To better manage this connected everything future, where every workplace device from security cameras, to air conditioning, to computers and phones will soon be networked, unified communications (UC) promises a brave new world of connectivity and integration, where users can use any device they choose to fulfill most any communications need.

It will truly be a golden age of communication for your business, an all-encompassing corporate network bound together by Business Phone Systems, IP telephony and Ethernet, but the question becomes, is your company’s network infrastructure up to the task?

 

As is often the case with new technology, particularly new communication solutions, companies often don’t do their due diligence in investigating both the positive and negative effects of such advancements. In the case of UC, and more particularly IP telephony, in my experience businesses often times hear only the promised benefits, not realizing that there are steps that they need to take to prepare their respective corporate data network to fully utilize unified communications.

In my opinion, first among these preparations is always a thorough examination of one’s communication security measures; the protocols companies should have in place to protect sensitive communications with clients, co-workers, and business partners. By running security diagnostics, companies will better be able to recognize potential threats and prevent compromises to the communications network.

The truth of the matter is that running a secure multi-faceted communication network is challenging, as IP telephony brings with it many of the same challenges as traditional data networks coupled with the additional security issues related to voice networking. Not only do network administrators need to protect the network against such threats as hacks, viruses, and malware, but now must be able to ensure that IP phones, particularly those in open environments likes lobbies, are secure from unauthorized access through the phone’s Ethernet port. Better yet, and something I like to preach, is the segmentation of both the physical and logical end of a corporate network. It’s not enough to segment a single switch with VLAN’s and expect the network to support a “piggy backed” environment. A logical separation (i.e. separate switches for both voice and data), is always better in the end.

The point being, while UC (from manufacturers like Avaya and NEC) does offer unprecedented communications solutions, it brings with it security vulnerabilities as well, vulnerabilities that the old land-line system & TDM simply didn’t have to worry about, issues that companies should be aware of before they jump in with both feet.

In the end, if you feel your business is unprepared for the advanced solutions unified communication provides, don’t worry, we here at Digitcom can help. Just give us a call and I promise we’ll help make this connected everything future easier to manage.

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Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

To that effect, Avaya yesterday announced the launch of an iPad app for its Flare Communicator communications and collaboration systems. While the iPad version of Flare Communicator does not support video, I strongly believe it’s a massive first step in deploying Flare Communicator on tablet devices.
 

 

Even though the Flare desktop device runs on Android operating system, Apple’s “explosive growth” in the enterprise segment meant Avaya preferred to debut the Flare mobile app on the Apple iPad. Interestingly, the Flare desktop device is widely perceived as a competitor to theenterprise-grade Cisco Cuis tablet, but I believe the comparison is unfair as the former is a touchscreen master controller that is used in conjunction with the phone and can’t be used outside office premise.

The Flare Communicator iPad app lets users find business people via a contact card, and start an instant message, voice call or email, simply by touching on that contact.  The Avaya Flare Communicator is powered by the Avaya Aura UC architecture and it provides an enterprise grade solution for enterprises to communicate and collaborate securely through WiFi or 3G connectivity. Avaya claims enterprises can leverage the Flare Communicator application to reduce mobile expenses and avoid roaming charges.

“With Avaya Flare Communicator on iPad, enterprise users have a seamless mobile collaboration experience that integrates various methods of communication all at their fingertips. As the mobile workforce continues to grow, applications like Flare Communicator ensure that the tools they use simultaneously provide the consistency and flexibility needed for these workers to be truly effective,” said Nidal Abou-Ltaif, vice president Emerging Markets, Avaya.

The Avaya Flare Communicator for iPad tablets is a free download for users from the Apple App Store. Businesses with Avaya Aura 6.1 or later can obtain up to 50 Avaya Aura client access licenses at no cost to connect users to Flare Communicator during an introductory offer from January 24 through April 30.

Avaya says it plans to introduce video functionality in a follow-up release for the Flare Communicator for iPad. The company also plans to bring the Flare Communicator app to other platforms later on in 2012, including for Windows desktop environments and Android-based tablets.

Next question is, when will this become available for the Avaya IP Office. Release 8 of the IP Office supports the new Avaya One X Mobile, the first step to making the apps on the IP Office more closely resemble the Aura platform. Rumor is that the Flare will become available for the IP Office in an upcoming release, perhaps the IP Office Release 9? The IP Office client base is certainly ready for this app, and the product is very mature; at this point it’s not a question of if, but when.

