IP video is already in the enterprise but deployment is no easy task

01/07/09

Today, we'll continue our discussion of IP video and will share our own business experiences of IPV and how enterprise video can be useful. We'll highlight some tips from AT&T on IPTV based on an enterprise content data network.

2009 will be the year of IP video

01/05/09

One of our predictions for 2009 was that the B2B demand for video over IP would grow this year. We'd like to expand on the topic and will look to cover IP video more extensively this year. This week, we'll begin with a few definitions, throw in a few data points about the growth of IP video, discuss business video encounters experienced in person, follow up with some viewpoints from Cisco and AT&T, and finally we'll sprinkle in our usual analysis and observations.

Top 10 predictions for VoIP and convergence in 2009

12/17/08

We've got to admit that making predictions for 2009 is a little tougher than usual given today's economic challenges and uncertainty, but we're willing to give it a shot provided our readers are willing to understand our perspectives come with less optimism than we normally project. Given the disclaimer, here are our Top 10 predictions for VoIP and convergence in 2009 ...

How did we do with our 2008 convergence and VoIP predictions?

12/15/08

It’s time to wrap up the year with our traditional look back at the predictions we made last January for 2008, then next time we’ll suggest how convergence and VoIP will evolve in 2009.

Alcatel updates OmniPCX Enterprise; AT&T offers security advice

12/10/08

Alcatel-Lucent announced a suite of enhancements late last month for its large enterprise portfolio. The move furthers the company's enterprise strategy announced nearly two years ago. Tom Burns, head of Alcatel-Lucent enterprise activities said: "Alcatel-Lucent has added more than 5,000 new enterprise customers since the initial launch of the Corporate Communications Solutions offering."

Large and small businesses share similar concerns about UC adoption

12/08/08

Last week, we had a chance to talk to execs from Objectworld, which focuses on small businesses, and to Siemens, which focuses on large customers, about the concerns their customers face when considering unified communications. Both types of customers see total cost of ownership and return on investment as major factors, though they differ on some elements of both considerations.

NEC focuses on portfolio management; Cincinnati Bell adds SMS to landline phones

12/03/08

NEC Unified Solutions last week made several company changes designed to further its Univerge360 strategy that we discussed in March.

CounterPath adds enterprise-grade softphone to support Outlook

12/01/08

We recently spoke with Donovan Jones, president and CEO at CounterPath to catch up on his company's progress with fixed-mobile convergence. CounterPath provides service providers, enterprises and OEMs with desktop and mobile software products that are integrated with voice, video, presence and instant messaging applications across both fixed and mobile networks. It has an impressive customer list that includes AT&T, Verizon, British Telecommunications, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, Mitel and Nortel.

How build a successful Unified Communications and Collaboration plan

11/24/08

Verizon Business recently published some suggestions about how build a successful Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) plan, focused on what enterprises need to consider when making the move to unified communications. The tips follow the company's launch of UC&C in September this year. Verizon Business has both premises-based and hosted solutions, along with professional services that support UC&C with planning, consulting, deployment, and ongoing management.

Reducing telco costs with unified communications

11/19/08

As VoiceCon 2008 wrapped up last week in San Francisco, the usual announcements about new products, more interoperability demonstrations, and end-user case studies were standard fare. But another theme emerged about how unified communications deployments are being affected by current economic conditions as several company executives shared their views. The bottom line: Unified communications can be used to reduce telco costs and improve employee productivity - and proving these in a business case are especially critical in uncertain economic times.

IBM and Microsoft demonstrate 'interdomain federation'

11/17/08

VoiceCon San Francisco wrapped up last week with more news on the unified communications front. Perhaps the most noteworthy item came from IBM and Microsoft following up on a commitment, made in Orlando in March 2008, to improve interoperability. The companies announced they have now demonstrated "interdomain federation" between Microsoft OCS and IBM Sametime and that the feature will be available in products within the next few months. 

ShoreTel's Converged Conferencing integrates conferencing with instant messaging

11/12/08

Continuing our highlights of pre-announcements at VoiceCon San Francisco 2008, today we'll check in with product announcements from ShoreTel, Marshall Electronics' MXL Technology Division, Polycom, Vixxi Solutions, and VoIPshield Systems.

VoIP, UC network planning and management the focus at VoiceCon 2008

11/10/08

VoiceCon San Francisco 2008 opens this week with a flurry of product announcements and demonstrations, so in this week's newsletters we'd like to highlight a few news items that were released in advance of the show. Today, we'll focus on tools designed to improve VoIP and unified communications network planning and management from Mindsharp, NetIQ, NetQos, and Psytechnics.

Aspect adds instant messaging, presence to contact center platform

11/05/08

Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider last week released Aspect Unified IP 6.6, scheduled for general availability in December 2008. The update will include an "ask-an-expert" feature using the instant messaging and presence technology provided in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Aspect announced back in March 2008 that it planned to improve unified communications capabilities in the contact center and in a separate announcement, Aspect and Microsoft announced an alliance to incorporate Microsoft OCS into contact centers.

