The Emperor Has No Clothes: Does Telepresence Really Deserve a Premium?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | May 14, 2008
This guest post was written by Peter Brockmann, President of Brockmann & Company, a high tech marketing consulting company.
Telepresence has really improved the video communications experience. High definition (HD) video conferencing has really improved the video communications experience. The life-sized, blur-free and crystal clear presentation of remote meeting participants, the directionally-synchronized artifact-free audio quality, excellent and flattering lighting placement, the clever mind-tricks of the curved furniture and simple session engagement mechanisms all make for an awesome, technology-transparent business meeting.
HP Acquires EDS
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | May 13, 2008
This could be big news in Unified Communications: HP is acquiring EDS at a cost of almost $14 billion.
Telepresence: The Next Generation
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | May 12, 2008
Cisco today announced its next iteration of telepresence, moving both up and down in scale from its initial table-based system. As you can see in the photos with the release, the new designs are "personal", i.e., one-to-one; and double-rows for bigger groups.
WebMessenger - Bringing OCS to Mobile Devices
Posted by Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion/UCStrategies | May 9, 2008
WebMessenger, announced WebMessenger Mobile for Microsoft OCS, enabling enterprises to extend their investments in the Microsoft UC platform out to BlackBerry and other mobile devices. WebMessenger provides mobile real-time presence, IM, VoIP, and collaboration products for enterprises and mobile professionals. It also targets persistent group chat users who have alerts set up so they can act on new information or requests quickly and efficiently, and it provides other communications management solutions. For example, the company developed Message Alerts Enterprise Edition in conjunction with a large and very well-known financial services firm, using rules to trigger alerts and notify users when they get an important message or messages with specific words, for example.
VisiCalc and Unified Communications
Posted by Don Van Doren, Vanuguard Communications/UCStrategi | May 9, 2008
Individual user productivity is to Unified Communications as VisiCalc was to personal computing. VisiCalc, of course, was one the first software programs that enabled individuals to harness a PC to accomplish a task--to create and calculate spreadsheets. Everyone who needed to do these sorts of calculations immediately understood the benefit once they saw it in operation.
OCS, VoIP, Contact Centers, and the Camel’s Nose
Posted by Brian Riggs, Current Analysis | May 8, 2008
One last observation to wrap up my musings on the Microsoft-Aspect alliance. Tucked into the press release announcing the whole shebang was this curious line:
Sprint, Clearwire Combine on WiMAX, and Hope Returns
Posted by Michael Finneran, dBrn Associates | May 7, 2008
The never-ending saga that is WiMAX has thrown us yet another surprise.This morning’s papers bring news that Sprint and Clearwire will be combining (or “re-combining”) their WiMAX offerings still using the name Xohm. The combined company will take Clearwire’s name , though it will be headed up by Sprint’s CTO and long-time WiMAX booster, Barry West. More importantly, Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google, Bright House Networks, and Trilogy Equity Partners will jointly invest $3.2 billion in the new venture. The investments still falls far short of what will be needed to deploy ubiquitous nationwide coverage, and the target deployment date for the first major rollout has slipped from 2008 to 2010.
Is Cisco Falling Behind in FMC?
Posted by Michael Finneran, dBrn Associates | May 6, 2008
During last week’s Interop convention in Las Vegas, Cisco and Nokia announced a number of trials for their mobile unified communications solution, but the news included little in the way of new capabilities. The problem is that while most of the other fixed mobile convergence (FMC) solutions on the market can deliver an automatic hand-off; Cisco still must depend on the user to manually transfer the call. That automatic hand-off function is critical, because without it, there is no way of ensuring the users’ calls are being sent over the less costly WLAN option when they are within range.
Interoperability Emerges As The Key To UC
Posted by Irwin Lazar, Nemertes Research | May 6, 2008
Over the last two months or so we’ve had the opportunity to interview about 100 IT executives from end-user organizations of varying size and scope about their organization’s approach to unified communications. We’re asking IT executives about their UC plans, experiences, business drivers, and concerns. In most interviews one key concern emerges: Interoperability.
