Connectivity:

IBM

Jul 23 2008   2:07PM GMT

Making Presence Interoperable



Posted by: Tony Bradley
federation, IBM, Microsoft, presence, Unified Communications, UC

Presence is the keystone of unified communications. The ability to identify whether or not a given user is available, and what methods of communication might be most effective with that individual at that point in time is the foundation of what enables UC to make users and business processes more efficient and productive. Organizations that deploy Microsoft Unified Communications can federate with partners or customers that also use Microsoft Unified Communications, as well as with public instant messaging providers such as AIM and Yahoo. However, there remains a gap when one company is using Microsoft and a partner or vendor is using Cisco or IBM unified communications. In order to realize the benefits of presence across heterogonous unified communications systems, the UC vendors need to do more to make sure their toys play nicely together. Blair Pleasant talks more about this in this article from UCStrategies.com.

Apr 11 2008   3:31PM GMT

Nortel Leverages Open Source For New SMB Offering



Posted by: Tony Bradley
Unified Communications, UC, SCS500, SIP, IBM, Dell, Nortel

Built on an open source foundation, with the collaboration of the open source community in the SIPFoundry Project, Nortel’s new SCS500 (Software Communications System) provides small and medium businesses from 30 to 500+ employees with an affordable unified communications solution. The SCS500 is a SIP-centric unified communications product that provides instant messaging, presence, IP telephony, conferencing, and other unified communications capabilities. Nortel believes that there are 5 key elements to unified communications for the SMB market: productivity, efficiency, flexibility, cost savings, and mobility. They believe that the SCS500 delivers on each of these elements. The SCS500 is offered on popular Dell and IBM server platforms. You can learn more about the Nortel SCS500 in this CNNMoney.com article.


Mar 23 2008   3:12AM GMT

Microsoft and IBM to Test Interoperability



Posted by: Tony Bradley
VoiceCon, interoperability, Unified Communications, UCC, Lotus Sametime, IBM, Microsoft

In my last post, I mentioned that the lack of standards and platform interoperability was one of the biggest issues for early adopters of Unified Communications technologies. Microsoft and IBM are two of the biggest players in the Unified Communications arena. Microsoft is aggressively pushing for its share of the Unified Communications pie with their UCC (Unified Communications & Collaboration) tools. IBM, with their Lotus Sametime product, recently announced that they are investing $1 billion in R&D and acquisitions to strengthen their Unified Communications position. However, there are reports that an impromptu discussion at a VoiceCon Orlando session may lead to the two titans working on testing the interoperability of their products. If they manage to organize the testing, a demonstration of the interoperability may be performed at VoiceCon San Francisco this Fall.


Mar 12 2008   3:18AM GMT

IBM Pledges $1 Billion Investment in Unified Communications



Posted by: Tony Bradley
IBM, UCC, VoIP, Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, SIP, Unified Communications

Not wanting to be left out of the next big wave in network / office communications, IBM this week announced that they have earmarked $1 Billion (With a ‘B’. The one with 9 zeros after it) for internal development and key strategic acquisitions to enhance and develop their unified communications offerings. I guess they are serious about jumping in to the deep end and taking on Microsoft and Cisco for their share of the UC pie.