Unified Communications

T3i Group recently conducted a survey that revealed that though U.S. businesses employ a "best-of-breed" strategy to choose individual collaboration apps rather than deploying products from a single vendor, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have predominantly accepted Microsoft as their primary vendor.

RADVISION recently reported slight revenue losses for the first quarter of 2012. The company is a provider of video conferencing and telepresence technologies over IP and wireless networks.

Glowpoint, Inc recently announced a multi-year agreement with Columbus Business Solutions, a leading network provider within the Caribbean. The partnership will enable Glowpoint, a provider of cloud managed video services, to extend its advanced suite of cloud hosted video services within the Latin American and Caribbean markets.

ShoreTel recently announced the availability of collaboration applications. This is a strategic view that will effectively meet the increasing demands from large enterprise customers. The company is a provider of simple business phones systems and unified communications (UC) solutions.

Traditional landline phones are set for a facelift, thanks to an upgrade to a solution by Broadvox called the Synapse SB67070 SIP Gateway - an IP-based trunking system that provides LANs with the abilities of a network hooked up to the Internet.

The SecureLogix ETM System helps companies to secure, optimize and simplify management of complicated enterprise voice/UC networks. The system does this with the help of enterprise-wide voice network intelligence and unified policy enforcement. By protecting the companies from attack, fraud, data leakage, financial losses and service abuse over TDM and VoIP enterprise phone lines, the ETM System facilitates a hard-dollar ROI payback in less than 12 months.

Craig Eidem, a technology industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in the business, has just accepted a position as CTO of Broadvox. Broadvox has provided hosted UC, SIP Trunking and VoIP for a variety of customers since its inception in 2001.

Makers of social media management systems at HootSuite have released a business collaboration tool named HootSuite Teams. HootSuite's tool offers an enterprise scale business collaboration solution for global companies, as well as small businesses.

When people hear the term Enterprise App Store (EAS), they usually think of mobile apps and devices, and how to control the distribution and management to employees in a company or organization.

Businesses are becoming more and more 'virtual,' which means a business and/or its workers are no longer confined to a physical office or address. Businesses can now eliminate most of its overhead by creating elements that exist online only. Sometimes organizing all of these technologies can be confusing, which lead to the development of unified communications.

ShoreTel, a provider of cloud-based business phone system and communications solutions, announced the appointment of new leaders to its senior management. Joe Vitalone has been selected as Vice President, Channel Management and Timothy C. Gaines was appointed as Vice President of North America Sales. Mark Arman joined ShoreTel as Vice President of International Sales and Worldwide Distribution.

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS), a world leader in highly reliable and secure mobile communication technology, recently announced that it has entered a patent licensing alliance with a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation, a leader in patent licensing. According to the terms of the agreement, the subsidiary of Acacia is now the exclusive licensor of TCS' inter-carrier messaging (ICM) patent portfolio.

Blue Door Networks has become an Authorized Level Polycom Choice Partner of Polycom Inc., the company in open, standards-based unified communications (UC). The main objective of this partnership is to offer flexible, collaborative information technologies to enterprise customers.

Applied Global Technologies (AGT), the leading managed services and Unified Communications technology provider for interactive and mobile video conferencing solutions, recently announced in a press release that it has signed a partnership agreement with Cartel Communications Systems, Canada's leading provider of industrial wireless communications solutions.

The digital wallet, an e-cash service, is a method of storing various forms of electronic money. It works like a physical wallet and allows internet users to use their money for online shopping and other financial transactions.

Applied Global Technologies (AGT), the leading managed services and Unified Communications technology provider for interactive and mobile video conferencing solutions, recently announced in a press release that it has signed a partnership agreement with Cartel Communications Systems, Canada's leading provider of industrial wireless communications solutions.

Unified Communications saw the deployment of several new solutions this week, as well as a number of kudos for existing applications. At the IMS World Forum in Madrid, GENBAND showcased its new A2 Communications Application Server, its S3 Session Border Controller and its recently released GENBAND GENiUS IMS.

