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Articles from the UCStrategies.com UC experts, providing insights and analysis on UC products, events, market trends, and the state of the UC industry.



Financial Results from the VoIP and IP-PBX Producers

By Marty Parker May 17, 2013

In the past week Avaya and Cisco reported financial results. These two companies are the market share leaders for new shipments of enterprise telephony stations in North America and are two of the top market share holders on a global basis. The results show no revenue growth in the enterprise telephony markets from these two leaders.

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Related UC Vendors: Avaya, Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Mitel, Siemens Enterprise Communications

Interactions 2013 – We Have Liftoff

By Blair Pleasant May 17, 2013

While some of its competitors have had to explain to stockholders about recent poor performance, Interactive Intelligence continues to not only grow, but remain profitable, separating the company from most of its competitors. At the company’s “Interactions” event for customers, partners, consultants, and analysts in Indianapolis this week, I got to view some of the reasons why the company has been so successful.

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Related UC Vendors: Interactive Intelligence

Google Voice: Asleep at the Switch

By Dave Michels May 16, 2013

I was an early champion of Google Voice. I felt the concept really had legs. Over the past few years, I’ve changed my tune. I came to realize that Google didn’t have interest in Google Voice and the service languishes within the Googleplex. UC vendors don’t need to fear Google, but rather figure out how to leverage it.

 

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Exciting Offer for WebRTC Conference and Expo

By Phil Edholm May 15, 2013

As chair of the WebRTC Conference and Expo, in Atlanta, June 25-27, I have secured a two-for-one offer for readers of UCStrategies to attend the conference. With this special offer, you can register two attendees for the price of one.

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Context Reversing Televolution

By Dave Michels May 15, 2013

It is amazing how much our attitudes toward context have changed. The question is, will we ever have enough contextual information to be truly aware of a given situation or are we better going without contextual hints? In other words, is all this context a good thing?

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Related UC Vendors: AVST, Esna Technologies, Inc. (Esnatech), Avaya

Software: The Softer Side of Sears

By Dave Michels May 15, 2013

Sears plans to convert some shuttered or underperforming stores into data centers. The retail giant formed a new subsidiary last March called Ubiquity Critical Environments LLC, which is chartered to convert selected Sears and Kmart properties into data centers – complete with servers, coolers, and back-up generators. Ubiquity also intends to rent rooftops to telecommunication companies.

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Two New Ways for a UC Vendor to Look at WebRTC

By Tsahi Levent-Levi May 15, 2013

I want to offer a different prism through which to look at WebRTC. Up until now, the only prism UC vendors used is in the area of accessing their existing architecture and solution. I want to offer two new prisms for you. If you start using them in parallel with your current worldview – you will only benefit.

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WebRTC Deliveries are Starting in the Enterprise

By Phil Edholm May 14, 2013

As you know, I believe that WebRTC is a transformational technology. I think we can look forward to the significant impacts that WebRTC will have on markets, companies, societies and humanity in general. However, WebRTC also needs the underpinnings to make it a viable money-making technology. This combination of long-range transformational benefit and short-range profit generation is the combination that will ensure WebRTC success.

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Mobile Customer Interaction Technologies for Supervisors

By Blair Pleasant May 13, 2013

Mobile technologies for customer service are hot – but most of the attention has been focused on how customers can get customer service and support from their mobile devices. There’s another aspect that hasn’t received as much attention – yet. With the growth of mobile devices in the workforce, managers and supervisors no longer have to be tied to their desks. They are free and untethered, allowed to move from place to place while accessing the information they need at their fingertips.

