service. Services are becoming more mature, offering a complete PBX capability rather than the limited functionality of Centrex solutions previously witnessed in the market.

    "With the economy rebounding, companies will continue using hosted IP telephony services," adds Oviedo. "At the same time, they are also expected to complement them with new communications and collaboration applications."

    The European hosted IP telephony and UC services market is highly fragmented. All the major enterprise communications providers and vendors show interest in tapping this opportunity to leverage the strong customer demand for operational expenditure (OPEX)-based solutions.

    However, building a distribution channel is one of the key challenges faced by this growing industry.

    "Channel partners need to be educated on the benefits of predictable revenues based on recurring monthly revenues and commissions, which are less sensitive to the general economic fluctuations and will increase as hosted services gain traction," concludes Oviedo.

  • Polycom Announces Acquisition of Accordent Technologies

    Unified Communications provider Polycom has announced the acquisition of Accordent Technologies, a provider of video content management and delivery solutions, for approximately $50 million in cash. Polycom expects this acquisition to be neutral to earnings in 2011 and slightly accretive to earnings in 2012.

    Polycom will integrate its open standards UC Intelligent Core and UC endpoints with Accordent’s open standards video content management solution. The Accordent solution provides capture solutions for all major video use cases, whether delivering highly scalable live webcasts from the studio, providing automated rich media webcasting from the meeting or classroom, adding a streaming extension to videoconferences or enabling user-generated content from the desktop.

    According to data from market research firm Wainhouse Research, this acquisition immediately expands Polycom’s total available market by $500 million and, for this video management segment, this market is projected to generate a compounded annual growth rate of 32% through 2014 to $1.2 billion. As a strategic partner with Microsoft, Accordent strengthens and further differentiates Polycom’s deep native integration with Microsoft Lync and Sharepoint.

    "Polycom is committed to delivering an innovative, flexible and world-class video communications solution to customers over the entire content lifecycle – from real-time to capture, to management, to delivery," said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom Chief Development Officer.

    "We believe Accordent has the most elegant video content management solution on the market and by leveraging customer, channel, partner and product synergies with Polycom, this transaction positions Polycom at the forefront of end-to-end video and content management. We welcome Accordent’s customers and employees to the Polycom team," he added.

    "From our first meeting with Polycom, we shared a common vision about the future of unified collaboration and the paradigm shift in the way people communicate and work," said Mike Newman, previous Accordent Chief Executive Officer. "By integrating Accordent’s video content management solutions with Polycom’s unparalleled end-to-end video solution, we believe we can make this vision a reality as we harness the natural synergies between our two companies."

    Accordent grew to $9 million in revenues in 2010 and has over 1,200 customers in the enterprise and public sector, and through select service providers. The staff of 50 employees will remain in Southern California and will report into Polycom’s UC research and development organization. Accordent’s software-centric solution will become an integral element of the Polycom UC Intelligent Core and will be reported with Polycom’s Network Infrastructure revenues.

  • Unified Communications Market Has Strongest Quarter Since 2008

    Dell’Oro Group reported that the Unified Communications market expanded to its highest level since 2008 in the third quarter this year. Strong second half seasonality helped offset weakness in Europe as the Unified Communications market expanded 7 percent sequentially.

    “The market rebounded strongly in the third quarter due to robust seasonal quarters from several of the larger vendors, especially in North America, which was able to offset weakness in Europe” commented Alan Weckel, Director at Dell’Oro Group.

    “Despite pockets of weakness reappearing, we believe that the Unified Communications market will expand significantly in 2010 as existing vendors continue to invest and expand their software offerings and Microsoft begins to actively push Lync,” Weckel added.

    Also, according to the report, vendors continue to migrate their installed base over to IP lines, although the process may take another decade to complete. The top eight vendors in the quarter that accounted for more than 80 percent of IP line shipments were: Aastra, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, NEC, Shoretel, and Siemens.

  • Alteva Offers Free Complete UC Solution Through Its IP Phone Rental Program

    Alteva has announced another affordable way to leverage Microsoft Communication Services integrated with Alteva’s enterprise hosted VoIP service. Together, Microsoft and Alteva are providing hosted UC solutions for smaller businesses that integrate communication and business processes.