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Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. 

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Reports from Gartner Inc. indicate that over the past year, Android Operating System’s market share has almost doubled and it currently accounts for almost 43% of the mobile market. The report deemed Apple’s iOS as the second most popular mobile software as of the 2nd quarter of 2011.

Early adoption of search engine giant Google’s open source Android software has enabled HTC to give tough competition of consumer electronic giants like Samsung and Apple. With former market leaders like Nokia and RIM (Research in Motion) losing their market share, the company’s position has strengthened further. A study by ARC Chart research firm indicates that HTC handsets account for 53% of Android devices in Canada and the US.

According to the company Chief Executive Peter Chou, acquisitions have enabled HTC, an engineering centric firm, to rapidly increase its offerings and capabilities in areas such as marketing, content and design, which is vital for differentiating its products from others. HTC seems to be keen on expanding in the US market. The company has spent $300 million over S3 Graphics, a graphics maker based in the US, in the hopes of winning patent protection against a court case with Apple. In order to boost its appeal in the US market, the company has acquired 51% stake in music producer Dr. Dre’s headphone making firm Beat Electronics LLC for $309 million.

In the first half of the year, HTC acquired UK based streaming content firm Saffron Digital for $48.6 million, invested $40 million in the US based streaming video game firm Onlive Inc. and $10 million in KKBox, an online streaming music firm based in Taiwan. More recently, HTC announced the plans of taking over California based firm Inquisitive Minds, which developed child-focused software, for $13 million.

According to Cher Wang, HTC chairwoman and co-founder, the takeover of Beat Electronics and S3 Graphics are just the start. With the Silicon Valley offering so many innovations, the company is keen on acquiring many more small firms. HTC reported $4.48 billion revenue and $615.3 million net profit in the 3rd quarter, which is almost double the last year’s figure.

But the company has a tough road ahead with competitors like Samsung and Apple. With Samsung’s high vertical integration and Apple’s trendy products, reaching the no.1 position in the smartphone market will not be easy for HTC. Moreover, the company is dependent on Google and Microsoft operating systems for its devices. In case these companies decide to make an entry in the hardware sector, they can seriously threaten the company’s position. HTC is also involved a number of patent lawsuits against Apple that can result in costly licensing fees and restrict the company from releasing its products in the US market.

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Written by: Yuyutsu Sen. www.digitcom.ca.

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Over the past year here at Digitcom we have seen an exponential increase in the number of wireless headset and wired Headset inquiries, and being the curious sort that I am, I’ve tried to figure out why. Perhaps it’s some sort of widespread epiphany that using a wireless headset at works frees up both hands; enabling people to type, write, open files, and do other things more easily while on the phone, increasing overall productivity by streamlining the communications process.

Or perhaps the increase in headset sales is health related, as people, especially those who use the phone frequently, have come to realize that holding your head and neck at an angle as you nestle the handset between your shoulder and ear for extended periods of time simply isn’t good for you, resulting in those irritating kinks and tight muscles that continue to plague you long after the work day is over.

Or perhaps it has nothing to do with the office or with your health at all, but with that exorbitantly expensive ticket you’re holding in your hand after being caught talking or texting while driving, bringing you to the realization that it’s not only dangerous and illegal to talk and drive, but more costly than a bluetooth headset as well.

Whatever the reasons may be, Digitcom has responded to this increased demand, taking the opportunity to improve our stock, the breadth of our offerings, and to open a new website dedicated exclusively to headsets and conference phones.

HeadsetsDepot.com was launched several weeks ago, and since that time our customers and staff have commented on how much easier it is to buy and sell headsets. With only a quick visit (click here) you will find a streamlined website that is easy to navigate with a clear design, plenty of choices, great prices, and informative video explanations. For ease of use we’ve broken the site down into a few key subsections: Wired Headsets, wireless office Headset, cell Headset , USB headsets, and conference phones, with each section offering a wide variety of quality choices that are sure to meet your needs.

My personal favourite for the budget conscious consumer looking for amazing durability (you can actually twist the headset band), quality, sound, and price is either the Sennheiser Headset SH230 (single ear), or SH250 (two ear). If you’re placing an order don’t forget to add the cord for your model of phone. If you have any questions regarding the right cable type you can check out our compatibility guide, click here.

