2011 Buyers’ Guide

UC MAGAZINE — December 2010/January 2011

2011 Buyers’ Guide

Unified communications magazine offers this annual listing of communications solutions providers that can help meet your needs in the year ahead.

Feature Articles

Unified Communications: The First Killer Application for the Private Cloud
In the late '80s, dedicated point-to-point circuits were the data communications method of choice for telecommunications companies. Then, in the early '90s, virtual private network services were brought to life to lower costs, while still providing great service quality. Network traffic was switched when and where necessary to balance and optimize network bandwidth utilization. Sound familiar? It should. It was the birth of today's cloud.

The Role of TFO in High-Definition Voice Rollouts
Up until now, mobile operators have distinguished themselves through features such as geographic coverage, handsets with rich features, and low subscription cost. In the

Marrying UC and Virtualization Drives App Growth, Reduces TCO
However, an article in the August 2010 issue of this publication cited recently released data from Network Instruments that reveals a vast majority of organizations keen to deploy UC and virtualized technologies lack the tools required for monitoring and troubleshooting performance. It is within this context that the rapid advancements in VM-ready telemanagement applications are providing businesses with the platform to optimize their business processes.

The Democratization of Video
Videoconferencing, including telepresence, is expanding beyond the executive suite and conference rooms to desktops, assembly lines and hospital rooms.

The Future of IP Video
To prepare for the security considerations of IP video, one must anticipate how its adoption will evolve over the next few years. Business use of video, more than any other communications technology, is driven by consumerization - the expectation by employees, customers and business partners that they can leverage the same type of communications and collaboration tools in their professional lives that they employ in their personal lives.

Case Study

Fore You: Ryder Cup App Just One Example of Possible Mitel Phone Customization
Considering the tight competition, Tiger Woods' performance, and the sometimes severe weather - not to mention the 18th hole streaker - at this year's Ryder Cup, there was a lot of excitement during the October golf competition in Wales.

Editor’s Note

What We Learned, And How We Advanced, UC in 2010
Good news! The percentage of organizations that have prepared a business case for UC adoption increased from 55 percent in 2009 to 67 percent in 2010, according to CDW's 2010 Unified Communications Tracking Poll.

Publishers Outlook

RockMelt Ties Social Networking to Browsing
The unfairness of it all was all I could think when I had to access the opinion section of The Wall Street Journal via the web after getting accustomed to finding it on an iPad app. Those poor people who don't have tablets and smartphones, I thought, were seeing the web as second-class citizens. After all, the apps I have on my various devices constantly are being upgraded, allowing me to do things like download articles for reading on an airplane where there is no Internet access.

Now UC It

Presence: Old Hat or New Opportunity?
Presence indicates the availability and ability to communicate with individuals (and in some cases organizations, groups, and even things) before you attempt to communicate with them. Presence isn't a new idea though, and has been in use by consumers as part of bulletin board, chat room and instant messaging services since the 1980s. With the advent of Internet-based IM services in the 1990s and social networking sites as we entered the new millennium, presence has become a quintessential part of online social interaction by consumers. More recently, presence has appeared in corporate IM, IP PBX and unified communications client software. So is presence just old hat, or does it represent a new opportunity for businesses?

The Voice of IP

What Is a SIP Trunk?
Last month, Avaya and Skype announced a strategic partnership around Skype Connect. Skype Connect allows enterprises to connect their enterprise PBX products to Skype services, including PSTN calling and connectivity to the Skype user base. After the announcement, I got many questions asking the same thing - what is the difference between this and a SIP trunk? The answer, of course, depends on what a SIP trunk is.