    To further make new IP technologies accessible to the SMB market, Alteva is now offering its complete UC solution to organizations purchasing 10 or more phones through an IP phone rental program. Alteva said that companies that choose to take advantage of the rental program will not have to put any money down to get a new Voice over IP phone system. “This rental option will greatly improve the channel managers’ ability to close sales in this turbulent economy,” said Alteva Chief Sales Officer Louis Hayner.

    Back in April, Alteva launched the complete suite of Microsoft Communication Services, including Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communications Server (OCS) with hosted voice services.

    “Hosted unified communications will change the way that businesses communicate,” said Rich Cannon, Industry Marketing Development Manager at Microsoft.

    “By integrating voice with Microsoft Communication Services, we are opening the doors to service providers and their partners by providing a range of functionalities to offer to the end user that will inevitably change the landscape of their business,” he added.

    In a survey by Infonetics Research, of North American companies and their plans for deploying Unified Communications equipment and services, as well as their ratings of leading Unified Communications vendors, Microsoft is one of the most widely deployed Unified Communications suppliers among survey respondents, enjoying high buyer awareness and receiving high marks from buyers on the most important buying criteria.

    “Against the backdrop of significant enterprise spending reductions on all kinds of products, the unified communication market is holding up remarkably well. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise, as these tools are designed to allow users to communicate and collaborate more effectively,” noted Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research.

    Related news
    Microsoft Lync: A New Name for a New Generation of UC Solutions
    SoliCall Releases Personal PBXMate for SMB’s and Private Users
    LG-Ericsson and Accton to Deliver Unified Voice and Data Solutions for Businesses

  • Microsoft Lync: A New Name for a New Generation of UC Solutions

    Microsoft announced the release candidate of Microsoft Lync, the next generation of Microsoft’s unified communications software. Lync is the new family brand for the products formerly known as Communications Server, Communications Online and Communicator, and it also now includes Lync Web App, and Lync Online.

    The release candidates of Lync 2010 and Lync Server 2010 are now available for businesses of all sizes to try for free. Microsoft said this broad release candidate is the last step toward release to manufacturing and general availability scheduled for later this year.

    According to the company, Lync can make every engagement a virtual face-to-face meeting, because any interaction can include video and audio conferencing, application and desktop sharing, instant messaging, and telephony.

    Lync has been designed from the ground up to work with Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Exchange, which helps reduce end-user adoption hurdles and increase return on investment. People can also stay connected to others on a wide range of devices while away from the office and manage their communications and calls in new ways, such as moving a call from a PC to a mobile device while leaving the office without disrupting the conversation.

    Microsoft revealed that more than 120 enterprise customers and partners are enrolled in the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for Lync, testing early releases and providing feedback, and over 400 unified communications partners are involved in readiness activities, preparing for general availability of the software later this year.

    In addition, more than 30 partners have announced beta versions of their Lync-compatible hardware, software and service products. Hardware products include a variety of internet protocol phones and USB endpoints optimized for Lync. Software solutions include contact centers, call recording, accounting and new applications that incorporate communications right within business processes. Routing services work with Lync to allow companies to meet United States E-911 requirements for all U.S.-based workers, regardless of location.

    “Over the past five years we have been on a journey to transform communications with the power of software,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of Unified Communications at Microsoft.

    “Lync delivers on this vision by unifying enterprise voice, instant messaging and web-, audio- and videoconferencing into a new, connected communications experience,” he added.

  • snom: Drive to Unified Communications Remains Strong


    Mike Storella, director of business development at VoIP phone maker snom, believes unified communications is the strongest segment in the communications industry.

    As customers look to become leaner and meaner, he stresses the advantages offered by wireless technology, such as WiFi, saying he feels it should be "everywhere".

    "Our latest snom VoIP Desk phone 8xx series all do WiFi, I don’t know the percentages but it is drastically less expensive to deploy an all WiFi office eliminating cat5 cable runs and increased Ethernet switch deployments," he said.

    Headquartered in Germany, snom has a range of eight VoIP business phones and is a worldwide provider. It works with any platform that uses the SIP protocols for VoIP.

    In an interview with TMCnet, Storella said the company has learnt that ROI "rules the day" for customers to make a positive choice to buy a replacement solution for their voice communications.

    He said the economic situation hasn’t affected the company’s decisions to invest in markets and products.

    "Times might be tough, but it is no time to lose faith that your products solve problems and needs for customers as they try to compete better in their business," he said.

    "If our products do what we say they do, customers need them to increase their productivity."