UC Day Focuses on Future Deployment Strategies

By Chris DiMarco, TMCnet Web Editor

It’s been almost 20 years since Vint Cert wore his infamous “IP on everything” t-shirt at the 1992 IETF conference, and in that time internet communications use has exploded. “We’re not there yet but we’re getting close,” David Yedwab of Market Strategy and Analytical Partners said in his inGate sponsored address at ITEXPO (News - Alert) East 2011 Thursday. The keynotes focused on unified communications and set out to answer the biggest questions in the space. Yedwab is a member of UCstrategies.com, a group of analysts working to define, drive and market the UC industry. 

VoIP penetration will reach 79 percent by the end of 2012, practically doubling the 37 percent margin it had in 2009. The availability of UC will rise directly with implementation of IP telephony, since it’s nearly impossible without an underlying voice network in place. The good news is VoIP has seen rapid expansion in both business and home use; the bad news is there’s still resistance due to QoS and technology concerns.

As for service provider questions, several selling platforms could make themselves the primary source for VoIP. Traditional telcos could lead the charge based on their historical involvement, heritage and knowledge of the telephony space. However, Yedwab was quick to point out that, “the incumbent is always last to cannibalize its install base and telcos have been preoccupied with wireless market,” leaving the space open for colonization by smaller regional providers or even cable services.

UC on the other hand is already being pushed by multiple companies in two separate IT spheres. First is the telephony sphere, more frequently adds UC options to the VoIP services it provides. The second is the desktop applications industry (Microsoft (News - Alert) for example). These companies now offer total UC packages (like Lync in the case of MS) that make it easy for the businesses to get connected.  The field is full of competitors coming from distinct backgrounds and specializations. Established enterprises and upstartes alike  have a stake in UC but as of yet no single company has been crowned king of the space.

Yedwab suggested that the company that will separate itself from the pack will be the one that keeps the end user in mind. Systems may have thousands of features, but if the benefits are incommunicable to the customer, then they’re not going to sell. A simplistic interface with intuitive and easy integration to established business processes is the best way to get people to adopt unified solutions.

Widespread adoption of UC depends on a strategy that currently lacks definition, “until we get UC in the hands of the businesses we won’t know what direction it’s going to go,” Yedwab said. The advantages of IP telephony and integrated communications are more than apparent this late in the game. Implementation requires a detailed strategy and overcoming the outdated notions of poor voice quality and departmental restructuring associated with it.

(source: http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/topics/enterprise-voip/articles/142366-uc-day-focuses-future-deployment-strategies.htm)