More on the Evolving Communications Organization
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | May 5, 2008
At Interop last week, I heard a variation on Marty Parker's taxonomy of IT/communications organizational structures that I blogged about recently.
Microsoft’s Response Point, Good for the Enterprise?
Posted by Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc. | May 4, 2008
Response Point is Microsoft’s software based IP PBX. Its initial offering is for the S in SMB. It does not fit the medium and large enterprise location, but could satisfy the requirement of the small office of 5 to 50 phones. The retail branch, insurance office and remote government offices are all candidates, if the organization does not plan to interconnect these offices by an IP or legacy T1 network. In some companies, the remote offices are locally managed and independent, making them candidates for a key system replacement. Response Point may satisfy these situations.
UC and User Productivity
Posted by Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion/UCStrategies | May 2, 2008
The UCStrategies.com team has been differentiating between the two types of Unified Communications: UC User Productivity (UC-UP) and UC Business Process (UC BP).
Have You Written Your Last Telephony RFP?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 30, 2008
Tony Rybczynski of Nortel suggested that possibility during Don Van Doren's Intro to UC session this morning. His point was that enterprises need to start framing their purchase decisions in terms of UC capabilities rather than as simple telephony replacement procurements.
UC and the Customer Disconnect
Posted by Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc. | Apr 30, 2008
Regarding Eric's post, "Will UC Cut Costs?" and the customer disconnect: Should we should not be surprised? Gartner only lends credibility to what many of us have known since the term UC was created.
Will UC Cut Costs?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 30, 2008
As I mentioned below, Gartner has a new report out in which they surveyed 300 organizations and reached the conclusion that Unified Communications' value is in increasing "business agility," rather than in saving money. That was based on actual experiences of early adopters.
Calling the Channel
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 29, 2008
Regular readers know that we get some of our best analysis and data courtesy of Wainhouse Research. Wainhouse has launched a survey of Unified Communications attitudes on the part of channel partners. This is an important topic and Wainhouse's efforts on this topic will help us all understand how the channel is approaching UC. So if you're involved with the channel, please go take the Wainhouse survey.
UC Strategy Impacts Today’s PBX/ACD Decision
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 29, 2008
This post was written by Jason Alley, lead consultant at Vanguard Communications.
Enterprise customers are becoming more aware of Unified Communications (UC) applications and issues. However, I find many still compartmentalize UC as a futures-only consideration that doesn’t have much bearing on current PBX/ACD investment decisions. After a recent client engagement, I am convinced every enterprise should be armed with a UC Strategy before making a major PBX/ACD decision. Let’s take a closer look at this case study.
More UC Market Research
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 28, 2008
On the heels of the aforementioned Gartner study, Infonetics has a report out on Unified Communications, and they reach largely the same conclusion, that the value is in productivity rather than cost savings. However, the Infonetics view seems to tie UC adoption more closely to the legacy environment nonetheless.
Gartner Weighs in on Unified Communications
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 28, 2008
Gartner has a press release out on its latest UC findings, and there's some interesting stuff there. I have to say, I think they really get it in terms of identifying the key challenges and pitfalls as we move into the critical time for UC adoption.
Broadband Gets Broader
Posted by Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc. | Apr 28, 2008
While some ISPs want to control and limit the customer’s traffic, other ISPs keep adding faster access speeds. Qwest just announced two new higher speed services, Qwest Connect Quantum and Titanium. Is Platinum is not a good enough name now? Will we be seeing Galactic service soon?
Tales from the UC Front
Posted by Marty Parker, UniComm Consulting/UC Strategies | Apr 25, 2008
One of the best features at VoiceCon is the case studies presented by enterprise executives, and VoiceCon Orlando 08 was no exception. All the keynotes featured customer success stories, and the keynote by Dennis Schmidt of Bank of America was a detailed description of how the Bank has migrated to over 100,000 IP Telephony ports.
Organizational Issues for Unified Communications
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 24, 2008
We've been talking to our friends at UCStrategies.com as we prepare for VoiceCon San Francisco, and one of the things we're trying to get our arms around is how the organizational challenges will play out as enterprises move from TDM to IP telephony to Unified Communications.