But that’s not all, as we are pleased to offer free shipping on orders over $250. Click here for details.

So, head over to HeadsetsDepot.com. Have a look and let us know what you think.

To be fair, last year’s Q3 results were buoyed by a large tax settlement and the sale of one of its business divisions, but nevertheless AT&T’s revenues this quarter still fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.

Despite this drop in revenue, AT&T executives certainly aren’t worried, as it doesn’t take a financial analyst to see that big things are coming for the telecommunications giant  in Q4. With iPhone 4S sales breaking mobile market sales records, AT&T is looking forward to an “unbelievable” Q4, confident that Santa will bring the company everything on its wish list, and not a lump of coal.

Let’s be honest here, fiscal reports aren’t the most gripping news to end the week on, but such revenue reports and financial projections provide a tantalizing glimpse into the direction of a company in the months ahead. That said, while doom and gloom predictions make interesting headlines, news about missed revenue projections is often misleading, with profit declines and fiscal estimates often communicated amidst confusing market speak and a myriad of meaningless numbers. So some explanation is often required.

In this particular case, although AT&T posted a significant decline in profits from Q3 2010 and despite the fact the telecommunications giant failed to match Wall Street’s profit predictions, the company actually did very well, and looks to do even better in Q4. There’s no way AT&T could have matched its revenues from a year ago, which were significantly higher than normal due to a profitable tax settlement.

So what can we get out of all of this? First, the profit report showed that while several areas of AT&T’s expansive telecommunications business are fading—particularly its wireline Internet services—it posted a huge increase in wireless subscribers, a point that surprised many in this era of post-iPhone exclusivity.

Combine that with the news that AT&T has already sold a whopping 1 million iPhone 4S smartphones in this current quarter, and it’s clear that AT&T, despite increased competition, has not suffered from any exclusivity hangover.

In fact, while confident in its Q3 numbers, the talk of the fiscal report was the future, particularly Q4, which AT&T expects to be “unbelievable,” as even more people look to the iPhone 4S as the perfect Christmas gift for themselves or others.

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For Polycom’s closest competitors the answer to the enterprise tablet question has so far exclusively been hardware related, with Cisco developing the Cius business tablet, Avaya creating its entire Flare experience, and more recently Motorola Solutions developing the ET1 enterprise ready tablet.

With Polycom bringing many of those same enterprise-ready features to the very tablet many of us are holding in our hands, could we already be witnessing a shift away from enterprise specific devices towards products that unify both the enterprise and consumer markets?

To wit, until recently the smartphone market was clearly demarcated into two categories, consumer and enterprise, with Apple’s iPhone dominating the former and RIM’s Blackberry clearly dominating the latter. But eventually users had an epiphany, they could/should use one device for everything, and since then it has been nothing but headaches for RIM and IT departments across the continent.

Now truthfully, I would think it far too early to see a similar sort of transition in the tablet market, but with Polycom’s RealPresence Mobile bringing videoconferencing to the market’s most popular tablets, user interest is sure to follow.

Looking to expand its presence in the cash-laden mobile market, Polycom has branched out from its traditional niche of providing larger videoconferencing solutions and audio equipment to creating mobile unified communications applications that the company hopes will encourage substantially more videoconferencing.

The app itself–available on both the Android marketplace and Apple’s AppStore– runs on Polycom’s RealPresence platform, the standard for all the company’s videoconferencing technologies, and will allow tablets to communicate with entire videoconferencing rooms and vice versa, making enterprise video communication mobile and easy to use. Of course, Polycom’s strategy is not without risks, as security remains a vital concern on both Apple and Android devices

That said, while Polycom has certainly not reinvented the wheel with its videoconferencing tablet app, it has done two things very well: First, it has bypassed the difficult process of developing its own tablet, something that both Cisco and Avaya have come under fire for this past year. Second, it has allowed users to stay with the tablet form factor they find most comfortable, instead of forcing them to learn how to use an enterprise-specific device, and it is the latter, in my mind, that my forever change the business tablet.

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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

This controversy started late last month when the special interest group Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO) lodged a compliant against Rogers, claiming that the company slowed the network resources dedicated to online gaming, thereby contravening the CRTC’s own rules governing acceptable network management.

For its part, Rogers has admitted that it mistakenly misclassified online games as non-time sensitive applications, an error that may result in slow connectivity if other such classified peer-to-peer (P2P) applications are running. The bottom line though, mistake or not Rogers has to the end of the month to fix the problem.

