Aug 31 2008 8:31PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Unified Communications,
telephony,
IP PBX,
Microsoft,
Gartner,
UC,
OCS 2007,
NoJitter.com,
Magic Quadrant
Those who follow technology trends in business are probably familiar with the coveted Gartner Magic Quadrants. What has shocked many in the communications arena is that Gartner recently added a new player to their Magic Quadrant for corporate telephony- Microsoft. Microsoft is well known in many arenas, but corporate telephony has typically been reserved for players like Avaya, Nortel, Cisco, etc. Part of the reason for Microsoft’s inclusion may come down to this statement from Gartner: “Although companies are still deploying PBX and IP Telephony, most should make the decision in the context of a broader unified communications strategy.” For more about the Gartner report, take a look at this story from NoJitter.com.
Aug 31 2008 8:23PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Nortel,
VoIP,
Unified Communications,
SMB,
UC,
Pingtel
Nortel is a major player in the unified communications arena. Much of their VoIP and UC technology is built on Pingtel’s open source solutions. In their effort to strengthen their product line and improve their ability to deliver innovative UC soutions for the SMB (small and medium business) market, Nortel purchased Pingtel. An instantmessagingplanet.com article says “The acquisition, which has Nortel buying Pingtel from the smaller firm’s parent company, BlueSocket, illustrates a growing trend as vendors strive to push out seamless and easy-to-manage UC solutions — but often don’t have the capacity to develop needed software elements in-house.” Check out the article to learn more.
Aug 31 2008 8:19PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
HP,
Unified Communications,
UC,
ResponsePoint,
Aastra,
ProCurve Alliance
Aastra, a global provider of communications equipment, and one of the three vendors supplying hardware for Microsoft’s ResponsePoint communications system, announced that they have joined HP’s ProCurve Alliance. According to an article from mysolutioninfo.com, “partners joining the HP ProCurve Alliance go through a rigorous process that includes technology certification to ensure solution interoperability, simplified deployment and optimised performance. End users can enjoy the confidence that they will be served by a trained, competent and certified channel.”
Aug 29 2008 1:40PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
training,
Unified Communications,
ROI,
user,
UC,
Evangelyze Communications,
education,
corporate culture
Unified Communications is many things to many people. Many organizations (and even some experts) are still struggling to define what it is, what it isn’t, what are the features and benefits, and what are the pitfalls. Arguments can be made about how it will streamline communications and allow the company to be more productive and more efficient, but that assumes it is properly implemented and used. Where the proverbial ‘rubber meets the road’, the true measure of ROI for the UC investment will be based in large part on how well the company educates its users and transforms the corporate culture so that the users understand how to leverage the new tools effectively. Investing in a unified communications infrastructure without training the employees to use it effectively is like having a race car that nobody knows how to drive. Evangelyze Communications, a Microsoft Gold Partner and Voice Premier Partner, understands this need and has developed an end-user training course organizations can use to educate their users and transform the communicatios culture to make sure employees take advantage of the UC tools at their disposal.
Aug 29 2008 1:31PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Unified Communications,
Microsoft,
UC,
call center,
Aspect Software,
Kevin Schwarz
Aspect Software, a major player in unified communications and the largest company focused solely on providing unified communications for the call center, named Kevin Schwarz Executive Vice President of Global Professional Services. Aspect has been providing IP-based solutions in the call center for some time, and they joined forces with Microsoft earlier this year. The Microsoft partnership is based on a joint-effort to take Aspect’s dominant position in call center IP solutions and integrate it with Microsoft’s unified communications platform. The resulting combination opens a number of new possibilities and it will be Schwarz’s responsibility to identify and exploit new markets and opportunities. Check out this Marketwatch.com article to learn more about Aspect’s new addition.
Aug 29 2008 1:18PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Avaya,
Unified Communications,
UC,
report,
Aspect,
call center,
Aberdeen
The Aberdeen Group conducted a survey earlier this year regarding the use of unified communications technologies in the call center. According to this Marketwatch.com article, one of the authors of the report said “Unified communications is as much about the business, finding the right business process to UC-enable, and finding the right return on investment for the right departments. A small number — 23% — have some form of unified communications implemented, but an astounding 50% of customers surveyed are or will be evaluating unified communications in the next eighteen months.” Aberdeen reports usually cost money, but Aspect Software and Avaya have sponsored this report so that you can download it for free (until September 26).
Aug 28 2008 3:21AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Nortel,
Unified Communications,
UC,
new york,
Mets,
Shea Stadium,
CitiField
I guess new baseball stadiums are all the rage in New York. Both the Yankees and the Mets are constructing new stadiums which should be set for the 2009 season. As the Mets move across the parking lot from Shea Stadium to CitiField, they are also moving to cutting-edge communications by deploying a Nortel unified communications network which will allow the employees of the Mets organization to collaborate and communicate in new ways that will help them to be more productive and efficient. According to an article from NetworkWorld, “Citi Field will have as many as 250 Wi-Fi access points to support a range of functions, including wireless ticket-scanning and letting fans order food from their seats.” To learn more about how the Nortel UC solution will enhance and improve communications for the employees and the fans at CitiField, read Unified Communications Takes Center Field at Ball Park.
Aug 25 2008 3:42AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Nortel,
ICP,
instant messaging,
Web 2.0,
Evangelyze Communications,
Office Communicator,
Interactive Communications Platform,
click-to-call,
click-to-chat
One of the next big frontiers for Unified Communications is integrating UC functionality into call centers or customer support departments. Granted, most organizations are still struggling to manage the original frontier of how to deploy UC in the first place and realize the values and benefits it delivers. But, the ability to leverage those same benefits and increased efficiency can really translate to ROI when you are talking about how hundreds or thousands of calls are routed for customer support centers. Nortel has introduced their Interactive Communications Platform, or ICP, which provides Web 2.0 style widgets that companies can incorporate into their web sites which will provide customers with the ability to initiate instant messaging sessions with company representatives, or use a click to call function which will automatically initiate a call back from the customer support center to the customer. Evangelyze Communications has also developed a click to chat utility that links with the Office Communicator instant messaging functionality to allow customers to chat in real-time with Evangelyze Communications representatives and get answers to their questions.
Aug 23 2008 1:19PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Unified Communications,
Microsoft,
Edge,
UC,
OCS 2007,
Evangelyze Communications,
Mediation,
Director,
Mike Stacey
Those familiar with Microsoft Unified Communications and how to deploy and configure Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 are likely familiar with the Edge and Mediation roles. The OCS Edge server allows external or public access to the OCS 2007 resources, and the Mediation server ‘mediates’ between communications protocols, allowing the Microsoft Unified Communications platform to integrate and communicate with other voice protocols. A slightly more obscure role is that of the Director. As Mike Stacey, Director of Services for Evangelyze Communications, points out in his blog, it is not a completely separate installation, like the Edge and Mediation roles, but it can play a valuable role in your Microsoft Unified Communications infrastructure. Check out Mike’s blog post (The OCS Director - Reasons, Benefits and Dependencies) to learn more.