Why We Need Interoperability
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 23, 2008
Hardy Myers, CEO of AVST, made a great point in today's Webinar, regarding the importance of interoperability in IP-telephony and, even more so, in Unified Communications.
VoiceCon Attendees See Increased Investment
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 23, 2008
Vendors, take heart: If the attendees of VoiceCon Orlando are representative of the large-enterprise market (and they are), these folks don't yet expect the recession to dampen their spending on communications.
Levels of Interoperability
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 23, 2008
Next week, I'm going to a show called Interop. You've probably heard of it; it's the big show in Vegas that doesn't feature Celine Dion, Elton John or water. I chair the VOIP and UC tracks for Interop, and we've got some interesting stuff coming up that I'll be blogging about here.
Last fall, at the New York Interop, our outfit did a sub-conference called VoiceCon At Interop, but lately I've been wondering if we shouldn't do something for the event we produce, on the order of Interop At Voicecon.
Opening the UC Flood Gates to Contact Centers
Posted by Brian Riggs, Current Analysis | Apr 21, 2008
Will Siemens Enterprise’s announcement of OpenScape Contact Center and Microsoft’s strategic alliance with Aspect lead to widespread LCS/OCS integration in contact center solutions? That’s the $64,000 question in my mind these days.
OpenScape Contact Center: Standalone ACD for a UC World
Posted by Sheila McGee-Smith, McGee-Smith Analytics | Apr 21, 2008
OpenScape has been the brand associated with Siemens’ market-defining unified communications solutions for over 5 years. With an announcement today, that brand gets extended to the company’s contact center solution.
Why is Telepresence Utilization Better?
Posted by John Bartlett, NetForecast | Apr 21, 2008
My post on Telepresence cost generated a lot of comments and questions about the cost data, so I thought I would go to the source to address them. I spent some time on the phone with Andrew Davis of Wainhouse Research. Andrew makes is living tracking the video conferencing industry and so he is the go-to guy for this kind of data.
Unified Communications: It's About Mobility
Posted by Jim Burton, CT-Link/UCStrategies | Apr 18, 2008
Unified communications solutions continue to evolve, and while the initial crop of UC applications was rooted in call center environments, UC apps have now branched out into other areas of the business. But it's already clear that for a growing number of knowledge workers, the key benefit will be mobility.
Dimension Data Discusses UC and Cross Stitching
Posted by Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion/UCStrategies | Apr 18, 2008
At Dimension Data’s Analyst Conference,UC was a hot topic. While currently a very small part of Dimension Data’s business, UC is playing an increasingly important role.
Views on Video
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 18, 2008
Over at the Enterprise 2.0 blog, Melanie Turek presses for companies to be more aggressive in replacing the inconveniences and indignities of air travel with more video meetings and remote work.
Verizon Business Talks Unified Communications
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 17, 2008
Shortly after Fred posted about the carriers and UC, I had a chance to talk with Mike Marcellin, VP of product marketing for Verizon Business, about Verizon's view of unified communications. While Mike's take was certainly aimed at showing a bit more proactive a stance on Verizon's part, the carrier didn't come across as anywhere near as aggressive in pushing UC as are the leading CPE vendors.
Interoperability: From Email to UC
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 17, 2008
Over at our sister site Information Week, David Berlind has an extensive look at interoperability in the email world. It's a great, detailed piece that I think provides us with some cautionary thoughts when it comes to Unified Communications and interoperability.
AT&T’s Move into Starbucks Begins
Posted by Michael Finneran, dBrn Associates | Apr 17, 2008
Well it appears that AT&T’s takeover of the Starbucks Wi-Fi Hot Spot service has begun. I had made reference to this in a post titled Wireless Pricing Factors: Leverage and Convenience back in February regarding new mobile service pricing. The big story was not that AT&T was taking over the 7000+ Starbucks Hot Spots, but rather that Internet access was now going to be free (at least for 2 hours per day) for anyone with a Starbucks card that had been used in the past 30 days.
The U.S. Internet, Prospects for UC?