Verizon, AT&T further plans for femtocell services

11/03/08

AT&T and Verizon were last week reported to be moving further with their femtocell plans. According to Fiercewireless, Verizon is waiting for FCC approval for its femtocell base station and the company may launch its service in 2009. Unstrung.com reported that AT&T is conducting lab tests and plans to trial the technology later this year and into 2009. Femtocells are cellular base stations used in the home of office to improve wireless phone coverage using a broadband data service to carry mobile calls over the Internet.

Acme Packet leads in IMS-support for session border control

10/29/08

Acme Packet, a provider of session border control products, said it is involved in more than 100 IP-Multimedia Subsystem deployment projects, with European providers accounting for 50% of the IMS efforts. That figure is followed by 22% in Asia-Pacific, 15% in Central & South America and 13% in North America. Interestingly, nearly two-thirds of its IMS projects deliver services only to wireline access networks.

Covad targets small businesses with integrated phone and Internet service

10/27/08

Covad last week unveiled an integrated phone and Internet service targeted at small businesses with up to 35 employees per location. The Covad Integrated Access service is delivered over a T-1 line and works with customers' existing phone systems. The service uses SIP trunking and supports a range of IP, digital and analog PBXs, according to the company.

Nortel rolls out Business Communications Manager for midsize companies; Sylantro puts Synergy in the cloud

10/22/08

Three news items today: the global availability of Nortel's Business Communications Manager 450, Sylantro's support of Amazon Web Services' Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for its Synergy platform, and the merger between the IMS and NGN forums.

BroadSoft, Microsoft announce hosted UC service; Microsoft unveils OCS 2007 R2

10/20/08

It has been a busy month so far in the convergence market with BroadSoft and Microsoft announcing the general availability of a BroadSoft hosted UC service based on Microsoft software. There was also the debut of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2, Nortel's launch of BCM450 IP PBX targeted at midsize businesses, Sylantro's release of hosted voice applications on Amazon's EC2 Cloud, and the decision by the IMS Forum and the NGN Forum to merge. Today we'll focus on BroadSoft and Microsoft's announcements and discuss the remaining news in our next newsletter later this week.

Inside Cisco Unified Communications System 7.0

10/13/08

Cisco showcased its Unified Communications System 7.0 at the company's recent UC Partner Summit. The release aims to improve ease-of-use, openness, interoperability, and total cost of ownership. It also includes upgrades to Cisco's Unified Mobile Communicator, MeetingPlace and WebEx integration, a Unified Customer Voice Portal, deeper integration with IBM and Microsoft desktop products, and extended third party development opportunities with a unified applications environment.

Unified communications e-book suggests 3 questions to consider when deploying UC

10/13/08

Today, we'd like to draw your attention to a new chapter in a unified communications e-book titled "VoIP: Do You See What I'm Saying?" authored by NetQoS and available on Webtorials. This is a continuation of a great tutorial series. In the chapter, unified communications is carefully defined in terms of what it is and what it isn't. It covers the impact of UC on network performance and examines the needs and methods for managing and monitoring UC. Just as with the other chapters, for readers just learning about VoIP, this is a super starting point and UC experts will find it to be a great reference.

ShoreTel VoIP supports seven new countries

10/08/08

ShoreTel has expanded its offerings with ShoreTel 8.1, which adds support for seven new countries, plus support for ShoreTel's Unified Communications desktop client. Also included are VPN-enabled phones and two new voice switches. The company has also established new offices and expanded its distribution channels to support the increased global portfolio.

Skype now on Digium's Asterisk open source telephony platform

10/06/08

Digium and Skype announced recently that they are collaborating to bring Skype to Digium's Asterisk-based open source telephony platform, allowing customers to make, receive and transfer Skype calls from within their Asterisk phone systems. The collaboration is targeted at small and midsize businesses, with an emphasis on providing low rates. The beta version of the product is limited to a select number of users, developers and integrators; system administrators and developers are invited to apply here http://www.astricon.net/skype. Following the beta period, Skype For Asterisk will be sold and distributed by Digium and its worldwide network of resellers, according to the two companies’ joint statement.

DiVitas adds voice, messaging software to smart phones

10/01/08

DiVitas Networks announced system upgrades with Version 2.0 for its Mobile UC platform. The DiVitas Mobile UC solution adds voice and messaging applications onto smart phones that can run on Wi-Fi networks, cellular networks or both. The latest software edition provides an improved GUI, extended PBX features over the cellular network, visual voice mail, a Voice Quality Engine (VQE), and new management and control tools. With the release, DiVitas moves away from including a hardware appliance to a software-only model, and adds a hosted deployment option.

Agito adds 'dual persona' to fixed-mobile convergence gear

09/29/08

Agito Networks earlier this month launched the next-generation version of its RoamAnywhere Mobility Router. The router supports fixed-mobile convergence in the enterprise and uses both proactive and reactive metrics to deliver sub-100 millisecond handover of mobile voice between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. The new version adds security features to deliver voice outside the enterprise, expands support for additional PBX systems, adds least-cost routing, and comes with a "Dual Persona" capability so users can appropriately use a single mobile phone for both business and personal calls.

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Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.