BroadSoft, which provides software that enable the delivery of voice and multimedia services over IP-based networks, announced that Swisscom, a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland, has selected BroadWorks' voice application platform to deliver hosted unified communications (UC) offering. Serving nearly six million mobile customers with approximately 1.7 million broadband connections, Swisscom has significant presence throughout the country.

Given the plethora of chat tools already in existence, another one may not be exciting, but the introduction of a new versatile chat box, Chatwing, is being regarded by some as the chat tool of the future, for its proven potential when installed on any Web site. The significance of the Chatwing stand-alone chat program is highlighted by the need to strengthen portals in social networking sites by providing adequate chat support to its followers.

TMC, a global integrated media company, recently recognized Radware's Alteon 10000 Application Delivery Controller with the 2011 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award, presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. Radware's Alteon 10000 is a carrier-grade, Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture- compliant ADC that offers on-demand, extendable throughput of up to 80 Gbps of application delivery capacity.

IP infrastructure and application provider GENBAND plans to unveil its Rich Communications Suite-enhanced (RCS-e) service powered by the A2 Communication Applications Server and S3 Session Border Controller (SBC) this week at IMS World Forum in Madrid.

An effective SIP-based Unified Communication (UC) system can reduce the average time spent by enterprise employees on routine communication by as much as 1.21 hours per day, contributing to a savings of around $13,000 per year per worker, according to a new report.

TelecomReseller.com reports that choosing a single unified communications solution with SIP trunking can save businesses as much as 50 percent off of their digital communications expenses. Also, replacing disparate phone systems with a single UC system cuts ongoing maintenance and carriage costs.

Even though the term "collaboration" describes how people work together to solve business issues, the bottom line is that "collaboration" needs all forms of communication and information exchange between people. For that reason, the flexibility of "unified communications" (UC) is an implied capability for person-to-person business contacts.

Unified communications remains as important as ever this week with numerous companies implementing new communication solutions for customers.

ShoreTel, Inc. has added a new channel partner in the cloud-based, unified communications area. The company announced that its Cloud Division, M5 Networks, has added Datamart, Inc. as an Alliance partner.

IOCOM Communications recently announced its video conferencing and collaboration platform has been selected by Mitchell Associates. An Illinois-based consulting firm, Mitchell Associates will now be able to use this platform to share HD quality renderings with multiple users via desktops or laptops, increasing overall productivity.

Openwave Systems, Inc. recently announced it will sell its Mediation and Messaging product businesses to Marlin Equity Partners. The company signed a definitive agreement to sell to Marline Equity Partners by the end of April 2012.

Aruba has announced that two mobile voice solutions from AltiGen have earned certification with the ArubaEdge Technology Partner Program. The solutions certified by Aruba from AltiGen include both MaxMobile for Microsoft Lync and iFusion SmartStations.

Unified Communications had become a way for businesses to save money, eliminate maintenance of equipment, create new management services company-wide, and help employees stay connected no matter where they are. Unified Communications have really helped companies stay in line with technology.

AltiGen Communications, a provider of Microsoft VoIP business phone systems and Unified Communications solutions, announced that its MaxMobile for Lync and iFusion SmartStations have been certified interoperable with Aruba Networks' Wi-Fi infrastructure. The certification was carried out under ArubaEdge Technology Partner Program.

Communications provider 8x8, Inc. will provide cloud-based hosted PBX and unified communications services to transportation technology company TMW Systems' 500-plus employees.

To paraphrase the famous line from the movie Jerry McGuire, "you had me with your opening line!" Such was the case of a recent blog post by Doug Woodburn for CRN which states, "You know a technology is a damp squib when even the resellers pushing it admit it's a non-starter." He was referring to unified communications (UC).

Nexus IS, Inc was recently recertified by Cisco as a Gold Partner, after the company successfully completed a rigorous audit process. The Masters Specializations in Unified Communications and Security partnership confirms that Nexus has met the stringent standards set forth by Cisco in assessing key business and technical competencies.

Avaya has emerged at the top in the recently concluded Enterprise Connect's mock Unified Communications or UC Request for Proposal competition. The results of the competition, along with the evaluation and scores, were released during Enterprise Connect 2012.

The following are excerpts from the CXO Reports 47 page NuViews® Summary Report on Avaya Aura® UC available via TMCnet's Research Portal.