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Related UC Vendors: Avaya, Cisco, Mitel

TPN Expands to Europe

By Dave Michels May 13, 2013

The vast majority of UCaaS offerings are restricted to a single country. Thinking Phone Networks (TPN) has been building traction with some international accounts, and today formally launched its expansion into Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

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Related UC Vendors: Thinking Phone Networks

Putting “Context” in UC

By Michael F. Finneran May 10, 2013

Context is also a big topic in mobility, though (like most things mobile) it has been focused on B2C interactions. Context refers to the sum total of what the customer has told us along with what we can glean from other sources to optimize the user experience: transaction history, time, speed (e.g. stationary, walking, in a vehicle), and most importantly, location. We could potentially draw on other sources like social media entries, and the types of transactions or information that user has engaged in before.

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Related UC Vendors: Avaya, Interactive Intelligence, AVST, Aerohive, Mitel, ShoreTel

Blackmore to Retire from ShoreTel

By Dave Michels May 10, 2013

ShoreTel announced that its CEO, Peter Blackmore, intends to retire. Blackmore was hired as the CEO in December of 2010. He will remain on as CEO while the firm conducts the search for his replacement.

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Related UC Vendors: ShoreTel

Westcon Wholesales BYOD Security

By Dave Michels May 8, 2013

Today, Westcon unveiled a new solution named BYODShield – a wholesale MDM offering. Westcon’s service is powered primarily by two vendors that Westcon integrated into a single service: BlueCat Networks and Fiberlink. BYODShield is a subscription-based package designed for the channel.

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Looking at Video

By Dave Michels May 7, 2013

At the recent UC Summit, I presented some of my thoughts on channel opportunities around video communications. I didn’t get into specific vendors in the presentation, but was approached frequently for suggestions. There’s a lot of activity, lots of great solutions and ever decreasing prices from both the major vendors and some new kids. Here are three vendors, in three different spaces, for channel partners to consider.

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Don’t Fight BYOD – Join It At The Desktop!

By Art Rosenberg May 6, 2013

In recognition of this need by business end users, ShoreTel has just announced its new desktop offering, the ShoreTel Dock, coupled with ShoreTel Mobility, to allow BYOD employees to use their mobile smartphones and tablets as “portable PCs” that can also work with “smart” hard desk phones in an office or at home.

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Related UC Vendors: ShoreTel

ShoreTel First to Dock

By Dave Michels May 6, 2013

I guessed (at Enterprise Connect 2012) that every major UC vendor would have an iPad dock by the end of the year. I was wrong. It took until today – and the first to deliver is ShoreTel with its new ShoreTel Dock.

 

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Related UC Vendors: ShoreTel

UC Summit 2013 Day Three

By UCStrategies Staff May 2, 2013

The best metaphor for the UC Summit is to describe the event like a Smörgåsbord. It’s just a veritable buffet of information, analysis, relationships, and of course food and drink. When the conferenced ended on Wednesday, everyone left full.

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Related UC Vendors: Microsoft, Cisco, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, AVST, HP

UC Summit 2013 Day Two

By Dave Michels April 30, 2013

The UC Summit is an unusual mix of education, networking, and wine. Here’s a brief recap of the past 24 hours. Lots of keynotes. Starting with Sonus, a vendor that few UC dealers and consultants heard of a year ago

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Related UC Vendors: Sonus, Avaya, HP, NEC

Protecting Video Conferencing User Experiences

By Marty Parker April 29, 2013

This growth market for video introduces a major challenge – a confusing diversity of user experiences. It seems to me that all of us in the UC&C industry should do our best to keep things simple and effective for the users, rather than bombarding the users with a dizzying array of non-compatible user experiences and software clients.

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Related UC Vendors: Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya, IBM, Siemens Enterprise Communications, NEC, Polycom

UC Summit 2013 Day One

By Dave Michels April 29, 2013

Today was the first full day at the UC Summit in San Diego. The conference is aimed at Trusted Advisors or the combined groups of system integrators and industry consultants. This annual event is a fairly intimate conference – lots of food and wine (and wine). The sessions fall into two categories: industry updates and vendor product updates.

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Related UC Vendors: Cisco, Siemens Enterprise Communications, NEC

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