Posted by Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc. | Apr 14, 2008
The "Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008” has just been published by The World Economic Forum (WEF). The U.S. ranks 4th, in a tie with Singapore, behind Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland in the report’s [Internet] Networked Readiness Index (NRI). That is up from 7th place in the previous report. Does this mean that the U.S. internet is up to supporting significant Unified Communications traffic? Not necessarily?
Intervoice Update
Posted by Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion/UCStrategies | Apr 11, 2008
There’ve been lots of changes at Intervoice in the past few years – it’s a different company than the old stodgy IVR vendor it used to be. There are new products, new services, new leadership (for the most part), and new excitement. Intervoice offers products and solutions in both the enterprise and enhanced network services arenas. On the enterprise side, its focus is on “creating new opportunities for customers by delivering natural, intuitive ways for people to interact, transact and communicate.” On the network side, Intervoice provides solutions for “people to people” communications, including voice mail, video mail, SMS, etc.
Where Are the Carriers?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 11, 2008
This is the VoiceCon UC eWeekly newsletter for this week, written by Fred Knight, GM and Publisher of No Jitter and VoiceCon GM and conference co-chair:
Amid all of the UC-focused presentations, demos, exhibits and debate that took place during VoiceCon Orlando, I was struck by the relative silence from one group that, you'd think, would be playing a critical role in UC's evolution--the carriers and service providers.
Telepresence: It’s Not That Expensive
Posted by John Bartlett, NetForecast | Apr 10, 2008
Part of the ongoing conversation about telepresence is about its high cost, which includes both the initial cost of the telepresence suites or endpoints, and the ongoing cost of the network and services to support it. Telepresence suites can cost $300K plus, and the cost of the service and network can be as much as $18K/month per location. Ouch. But let’s take a look at what this really means to the enterprise.
A Software Company Plays Host
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 9, 2008
One of the trends we started noticing almost as soon as IP-PBXs reached a reasonable level of maturity was the tendency of colleges and universities to ditch their telco Centrex systems in favor of the new CPE, usually motivated by impressive cost savings. The down side for the university IT/telecom departments was that they could no longer resell the service to students as a profit center.
Directory Assistance for Unified Communications
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 8, 2008
Having seen Marty Parker's presentation for tomorrow's (Wednesday, April 9) VoiceCon Webinar (register here), I'm more convinced than ever that we've got an opportunity to take the Unified Communications discussion to a whole new level. And if you're the type who derides the focus on networking technology as "plumbing," boy, you're going to love it when we start delving into directories.
Blackberry or iPhone: Pick Your Mania
Posted by Brian Riggs, Current Analysis | Apr 8, 2008
Some rather sobering stats were issued from our friends at Canalys: In less than a year Apple has apparently become the #2 smart phone developer in the US. That puts iPhone right behind the Blackberry in terms of the number of smart phones in people’s hands. No wonder phone makers are falling over themselves to come out with iPhone knock-offs.
Why Video?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 7, 2008
Over at our sister site, the Enterprise 2.0 blog, Melanie Turek has some interesting thoughts about VoiceCon, based on a conversation with IBM's David Marshak. There's some good insights about presence, and a noteworthy focus on video.
WiMAX Delayed and Discarded at CTIA
Posted by Michael Finneran, dBrn Associates | Apr 7, 2008
Going into the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas last week, it appeared that Sprint's beleaguered Xohm WiMAX service might finally be getting some impetus. The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post both reported on rumors that Comcast and Time Warner were considering making investments totaling $1.5 billion in Xohm. Intel Capital and Google have long been rumored to be interested investors, so financially-strapped Sprint might finally have the funding it needs to get its WiMAX project back on the track. There was speculation that Sprint was working behind the scenes to close a deal so that CEO Dan Hesse could announce it in his keynote address at the show.
Alma Mater Takes 802.11n Plunge
Posted by Sheila McGee-Smith, McGee-Smith Analytics | Apr 7, 2008
It’s not often a press release pops into your inbox with the name of your college Alma Mater in the lead, but such was the case last week. Meru Networks announced that Barnard College in New York will install its (pre-standard) 802.11n gear in residence halls after a product test pitting Meru’s wireless LAN solution against Cisco’s.