Auraya Systems, a major provider of versatile voice verification services, has joined Avaya's DevConnect Developer & Partner Program. The move supports Auraya's commitment to integrate its flagship solution, the ArmorVox Speaker Identity System, with Avaya's IVR platforms.

CEVA Inc. has unveiled the industry's first successful Skype SILK super wideband speech codec on a DSP core. An affordable and extremely high-quality voice communications offering, provided by CEVA's deployment of the SILK codec, has been optimized for the 32-bit CEVA-TeakLite-III family of audio DSPs, and is forward compatible with upcoming releases of the popular CEVA-TeakLite DSP architecture.

Polycom Inc., a worldwide open standards-based unified communications service, recently recognized ScanSource Communications with Global Distributor of the Year and North America Distributor of the Year awards. Global Distribution Partner of the Year is the highest honor awarded to a Polycom distribution partner.

TMC's INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has recognized ADTRAN Inc.'s NetVanta Unified Communications (UC) Solutions Suite, naming it the Unified Communications Product of the Year for 2011. ADTRAN's solution suite offers unique features and benefits including detailed personalization, interoperability with legacy equipment and the skill to be implemented in virtual environments.

The Unified Communications (UC) space was full of breaking news this week with the Sprint's new Sprint Complete Collaboration, the introduction of VOSS\Solutions and ISI Telemanagement first UC Business Analytics Solutions, and Black Box Network Services joining the GENBAND Partner Advantage Program.

Black Box Network Services, a well known communications system integrator dedicated to designing, sourcing, implementing and maintaining today's complex communications solutions, has announced that it has joined the GENBAND Partner Advantage Program.

Aastra is announcing the launch of Aastra BluStar client at Enterprise Connect, which will take place in Orlando, FL, from March 26-29. With the expansion of Aastra's BluStar portfolio, employees will be able to use the most appropriate communications tool for their environment such as instant messaging, video or voice, whether at their desk or on the move. At Enterprise Connect, Aastra is now declaring the availability of the BluStar client for laptops and computers, with the iPad and iPhone client available in Q2 2012.

VOSS Solutions and ISI Telemanagement have introduced the first UC Business Analytics Solutions to the growing market. VOSS Solutions, known for enterprise communications, and Telemanagement Solutions, a provider of cost-efficient management solutions ranging from voice to data, plan to do this through a new business partnership that showcases the expertise of both companies.

As organizations consider shifting to the cloud, on-premise versus hosted solutions both offers several advantages. Ultimately, many companies are moving toward a utility-subscription model because of the flexibility, scalability and cost advantages that come with cloud-based services. But companies have to choose the best deployment model to suit their business needs.

Sprint's new "Sprint Complete Collaboration" hosted and fully managed unified communications (UC) bundle for businesses is aimed at mid-sized and large businesses, and offers a "mobile-centric" approach to unified communications.

GENBAND has announced plans to expand into the market of enterprise communications to provide organizations with mobile solutions for advanced Unified Communications (UC) and SIP Trunking. The company already has approximately 250 million IP communications ports across the globe, and hopes to deliver large-scale enterprise networks to an IP-based UC infrastructure.

IntelePeer, a cloud-based communications provider, recently announced two new SIP Trunking packages. The IntelePeer CoreCloud UC Bundles for SIP Trunking services are a much-welcomed alternative to the older legacy, per-minute UC SIP Trunking price structure.

Unified Communications (UC) news this week included global critical voice communication provider expanding its market presence to Spain, cloud communications provider launching two new UC cloud communications bundles, and Skype and DonorsChoose.org who donating $250,000 through grants to schools for Skype video calling technology.

Telovations Inc., a next-generation Communications company, recently signed a partnership agreement with Resource Partners Group Inc., an Illinois-based telecom and business consultant group. According to the terms of the partnership, Resource Partners Group (RPG) will now be responsible for selling Telovations' hosted services across the United States.

Certifications are, not surprisingly, important in terms of IT in business. Having a certification is a visible badge of training and skill in the area in question. And for some resellers, Jenne is about to make it just a bit easier to hold their certifications in one area, the Avaya IP Office platform.