According to CBC News, the CRTC letter to Rogers, signed by John Traversey, executive director of communications, “noted that the use of internet traffic management that causes ‘noticeable degradation’ of time-sensitive internet traffic amounts to controlling the content, and therefore requires ‘prior Commission approval.’”

As Rogers’ representatives have explained to us, the company does not throttle its network resources except as they pertain to “P2P file sharing above 80 kbps and there are no limits on download speed for any application or protocol.” The latter is done, the company explains, to ensure network resources are not hogged by such data intensive transfers, which would result in a diminished network experience for all.

The issue here, however, is that online games have been lumped into this P2P category, which has subsequently led to gamers experiencing unacceptably–and not to mention suspiciously–low network speeds. It was back in August when the CGO initially complained about this issue, and in a rare case of government bureaucracy in action, the CRTC has listened, investigated, and is now demanding a solution.

Before everyone gets up in arms against Rogers though, this does in fact seem to be a case of inadvertent network throttling, a mistake caused by the misclassification of online games as a P2P application.

Both Rogers and the CRTC have acknowledged the mistake, and the CRTC has given Rogers till Sept. 27^th to develop a solution to the problem and submit a detailed plan to ensure that online gaming traffic cannot be misclassified in this same way in the future, a plan that should include what specific steps the company will take and a timeline for when it plans to take them.

In the end, whether or not you actually care about online gaming and network management, this story is compelling evidence that in some cases at least, federal regulations actually work.

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But that doesn’t seem to matter to Cisco, a company that has seen its profits wane these past few months, as the telecommunications giant plans to offer the enterprise sector things its never seen before, unprecedented customization qualities and unrivalled IT control.

To that end, Cisco unveiled its own unique application ecosystem yesterday, dubbed AppHQ, a platform that will allow companies to build their own apps, mange their own app stores, manage the devices in use, and one that will, of course, usher in the next generation of portable video, telepresence, and teleconferencing technologies that will run on the Cius.

Cisco’s AppHQ is similar to Avaya’s Flare Experience, in that both are unique communications platforms designed around full integration with each company’s respective communication solutions. But clearly Cisco is taking a different approach with its AppHQ, choosing an application-centric focus that allows companies to create and test apps that work specifically for them.

Simply put, unlike the open source consumer app-focused Android Marketplace, Cisco’s AppHQ will centre primarily around both general enterprise specific applications and specific professional use cases. For example, Cisco’s AppHQ will allow the IT department of a high powered finance company to create specific applications useful for its corporate executives, or allow the medical services field to develop communication and diagnostic apps that would be useful for doctors…its just that versatile.

The bottom line is, rather than telling companies what apps they can use—although many general collaboration and communication apps will be available—the application platform will simply empower companies to address their own specific needs, with Cisco’s guidance along the way of course.

But it doesn’t stop there, as the Cisco press release states. “Additionally, companies can create private, custom-branded application storefronts for their organizations where employees can find, publish and procure applications that complement their business environments.”

Aside from allowing companies to create user specific apps and app stores, aside from whatever actual sales figures Cisco hits with the Cius, in my mind the real upside to Cisco’s tablet is how it fosters creativity from the enterprise sector, allowing IT departments and other interested parties to really sink their teeth into app development and create things that will likely advance the entire mobile communications market. Let the app creation begin!

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The auction is scheduled to take place in June, so Google’s bid sets the lower limit while other buyers are free to set their offers.

The auction of the patent profile represents the last of Nortel’s assets to be moved, marking the formal end of an era in Canadian technology history. Nortel was the biggest technology company in the country and led the way in terms of telecommunications innovation before its collapse.

The patents that are up for auction represent a range of  technologies in the wireless, wired and digital communications fields. “The extensive patent portfolio touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets as well, including internet search and social networking,” Nortel said in a press release.

Other companies expected to make bids on what’s left of Nortel include IBM, Intel and Waterloo’s Research In Motion.

The Google bid makes sense because of the search engine giant’s recent push into the wireless sector. There could be a lot in the Nortel patent packages of benefit to a company like Google, so it’s probably fair to say that the $900 million bid will be topped by a few other companies before the dust settles.