Telepresence Misunderstood
Posted by John Bartlett, NetForecast | Apr 4, 2008
I have been working with a number of enterprises deploying telepresence solutions over the last year. So I had to jump in and post my thoughts on the issues raised by Tom Nolle and Eric Krapf in their recent posts! I have a different view on a couple of key points, so here we go.
UC Friday: UC and the Contact Center – Please!
Posted by Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion/UCStrategies | Apr 4, 2008
We’ve been hearing a lot about Unified Communications and the contact center lately, especially in light of the agreement made between Microsoft and Aspect. Hopefully we’ll start seeing more companies implementing UC in the contact center to provide improved customer service and attain the coveted “first contact resolution,” or FCR.
UC Friday: Presence Federation
Posted by Don Van Doren, Vanuguard Communications/UCStrategi | Apr 4, 2008
Something wonderful happened at VoiceCon Orlando a couple of weeks ago. Well, actually lots of wonderful things happened, but my focus in this newsletter is on what took place during a session on the VoiceCon main stage--a discussion and agreement between IBM and Microsoft about presence federation.
Avaya Aims at SMB Telecommuters
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 3, 2008
Taking off on CEO Lou D'Ambrosio's VoiceCon theme of "Democratization of Unified Communications," Avaya this week announced some packages aimed at enabling telecommuting for small-medium businesses, which they define as sub-100 and 100-1,000 users, respectively.
Verizon Offers PBX-Blackberry Integration
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 3, 2008
It's not exactly the cellular Centrex service that some of us have been advocating, but it's a start: Verizon announced at CTIA that it'll be offering, as a service, integration of PBXs and PDAs. The flagship Blackberry offering is based on Ascendent PBX-PDA integration (RIM acquired Ascendent two years ago.
Nortel and IBM Power Ahead
Posted by Sheila McGee-Smith, McGee-Smith Analytics | Apr 3, 2008
Last June in a blog on VoIPLoop I discussed a new venture between Nortel and IBM whereby Nortel would develop an SMB communications solution for the IBM System i. The solution, now known as Nortel Software Communication System 500 (SCS 500) is alive and well, working in controlled introduction sites. Nortel tells me that general availability is imminent, by the end of April 2008.
Mobility, Unified Communications and Video
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 2, 2008
Following up on my Telepresence piece, I've been trading some emails with Marty Parker about the role that mobility will play in Unified Communications, and how video will fit into that picture of mobile UC. Marty pointed me to a company called Myvu, which makes "personal media viewers," i.e., glasses that let you view video from your portable media player (iPod, etc.) without anyone else seeing.
How Effective Is Telepresence?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 2, 2008
Here's my weekly VoiceCon eNews. Go here to get them emailed to you earlier in the week:
Inspired by the Al Gore-John Chambers VoiceCon keynote (video here), a lot of the bloggers at No Jitter have been addressing the relative importance and efficacy of telepresence. As usual, Tom Nolle had probably the most interesting take, and one that drew quite a few comments (here). Tom picked up on something that ought to have been obvious from the start about telepresence, yet it’s something that I haven’t seen remarked on too widely: Many users report being disappointed in the inability to use a whiteboard effectively in a telepresence session.
VoiceCon Video: AVST
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 2, 2008
Fritz Nelson of TechWeb TV talks with Tom Minifie of AVST. Tom explains AVST's perspective on what Unified Communications is.
VoiceCon Reality Check
Posted by Irwin Lazar, Nemertes Research | Apr 2, 2008
I’d be remiss if I didn’t post “YAVR” (yet another VoiceCon recap) given the tremendous job done by Eric, as well as my fellow NoJitter bloggers. This was my seventh VoiceCon, with my first being the infamous blizzard of 2002, which coincidentally was the last time the conference was held in Washington D.C. before moving to the warmer temperatures of Orlando.
Automated Provisioning And Unified Communications
Posted by Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger | Apr 1, 2008
We're hosting a Webinar April 9 on the topic of automated provisioning (go here to register), and Marty Parker of UniComm Consulting and UCStrategies.com (and, of course, VoiceCon and this blog site too) is going to be our featured analyst. Marty's very psyched to do the event, which I think will open up another aspect of the Unified Communications conversation.