Skype, a popular communications software company, has announced a partnership with DonorsChoose.org that would donate $250,000 through grants to teachers who want to purchase technology that would enable Skype video calling in their classrooms. The initiative is part of Skype's online community, Skype in the Classroom, which has the goal of connecting 1 million classrooms across the globe.

Cloud communications provider IntelePere launched two new cloud-based service bundles in the UC market today. The IntelePeer CoreCloud UC and IntelePeer CoreCloud UC Wireless bring all the benefits of a UC solution while integrating the CoreCloud SIP Trunking for easy connectivity between old and new solutions. The SIP Trunking is also certified for other UC vendors like Avaya, Microsoft Lync and Cisco.

Clear-Com, a global provider of critical voice communication systems, is continuously eyeing to expand its presence in the market. As a part of this ongoing effort, the company has hired QinMedia as its new broadcast industry distributor in Spain. According to the agreement, QinMedia will deliver Clear-Com's full range of professional intercom products for the broadcast market. These products will include Eclipse digital matrix systems, Concert IP-based intercoms and FreeSpeak wireless systems.

This week in Unified Communications, there was a variety of breaking news, including a new Broadvox CEO, a new unified communications solution and the introduction of a cloud-based video conferencing service for enterprises.

InterCall, a provider of unified communications, conferencing and collaboration services, has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan with its 2011 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Share Leadership.

It's a big day for the crew at Broadvox as they've just announced they'll be adding a new CEO to their ranks, and if you recognize the name Bruce Chatterley, then you know that Broadvox has some serious plans indeed.

It's a big day for the crew at Broadvox, as they've just announced they'll be adding a new CEO to their ranks. Our own CEO Rich Tehrani conducted an email interview with Broadvox's newest hire, and that in turn provided plenty of insight as to the future of Broadvox, which now looks very bright as a result of their newest move.

Avistar Communications Corporation, a provider of unified visual communications solutions, recently announced that it has been recognized with 2011 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award by TMC.

While some sectors like personal banking offer top-notch customer service, one in five customers stated that telecom firms and phone providers offered poor call center service. Sabio, a contact center and UC solutions provider, and the Customer Contact Association, conducted the survey.

Vietnam Post & Telecommunication (VNPT) recently introduced a new MegaConference subscription-based video conferencing service for the enterprise. The new cloud-delivered video conferencing service which leverages the Polycom RealPresence Platform has been designed as a face-to-face communication solution based on a pay-as-you-use model. Businesses using the solution will now benefit from a more efficient anywhere and anytime collaboration.

Taking note of some of the top unified communications news for the past week, TMC reported that Mitel, a provider of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) software solutions, has unveiled the latest version of its flagship UCC offering, the Mitel Applications Suite (MAS 4.0).

VBrick video streaming solutions will now be sold through Avaya. The availability of the solution follows the selection of VBrick Systems as a member of the Avaya DevConnect Select Product Program. "By making VBrick a member of the DevConnect Select Product Program, our partners and our customers can quickly and easily start leveraging the immense benefits of IP video communications," said Eric Rossman, vice president, Developer Relations, Avaya.

For small and mid-sized businesses, a company's health often depends on strong business continuity and communications operations. Power outages, server crashes, storage failures, malware, and natural disasters can adversely affect an infrastructure and workforce, and they continue to be real dangers. In relation to these concerns, there are several questions that are important to answer: For example, if critical operations are adversely affected, is there a plan in place to maintain access to the communications network, to consistently send out messages, and to remain competitive? Keep in mind that a disaster affecting a company can have wide repercussions that can influence every area of business

AT ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami, Fla., ServicePilot Technologies' vice president of Marketing & NORAM Sales, Ken Spear, interviewed with Erik Linask, editorial director at TMC. Spear discussed ServicePilot's monitoring solutions for VoIP and unified communications (UC).

Mitel, a provider of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) software solutions, has unveiled the latest version of its flagship UCC offering, the Mitel Applications Suite (MAS 4.0).

AT ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami, Fla., SimpleSignal CEO Dave Gilbert interviewed with Carrie Schmelkin, Web editor at TMC. Gilbert discussed SimpleSigal's mission to simplify and unify communications by using the cloud.

