IBM (News - Alert) will invest $1 billion over the next three years to fulfill its unified communications and collaboration vision. The investment will fund product and technology advances as well as an increase in the development of new services.

 

Mike Rhodin, general manager of Lotus software, IBM software group said that the unified communications market is growing, “driven by employees’ changing habits and the increasing need for immediate access to information and people.”

 

Steve Mills, architect of IBM’s software vision, echoed that sentiment. “Communications is becoming ubiquitous in our lives,” Mills said. “Workers are faced with the challenge of increased mobility and ability to do one’s job from remote locations."

 

IBM is working to make unified communications capabilities available to users across a wide range of environments, including Lotus Sametime, Notes, and Connections, as well as Microsoft’s (News - Alert) Outlook and Office, and across a variety of business applications and line-of-business specific applications.

 

In a nod to serving mobile workers, IBM executives say that over the next 12 months the ability to leverage the company’s unified communications services will span multiple mobile devices from leading providers RIM, Apple (News - Alert), Sprint-Nextel and Symbian.

 

“It’s not just about communications,” Rhodin said. “It’s not just getting people together but actually allowing them to do something.”

 

Bruce Morse, vice president of unified communications in IBM’s software group agreed. The reason IBM is investing the time and resources into their unified communications initiative is about “…making it easy to help people to find, reach and collaborate with others through a unified user experience.”

 

We’re seeing a “new work and communications model,” Morse said. “UC is at the heart of this: Collaborative communities, diverse user preferences, any time anywhere access and availability, virtual workplace, real time business processes… How do you take latency out of the equation and let business processes become real time?”

 

IBM’s strategy is focused on four elements:

 

Rhodin, who previously served as vice president of Development and Technical Support for Lotus Software, working to transform front-end computing, will be hitting the road to promote the company’s unified communications and collaboration vision, presenting a keynote address at the upcoming VoiceCon conference and exhibition.

 

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