| |
 |
|
As we at UC Strategies have long been saying, UC is not just about person-to-person communications, but also about interactions between people and business processes. Now that those business process apps are becoming mobilized and rapidly moving into "clouds," UC-enabled communication applications are joining them there as well, in the form of UCaaS.
 Why You Need to Know: This convergence was bound to affect the vendors who offered separate solutions for communications and business process applications and yesterday's partnership announcement by Avaya and HP is a first indication of major industry consolidation between communication and business application vendors. |
 |
|
There is an old saying that, "All boats rise when the tide comes in." In fact, the history of the communications industry is replete with examples of how getting rid of islands of communications and assuring interoperability created a foundation upon which innovation could thrive and everyone benefited. This was true with such things as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), Group 3 facsimile, SMS, email, etc. The lack of universal agreement on certain standards is also why so many promising initiatives have either failed to meet expectations or died.
Why You Need to Know: When it comes to WebRTC, the evolving standard for real time peer-to-peer video and voice transfer in the browser, avoiding interoperability issues will be critical to its success. In fact, for our more technically inclined readers I wanted to recommend the recent Google testing blog contribution,Chrome - Firefox WebRTC Interop Test - Pt 1, by Patrik Höglund. |
| |
 |
|
Uptake for over-the-top (OTT) video services like Amazon Prime, continued connected device proliferation and the worldwide push into digital content and TV Everywhere by pay-TV providers, are all conspiring to spur the market ahead significantly for online video platforms (OVP)—as in, investment in this space is set to double by 2019.
Why You Need to Know: An analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the Global Online Video Platforms Market, finds that the market earned revenue of $369.4 million in 2013—and that is estimated to reach $800.2 million by 2019. That will come from twin drivers: the obvious ongoing push by media and entertainment (M&E) companies to economically deliver video to a fast-growing set of fragmented, video-enabled consumer devices; and, on the enterprise side, as video rapidly becomes a critical means of stakeholder communication and collaboration for businesses globally, many of whom are embracing the bring your own device (BYOD) trend. |
| |
 |
|
Wouldn't it be nice to just flip a switch and have your PC experience turn on and off on whatever device you chose? To be able to start a document on your desktop or laptop PC and finish it on your tablet or even your Smartphone? That has always been the unmet promise of those pitching thin client solutions, the idea that your PC experience could work like electricity - it is everywhere and as easy as an on/off switch to get to.
Why You Need to Know: At VMworld this week, NVIDIA, Google, and VMware announced a joint initiative to make this a reality and Microsoft is undoubtedly going to race them to see who can get there first - likely also using NVIDIA technology. Microsoft competes with Google and VMware but NVIDIA Grid is still both relatively unique and the most common platform used by IBM, VCE, Dell and other vendors looking to provide this kind of service today. |
| |
 |
|
Encrypting cloud storage is now in the mainstream, the accepted best practice and a business imperative. Across the world and all industries, enterprises need to encrypt cloud data to stay compliant, safe and competitive.
Why You Need to Know: There are several offerings of encrypted cloud storage for enterprises. And yet, many enterprises are still doing it wrong. |
| |
|
|
|
