Setting up a unified communications (UC) solution for a government the size of Palm Beach County, Fla. is no small task for a business VoIP provider. With over 10,000 users and 300 locations, few solutions providers would be equal to the task of installing a new system that large, especially when 80 different telephone platforms have to be consolidated into one. After a comprehensive evaluation process, the county chose Unify and awarded the company a $4.5 million contract in July.
Munich, Germany-based Unify, Inc. was formerly Siemens (News - Alert) Enterprise Communications and is shifting from being a hardware-oriented company to a software-oriented one. Unify has offices worldwide, including one in nearby Boca Raton, Fla.
The company provides UC solutions for the SMB, financial, healthcare and public sectors. It offers several different UC platforms: hybrid, IP-based, remote branch and a preconfigured solution that resides on one server.
OpenScape is an enterprise-level UC software solution that provides seamless transition between different communications methods. According to Unify’s site, a simple finger swipe makes it possible to switch between different mobile devices and desktop phones. A single phone number can reach you no matter where you are as long as you have a supported device.
The phone installation was not without its share of controversy. In August, Unify laid off 46 workers from its office in Boca Raton and did not notify the county. Although the cutbacks took the county’s information systems services department director, Steve Bordelon, by surprise, it probably would not have changed anything. Globally, Unify plans to cut nearly half of its 7,700-employee workforce.
“Full disclosure is always the best policy, and in retrospect, it’s best to have the most information,” Bordelon said in a September interview with the Palm Beach Post, “I don’t think this would have changed our decision…We are confident there is no question about the long-term viability of the company or its ability to perform the contract.”
As long as Unify delivers, the contract should be a good move for Palm Beach County. The new system will greatly simplify what had been a complex arrangement of disparate phone systems and will also bring the county into the 21 century.
Edited by Alisen Downey