Happy New Year! Trust 2013 was good for you and that you can be even more successful and prosperous in 2014!
Thinking about what the UC&C (and VoIP) industry most needs in 2014 leads to this suggested New Year's Resolution for 2014:
"To avoid irrelevance, focus on adding business value through UC&C transformation."
The ShoreTel worldwide partner and analyst event last week was hot, hot, hot - literally - it was over 100 degrees in Chicago, plus humidity. But the event itself was also hot. I got to meet the new CEO, and speak with ShoreTel execs, customers, technology partners, and channel partners. In my mind, the theme wasn't ShoreTel's tag line, "Brilliantly Simple," but rather "Brilliantly Easy." Each and every customer and reseller I spoke with repeatedly used the adjective "easy" when describing the Shoretel solution and technology.
Logitech International has recently acquired Mirial, a Milan-based provider of video conferencing solutions. With this acquisition, Logitech's LifeSize division can now offer a more comprehensive portfolio of universal video collaboration solutions.
Tablet computers have certainly been one of the hottest topics in enterprise computing since the introduction of the Apple iPad in 2010, and now everyone involved with UC is trying to get a piece of the action. While jumping on the bandwagon has always been great sport in the IT field, the value proposition must be valid, the user experience must be acceptable (or "awesome"), and the overall environment must be in sync with user expectations regarding the how, where, and why users are adopting this technology.
Research In Motion (RIM) announced its plans to provide Blackberry Mobile Voice System 5 with voice over Wi-Fi calling for a wider range of corporate phone and unified communication systems, including the Avaya Aura 6.1, Avaya CS1000 Communication Server, and Nortel Communication Server. It's also been re-architected, allowing it to better extend to third-party applications and phones.
LifeSize, a division of Logitech, has plugged its business-class video conferencing solution, LifeSize Passport, into Skype. With it, LifeSize Passport users can create Skype-based video calls worldwide, bringing Skype into the room-based enterprise video conference market.
LG-Ericsson USA has announced the North American launch of iPECS-LIK, a full-featured business communications product family that enables pure IP communications for business applications. It has the functionality of a traditional PBX, while also providing features designed to enhance productivity, such as voice and video conferencing and data collaboration.
RADVISION Ltd. has announced the release of SCOPIA Mobile V3, an application for Apple iOS and Google Android devices that allows mobile users to connect to standards-based video conferencing and telepresence systems with full video, audio and H.239 data collaboration.
Based on RADVISION's BEEHD client framework, the SCOPIA Mobile V3 allows users to participate in enterprise video and telepresence conferences with the latest mobile devices. With it, enterprise-quality video conferencing and telepresence can be accessed anywhere one has his or her mobile device.
Most conferences have a theme or buzzword that permeates the event - Lotusphere was all about "Social Business" and "Go Social," ShoreTel's theme was "Beat Complexity" and "Beautiful Simplicity." Alcatel Lucent Enterprise's theme and focus this year at its Dynamic Enterprise Tour is "Conversations." It wasn't as obvious as some of the other themes, and "Conversations" wasn't presented on every slide, but it became clear that Conversations was the focus.
Zultys has recently announced the release of their next generation of core software for unified communications products: MX Release 6.0. This new software comes with an enhanced desktop view, new mobility features, and rich integration with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange server as well as Salesforce.com, resulting in an all-in-one IP phone system made to deliver high-quality innovation, scalability, and reliability.