Kicking off an exciting and informative Unified Communications track, this session will provide a review of the state of the UC market, both in terms of current customer adoption and plans, and the capabilities that leading providers are now bringing to the table.

The latest customer survey results jointly developed by TMC and IntelliCom will be used to examine current UC implementation plans and the key areas of value that customers now expect to be delivered by these solutions. The session will further explore the wide range of options now emerging for delivering UC including bolt-on applications that integrate with legacy phone systems, software-centric solutions that incorporate traditional voice applications as part of a broader UC and Collaboration suite that can be delivered on dedicated servers or in virtualized data center environments, and new options for placing all or a portion of these capabilities in the cloud. These rapidly-evolving capabilities will be further discussed in terms of their potential for delivering targeted business value to the customer.

In addition to analyzing these market-level dynamics, the session will also offer IntelliCom’s latest perspectives on which current and emerging providers are best positioned to respond to these evolving customer needs.

Presented by: Frank Stinson (Moderator) Partner IntelliCom Analytics

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There is little dispute over the cost savings can be associated with various IP-based communications platforms, depending on initial investment and existing recurring monthly costs. But today, executives are looking for a more forward-looking analysis before signing off on investment in a new unified communications solution.

This session focuses on the research findings of communication cost structures over a ten-year period, outlining the true total cost of ownership for unified communications. Learn how up-front costs for what you are considering may be only 26% of your total cost over five years, and meet customers that have justified VoIP deployments by analyzing recurring costs, including power consumption, software and hardware upgrades and renewal requirements, training costs, labor costs, system management and other costs incurred for successful deployments.

Presented by: Russ Klein (Moderator) Vice President, Technology Research Group Director AberdeenGroup, a Harte-Hanks Company Ernie Wallerstein President for the Americas Enghouse Interactive Jason Alley Solutions Marketing Interactive Intelligence Mark Arman Vice President - Business Development ShoreTel

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The pending launch of Microsoft’s Lync 2010 (Office Communication Server 14) has been positioned as marking the company’s arrival as a true IP-PBX competitor. But Microsoft and its UC alliance partners like Aspect have not been alone in advocating a software-based approach as the wave of the future for delivering both core telephony and advanced UC applications.

A growing number of existing voice providers including Avaya, Interactive Intelligence, Mitel, ShoreTel and Siemens now offer software-based solutions as either alternatives to their traditional voice system packaging or as their primary architecture today. But are these solutions truly ready for mainstream customers? And if so, what compelling value can they deliver today, and what new capabilities will they enable in the future? A panel of leading vendors will discuss their views on the state of this transformation.

Presented by: Frank Stinson (Moderator) Partner IntelliCom Analytics Bernard Gutnick Senior Director - Product Marketing ShoreTel Joe Staples Chief Marketing Officer Interactive Intelligence Bill Gay Director, UC Practive Aspect Kathy Heilmann Director of Solutions Marketing for Unified Communications and Collaboration Siemens Enterprise Malcolm Concannon Director of Systems Engineering Mitel

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Many businesses are adopting VoIP, IM, online video and other UC applications, and extending these applications to teleworkers home office systems, smartphones, and other endpoints. Further, many enterprises are taking advantage of inexpensive VoIP smartphone applications and WiFi networks for mobile phone calls, savings hundreds of dollars in cellular call costs, particularly for personnel who travel extensively and face high roaming fees while in other countries.

Despite these benefits – or, rather, because of them – UC applications present privacy compliance issues and other unique security challenges that exceed the capabilities of traditional data security solutions, which cannot detect and protect against UC-specific attacks.

In this session, attendees will learn how UC implementations differ from traditional data from a security perspective, and how to extend network security and mandated compliance to any endpoint anywhere, to protect personnel using WiFi/VoIP/UC applications that are often otherwise open to call interception and other real-time intrusion. Speakers will also address how businesses can extend enterprise security postures – including privacy regulations and security compliance mandates – to UC applications and devices, particularly critical in healthcare, financial services, credit card processing and education.

Presented by: Erik Linask (Moderator) Group Editorial Director TMC Sarah Carter VP Marketing FaceTime Communications, Inc. Drew Bloczynski Senior Director of Technology Sipera Systems Jim Donovan Director, Product Management Oracle Communications

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With deployments of UC solutions evolving to integrating desktop software (from vendors such as Microsoft and IBM), and voice systems (both legacy or IP PBX systems from leading vendors, such as Avaya or Cisco), and applications specific solutions (like video from players like Polycom, as well as contact centers from vendors like Interactive Intelligence or Aspect, businesses are inevitably facing the daunting task of integrating complex communications products from multiple vendors to create unique best of breed solutions.

This session will explore what various vendors suggest or recommend about multi-vendor interoperability, including considerations of trends like cloud computing and virtualization.

Presented by: David H. Yedwab (Moderator) Partner Market Strategy & Analytics Partners Ajay Kapoor Managing Director of Strategic Communication Consulting Avaya Hans Hwang Vice President of Advanced Services, Worldwide Collaboration Practice Cisco Systems, Inc. Christian Goffi APS Service Practice Leader Avaya Bill Verthien Microsoft

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