“The whole process has been a bit sad,” Duncan Stewart, director of research for technology at Deloitte, said. ”Anybody who’d ever been up to Ottawa and seen the Nortel R&D centre and seen all the incredible Canadians working at pushing back the boundaries of knowledge, it was an amazing place to be, especially in the 90s and yes, this is not only sad, because it’s the last bit of Nortel, but to many Canadians I think it was the most important bit of Nortel.”

Canada, since the time of the collapse of Nortel, has seen its days in the tech sun diminish considerably. While there are still some bright spots in the industry, it’s disappointing to see the final days of a once great company pass by.

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Attorney General Chris Bentley says that responsibility has to start with the judiciary and needs to include dialogue about how much information is made available outside of the courtroom. With Facebook and Twitter, information that would normally be protected can spread quickly.

Many provinces are currently trying to decipher just how they can keep their courtrooms as open environments without compromising security or the integrity of the particular case.

“That’s a very important discussion and one we have to get right,” Bentley said of the role of social media. “Because if we allow social media in for different reasons and then the limits placed on it are not respected, we can’t protect the interests that need to be protected. The inevitable result will be that we go back into a much more closed situation.”

A big part of why Bentley is talking about the issue is because of the way information was spread during the case of convicted killer Russell Williams. Twitter and Facebook were inundated with details about the crimes of Williams, with graphic descriptions making their way out into the general public with relative ease. Journalists covering the trial were permitted to bring their laptops into the court room. Cell phones and audio equipment were also allowed.

Now this, of course, draws up some interesting questions about the media transparency of such a trial.

The debate sparked by Bentley aims to ask whether there should be regulations about social media and high-profile cases, although one has to wonder how such rules could be implemented on a free and open network. Still, it’s clear that something needs to be addressed in meaningful fashion.

“The public interest is not served by where they don’t properly understand court proceedings and they don’t understand why a certain verdict or certain sentence emanates from the court, because they haven’t been given enough information to make a decision for themselves,” Michael Edelson, Williams’ lawyer, said.

The potential for trouble is considerable in jury trials, too. Jurors are getting information from sources that used to be off-limits. Some information is still considered off-limits, sure, but experts say that jurors still tend to “Google” crime details even when sequestered.

As an interesting addendum, Bentley also spoke recently about the “archaic” court system in Ontario.

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Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

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The story was perplexing. Here was a little-known committee of Parliament, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, poking around with the delicate wording of a regulation upheld by the CRTC. According to the Standing Joint Committee, the wording of the regulation that prohibits the broadcasting of “false or misleading news” in Canada “contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

The Standing Joint Committee had actually been pressing the CRTC for about a decade and brought the issue up again with the help of Andrew Kania, a rookie MP heading the department. According to government officials, problems with the ban – or the wording of the ban – came up in 1996 in a case involving a Holocaust denier named Ernst Zündel. Without getting too much into that case, the Supreme Court decided that the right to freedom of expression in Canada meant that a person “could not be charged for disseminating false information.”

Of course, the Committee sprang into action with all of the speed of an elderly gentleman sinking into a nice warm bath and said that the CRTC’s regulation didn’t jive with the Supreme Court decision. Letters were passed around and teeth were gnashed, but nothing came out of it and both sides went along their merry way.

Suddenly on January 10 of 2011, the issue reared its ugly head again and the CRTC was “seeking comments on a proposal to change the wording of the regulation to say that it applied only in cases in which broadcasters knew the information was false or misleading and that reporting it was likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.”

Huh?

The comment-seeking was to end by February 9 and, as you might expect, the CRTC was inundated with public uproar. While many people paid attention to usage-based billing, this issue, too, was raising the blood pressure of Canadians. What was it all about? Where did it come from? And how can one determine if the reporting was “likely to endanger” anything?

With the issue bubbling and sizzling away, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein announced in Ottawa on Friday in a brief interview that the amendment is being “withdrawn.”

“We never wanted to touch this thing. We put it forward because we were ordered to do it. We did what we thought would be a workable compromise,” he said. “I was perfectly happy with what it was before, and I’m sure at the next commission meeting, we will withdraw this attempt at rewriting.”

On Thursday of last week, the Standing Joint Committee even agreed to withdraw its advice to the CRTC to dilute the wording of the ban on false and misleading news.

So with the amendment tossed out by both the CRTC and the Standing Joint Committee, the issue has safely gone to bed. From the looks of things, it’s gone to bed rather quietly too.

