February 2009 Archives

One of the goals that I have here at OSDUC is to clear up some of the confusion around the concepts and terms around Unified Communications.  If you look out there, you will find countless definitions of a variety of UC related topics such as Presence, Collaboration, Advanced Applications and so forth.  Equally, you will find plenty of confusion on what exactly Unified Communications is as well.  Compounding the challenge of defining these terms are the manufactures - Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft and so forth - throwing out there respective definitions of these terms which inevitably have a specific product tie.  

So with that in mind, let me throw out this definition of Unified Communications for you and tell me what you think:

Unified Communications is, fundamentally, the melding together of voice, data and applications.  This melding brings together disparate systems into a unified solution that eliminates barriers between communication, information and knowledge workers.

So let's break down this definition a bit further.  The key to all of this is that you are bringing together all of your voice, data and applications into one, cohesive solution.  Gone are the barriers that cause breakdowns in communication such as multiple networks (think voice networks and separate data networks) as well as application platforms (think PCs versus Apples versus mobile devices).  This unification brings together everything into one centralized (logically speaking) solution that can be accessed anywhere, at any time, from any device.  AOTMAP said it best in a recent UC report:  "Unified Communications is, in essence, the convergence of communication networks: all data, accessible in all ways."

Now how this unification happens can take on a lot of different shapes and sizes depending on the way your organization wants to approach it.  It could be a hybrid solution leveraging existing technology within the organization.  It could be a completely new solution utilizing all new technology and products.  There are drawbacks and benefits to both approaches but keep in mind that the real goal of Unified Communications is simplifying your organziations communications needs.

So there is my definition of Unified Communications.  It's really simple if you think about it for very long.

Now the questions become why you should unify your communications and what the benefits to your organization or when you do so?

I'll take these two questions on in my next post.

In the meantime, post your thoughts on my definition.  How do you define Unified Communications?

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Welcome to Oh Say Do UC!  I'm glad that you decided to stop by and hopefully you will keep coming back for more.  I thought I'd kick off this new blog here at TMC with an introduction - of me, of Spanlink Communications, and what you can expect here at OSDUC (see, already got an acronym).  That's pronounced "Oz-duck" in case you were wondering...

My name is Clinton Fitch and I'm the Unified Communications Product Manager for Spanlink Communications.  I have been involved in the Unified Communications and Contact Center industry for ten years now, starting back with Cisco Call Manager 2.0 (Yikes!) back-in-the-day.  I've been with Spanlink now for five years, starting out as System Engineer before moving into management & my current role with company.  In addition to my work in UC, I'm also a Microsoft MVP in Mobile Devices.  You can find me writing on various sites and blogs for the mobile space as well as it is my other technology passion in life.

Spanlink Communications is based in Minneapolis, MN and we are a Cisco Master Certified Unified Communications partner as well as holding several Advanced Technology certifications in UC and Contact Center.  Spanlink is 20 years old now and has been a primary Cisco partner for over ten of those years.  Spanlink is also a Microsoft Gold Certified partner as well has having a variety of relationships with other partners to meet our customer business needs.

So what can you expect out of this blog?  It's rather simple actually.  My goal is to provide iniformation on this somewhat vague "thing" that is Unified Communications.  I'm primarily going to cover technology, trends, observations and I'll pepper in real-world examples as well.  I want to give you the readers information you can use to make your own UC decisions both now and in the future.  

So again, welcome!  Be sure to bookmark us and come back often. Continue Reading...