Sunday, November 23, 2008
Communications-enabled Business Needs Better Interfaces
Posted by Zeus Kerravala, The Yankee Group | Nov 21, 2008
Last week I was in Japan at NEC's iExpo, and a few of the demonstrations that were shown there made me think about the way we interface with today's systems. These demos weren't the typical lame demos that many vendors show at conferences, like simply demonstrating when you pick up the phone the presence status on the user changes to "on phone." NEC ran a series of demonstrations showing how, by using unified communications mixed with things like facial recognition systems, ID scanners and biometrics, the way users and systems work together can radically change many of the business processes we have.
UC: A Means, Not an End
Posted by Fred Knight, Publisher, No Jitter | Nov 21, 2008
As expected, Unified Communications took center stage during last week's VoiceCon San Francisco conference. With few exceptions, sessions that had Unified Communications in the title were the highest attended within their respective time blocks, and the UC theme was dominant in the keynotes from vendors.
Blackberry’s Storm: For Enterprise Users, It’s the iPhone Beater
Posted by Michael Finneran, dBrn Associates | Nov 20, 2008
The coolest thing I saw at VoiceCon last week was the new BlackBerry Storm, the first touch screen handheld from Research in Motion (RIM). While the Storm wasn’t on display in RIM's booth at the show, a number of their executives had their own Storms, and they made a point of showing them off. Due to be released officially tomorrow, the device's preliminary reviews have been inconclusive. However, let me be definitive: for the enterprise user, the Storm will be a major winner and should have enough pizzazz to take much of the iPhone pressure off IT departments.
Do Service Providers Know How To Carry Video Conferencing?
Posted by John Bartlett, NetForecast | Nov 20, 2008
The service provider community is pretty excited about Teleconferencing. Not because it provides a great immersive remote conferencing experience. Not because it reduces travel and increases productivity. Not because it is hot, or green, or in the news. They like it because it generates a terrific amount of bandwidth that has to be carried at the highest levels of quality. That means increased revenue. But do they really know how to carry this traffic so high quality video is delivered?
Gaining Control Over Mobility
Posted by Eric Krapf | Nov 19, 2008
When Michael Finneran and I moderated the VoiceCon session on UC and Mobility last week, the heart of the discussion, to my mind, was an exchange on the need for IT to exert control over mobility, and the various obstacles and opportunities for making that happen.
Why ADTRAN?
Posted by Matt Brunk, Telecomworx | Nov 19, 2008
My expectations of a manufacturer and product aren't too different from my competitors' and customers'. Our gain for several years has been offering and installing ADTRAN solutions for our SMB customers. So this week it’s been a real treat seeing ADTRAN, touring their facilities and speaking with and hearing from their folks from the top down. It was even better when I got the ears of some engineers and watched them think as we discussed some customer needs and nuances in different industries. They are a fascinating group with talents that I know, by their company culture and management style, will help propel ADTRAN further, sooner than later and ahead of many others.
Presidential Wiring
Posted by Matt Brunk, Telecomworx | Nov 18, 2008
The Delta airlines guest of honor was President Jimmy Carter today en-route to Atlanta from Baltimore. Flanked by two Mack Truck-looking fellas with $600 oversized Scottevest jackets, President Carter shook hands with everyone aboard the Delta flight.
Branching out with OCS
Posted by Brian Riggs, Current Analysis | Nov 16, 2008
When it comes to voice communications, Microsoft has long maintained a two-pronged approach: Office Communications Server on the one hand and Response Point on the other. The one is the corporate instant messaging server with increasingly robust VoIP functionality built into it. The other is a standalone voice system for small businesses with no more than 20 or so employees. Though the two products ostensibly serve a similar purpose – they give Microsoft a play in a business voice communications market previously closed to it – there’s been this "Oh, OCS is OCS and RP is RP, and never the twain shall meet" air about them.
Beat Nortel, HECK NO!
Posted by Matt Brunk, Telecomworx | Nov 16, 2008
I try to stay out of the war of words and campaigns to sell one box or solution over another and I don’t like revealing too many interconnect secrets just like you wouldn’t want to reveal company proprietary information that may allow your competitors an inside track to kick your butt. With that said, here’s one for the record.