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Betrand told The Canadian Press that she found the reversal “disturbing.” She says she’s an advocate of the “independence” of the CRTC and, as such, felt “compelled to speak out.”

“The CRTC’s great advantage was it was giving the possibility for the government to have an institution at arm’s length,” she said. ”It was not a political decision. It wasn’t, ‘I like your face, I don’t like your face.’ It’s not based on an upcoming election. It was based on due process.”

Bertrand added that the government’s actions in this case have been motivated by that greatest of democratic evils: “pleasing voters.” Of course, we all know that we don’t elect government officials to do silly things like that. Pardon the sarcasm.

Bertrand repeated many of the common threats in the industry, noting that government interference in regulatory decisions would only serve to confuse and undermine the broadcasting and telecommunications industry. This would, of course, dampen the possibility of increased investment. “Now we have a minister, or I don’t know who, who have not heard all the facts, all the elements, and decides arbitrarily that it’s not a good decision and it should be the other way around,” said Bertrand.

Right. “Arbitrarily.” The decision to open the issue of usage-based billing up to greater scrutiny had been made on impulse. That pesky public outcry had nothing to do with it. There’s that sarcasm again.

Now’s probably as good a time as any to note that this champion of the CRTC’s “independence” sits on the board at Quebecor, owner of cable internet provider Vidéotron. She’s also president of the Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce.

And as if another log was needed on this roaring fire of contempt, Ms. Bertrand decided to up the ante. “But who doesn’t understand how this heavy usage brings the necessity for the infrastructure [telephone and cable] companies to invest more in speed … that it’s the infrastructure companies that pay, not the reseller (ISP) – the reseller doesn’t bring any innovation,” she said (emphasis added).

So what we have here is a former CRTC head upset that the government actually listened to the roars of the public for a change. With her lofty position within Quebecor and well-known support for big business in her front pocket, Bertrand’s disdain towards the Conservatives’ “disturbing” notion of acknowledging public outcry takes on special meaning. And on top of this, she has the unmitigated gall to suggest that “the reseller doesn’t bring any innovation.”

The CRTC’s loss of ethical ground in this country has been staggering and Bertrand’s comments crystallize the notion further. The “idea” is not for the government to have an “institution at arm’s length” but for corporations to have an institution in their pockets. The recent rash of “decisions” made by this regulatory body, from usage-based billing to creative rewording of the rules to allow for “false news,” has many Canadians again rightly questioning its validity. For more info check out digitcom’s web site at digitcom.ca, or TheTelecomBlog.com

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Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >

.

That is why in response to feedback from its sales Associates and its customers, NEC Canada has announced the availability of its best UC value to date–InUCB for the UNIVERGE® SV8100 and Sv8300.

Simply put, with InUCB NEC has managed to bring high quality enterprise-grade Unified Communications features and technologies to small and medium-sized businesses, reducing the overall size and cost of the UC technology by including it as a blade on its popular UNIVERGE SV8100 and SV8300 communications servers, but still offering the same great features and services of larger more expensive UC solutions.

Before the addition of InUCB, UNIVERGE SV8100 communications server was already a much coveted communications solution. As a NEC distributor, Digitcom.ca proudly recognized both the SV8100 and SV8300 as among its best communications solutions available, some of the few systems on the market that were able to make Unified Communication a reality at competitive and affordable price points.

But if the SV8100 was good before, it’s positively amazing now. According to NEC, as a communications application, InUCB operates similar to a traditional server-based UCB, with the notable differences being, “capacity and the way it’s delivered – as a blade inside our award-winning UNIVERGE SV8100 and SV8300 communication servers.”

InUCB offers the same UC and Contact Centre features and functionality—notably rich presence, Unified Messaging, Executive Insight, Agent Desktop, Desk-to-Desk Chat, and click to dial integration with Microsoft Outlook—of an advanced, and not to mention more expensive and considerably larger, system previously unavailable to the smaller businesses due to price and relative size.

As a blade—a relatively miniscule server—within the SV8100 system, InUCB now gives companies like Digitcom.ca the opportunity to offer advanced “application-centric” communications solutions to companies heretofore unable to utilize such advanced technology due to cost and/or space considerations.

