IP

Metaswitch and ADTRAN - Bringing UC Closer to SMBs

Last week I attended Metaswitch Forum 2010 in Orlando, and continue to come away impressed with their ability to both grow and evolve their value proposition. Metaswitch does not turn up regularly on this portal, as UC is not really a core focus for them. They actually have UC-related offerings - mostly voice-centric, however - and only a minority of their customers have gone down this path so far. I know that will change over time, and as I learned, their partnership with ADTRAN is one way this will happen.

Avaya Government Solutions Gains Certification & Approval, Launches Enhanced Unified Communications Solution

Avaya's subsidiary, Avaya Government Solutions, announced that its new Unified Communications solution, designed to help government and civilian agencies alike communicate with more efficiency and cost effectiveness, has been made available today.

The Avaya Aura Application Server 5300 Release 2.0 provides a secure, next-generation, SIP-based UC solution, while integrating voice, video, multimedia conferencing, and collaboration with capabilities enabled by Instant Messaging, live chat, and other presence-based communications.

In this podcast, the UCStrategies Expert team discusses the recent announcements from Avaya, which include the Avaya Flare Experience.

Jim Burton, founder of UCStrategies, is joined by Randy Schrock and Bernie Klein in this podcas

Alteva to Showcase Hosted Voice and Microsoft Communications Services Integration

Alteva has announced at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo that it is working with Microsoft to provide hosted UC solutions for smaller businesses, integrating communication and business processes for increased productivity and flexibility while streamlining costs and both increasing and managing growth.

In order to make the new technologies accessible to SMBs, Alteva is offering the UC solution to organizations that purchase ten or more phones through an IP phone rental program.

Avaya's "Non-Tablet"

At a press conference in New York today, Avaya introduced an Android-based tablet-like device called the Desktop Video Communicator. Like Cisco's not-yet-released Cius, the core application appears to be video. However, why they would bother coming out with a jazzed-up desktop touch screen video phone costing $2,000 at this point in time is a bit of a mystery.