Next Generation Communications

A recent article from Alcatel-Lucent's e-zine Enriching Communications discusses the idea of managed unified communications (UC) services and the emerging market opportunity for these evolving solutions.   According to the authors of the article, Managed Unified Communications Empowering Dynamic Enterprises, UC is in the throes of an evolution.   "What started with few services such as contact lists, presence and telephony available from the desktop," the authors write, "has expanded to include enhanced services such as rich business telephony, any messaging and any conferencing, available on any device, including fixed phone, PC, mobile phone or dual-mode phone."   The authors believe that, "UC must extend beyond users' PCs, fixed or mobile phones communicating over a corporate or cellular network. It must deliver communications and web communication capabilities in real time whatever the user is doing and wherever an employee needs communication -- in a colleague's office, on a train, at a hotel or customer site in another country -- using the devices and applications that are convenient to the end user."   It is precisely that element of mobility that adds to the ubiquity of UC and makes it a valuable tool for the end user. And yet the need for mobility is driving a shift away from an enterprise premises-based solution towards a managed environment, supervised and administered by a service provider.   There are a number of benefits to this approach, including the ability for the enterprise to let go of the reins, to get out of the communications business and to refocus their energies on their core business, while freeing their employees to roam untethered and be more productive while lowering the total cost of the overall solution.   Alcatel-Lucent offers a portfolio of Managed Unified Communications solutions designed to enable service providers and enterprises alike to benefit from this business environment.   For more information, or to listen to a podcast on harnessing the power of unified communications, click here.