So what does this mean for you? If you are one of the thousands of small or mid-sized business owners who have been looking longingly at expensive VoIP Unified Communications solutions, this is your lucky day, as InUCB for the UNIVERGE SV8100 is aggressively priced for the SMB customers, with savings up to half off traditional external server-based UCB system configurations. With the addition of InUCB, NEC’s UNIVERGE SV8100 has truly made Unified Communications a reality for everyone.

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Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >

But before looking forward into the future, it’s necessary to look back on what has undoubtedly been one of the telecom news intensive years in recent memory. This past year was particularly interesting because of Nortel’s well publicized 2009 demise, as Nortel’s chief competitors spent considerable money and efforts attacking Nortel’s customer base very aggressively, with the likes of Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, ShoreTel, NEC, and Toshiba all vying for a piece of Nortel’s expansive market share.

All the while, Avaya, the company that bought Nortel’s assets, spent considerable resources—in both development and marketing dollars—simply trying to hang on to both the Nortel dealer and customer base. With Avaya’s ongoing strategy to produce a product wherein 1 + 1 would equal more than 2 for both the company and its customers, its seems that Avaya has managed to contain the initial losses from its Nortel acquisition and effectively transition some of the former Nortel customer base to Avaya’s own hardware.

In early 2010 Avaya announced a new direction for the company, laying out a product road map that saw the impending discontinuation of the Norstar and Avaya Partner in the SME channel, with eventual product consolidation into the Avaya IP Office family of products. The Business Communication Manager’s (BCM) fate will probably follow the same path in the next few months as Avaya releases its much anticipated IP Office 7, which includes support for the older Nortel M and T series sets. But even with IP Office 7 the question remains, with competitors looking to fill the Nortel void, how much of the old Nortel market share can Avaya hang on to?

Most of the larger competitors recognize the market potential of the old Nortel base and to that end have put some very aggressive transition discounts in place to attract potential customers. For Avaya’s part, while it has an excellent product and a sterling reputation in the market, it will take more than that to full capitalize on its Nortel acquisition.

In order to continue to maintain its current market share, Avaya will need not only an excellent product and a great reputation, but the dealer channel to sell its product as well. So even with the majority of the old Nortel dealer base now selling Avaya’s “red” product, Avaya will need to counter its competitor’s aggressive discounts with similarly price offerings keeping the profit margins thin. That being said, Avaya will do quite well in 2011 in both product segments.

This past year saw Cisco become somewhat on an enigma, excelling in the enterprise space while conversely floundering in the SME market space. As this past year drew to a close, however, it finally seemed that Cisco was starting to understand what it needed to do to win the SME space. So a quick note to Cisco for 2011: The SME and enterprise markets are very different, meaning that one standard approach to product innovation and advancement simply won’t do.

With that said, the next release of the UC540 and UC560 seems to have more of what SME business customers are looking for: ease of install and lots of intuitive and easy-to-use features all packaged into a great price point. For 2011 this means that Cisco will continue to fight for market share and will spend considerable dollars to make inroads into the SME market space, and although the Cisco product remains expensive and difficult to engineer, I believe it will succeed.

The California-based provider of commercial, closed-source VoIP products is exceptionally nimble and sports an excellent product that is easy to install, sell, and deploy, all of which has resulted in ShoreTel growing faster than average market growth rates. ShoreTel has traditionally done very well in the small and medium market space but has yet to be able to effectively transition that success into the larger enterprise market, if for no other reason than it takes considerable time to break into the very large (1,000 plus) market and gain its trust.

That said, however, ShoreTel has progressively grown quarter by quarter this past year and will soon surpass $200 million in sales, the “magic” number that I believe will help it gain credibility in the large enterprise market. Unfortunately for the Canadian readers of TheTelecomblog.com, ShoreTel’s success south of the border simply hasn’t translated into a similar achievement in the Canadian market.

The reality is that ShoreTel simply hasn’t made the necessary investment in to the Canadian market…yet. Its success in the Canadian market will depend on ShoreTel securing a local Canadian distributor, opening a Canadian office (a real office, not simply a post office box) with local Canadian management, a Canadian dollar price book, and a local Canadian sales force. I do suspect that all of this will come to fruition in 2011, and if it does, ShoreTel will be the company to watch.

But all the news for 2011 isn’t good, and this next year will certainly see its fair share of telecom losers as well. To read Part 2 of this post click here.

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Voip Phone, IP Phones, BCM, IP PBX , Phone Systems, Business Phones