Blue Door Networks, a global communications and IT company, recently announced that it has joined the ShoreTel Champion Partner Program as a value-added Authorized Champion Partner. In its new position, Blue Door Networks will sell and deliver ShoreTel's Unified Communication solutions. ShoreTel is a provider of easy to use IP phone systems with fully integrated unified communications (UC).

International Data Corporation or IDC has released the Worldwide Enterprise Videoconferencing and Telepresence Qview report for the fourth quarter of 2011(4Q11). During the fourth quarter of 2011, the videoconferencing market income has reported strong growth, touching $807.9 million. As compared to the revenue in the fourth quarter of 2010, this represents an increase of 19 percent. Similarly, the year over year revenue for videoconferencing market has increased by 24.6 percent.

Siemens Enterprise Communications has announced the latest version of its OpenScape UC Suite, which will offer a single unified communications domain for organizations ranging from 100 to 500,000 users. The latest version of the company's UC platform, which will be available in June, offers improved scalability, mobility and federation, and enhanced public and private cloud capabilities, according to a company statement.

Vertical Communications takes a different stance. Although the company specializes in IP phone systems and UC solutions, its real focus is helping companies of all sizes be more confident by improving operational efficiencies, reducing costs and delighting customers.

City & Guilds has signed Azzurri Communications as a strategic telecom partner to help in the consolidation of four existing telecom suppliers into one managed service, which will deliver to City & Guilds substantial cost savings and a subsequent reduction in associated complexities. The second rung of the contract will see Azzurri drive business change and expansion with a planned Unified Communications strategy.

Unified communications is always in the news. TMC recently wrote that at ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami, Broadvox EVP of Sales and Marketing David Byrd interviewed with Stefanie Mosca, managing editor at TMC, and shed light on Broadvox's goals for mobility and unified communications.

The cloud was all the buzz at ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami - and with good reason. There couldn't be a hotter topic these days in the communications technology space. To gain some insight into what providers are doing to address the growing use of cloud technologies in unified communications, I sat down with Michael Fitzpatrick, CEO of ConnectSolutions, at the show.

During a recent discussion with my UC Strategies colleagues, we talked about where and when legacy business telephony will be going as mobility and UC-enabled applications move into the business world. In particular, the discussion revolved around legacy telephony systems based on PBXs and desktop hardphones. It is clear that traditional phone calls won't disappear, but will be subsumed by desktop softphone interfaces and Mobile UC as an option for communicating more efficiently with people who often away from a desk.

At the ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami, Fla., Broadvox EVP of Sales & Marketing David Byrd interviewed with Stefanie Mosca, managing editor at TMC, and shed light on Broadvox's goals for mobility and unified communications. "I enjoy every one and it won't be my last," said Byrd about his reoccurring presence at ITEXPO.

Bellevue College (BC), the third largest institution of higher learning in Washington State, has selected Mitel's Freedom Architecture as the foundation of its communications infrastructure. Thanks to Mitel solution, BC is now able to manage its voice solution as an application, deliver a full suite of UCC features including IM and chat, and easily integrate with its existing messaging platform, significantly easing communications management and maintenance, and reducing costs across the 14 building campus.

Denwa was among the hundreds of companies at ITEXPO in Miami this year introducing new and innovative IP telephony products. The Denwa team has attended several ITEXPOs in the past and has won several awards such as product of the year in 2003 and in 2011. Denwa's president recently spoke to TMC Managing Editor Stefanie Mosca in at ITEXPO.

VoIP and Unified Communication specialist Broadvox extended its HD voice capabilities on Tuesday by partnering with Inteliquent, a provider of global interconnection and interoperability solutions. Broadvox is leveraging the power of Inteliquent's commercial HD Voice Interconnect solution to route high-definition calls to other service provider networks and to hosted voice application providers, thus expanding the number of endpoints that their customers can reach.

The unified communications space had an array of news this week including cloud-based communications, new switch technology and the international expansion of IP telephony and contact center business solutions.

Aspect, a provider of customer contact and Microsoft platform solutions, announced that Miercom, a specialist in networking and communications-related product testing, has awarded its contact center solution, Aspect Unified IP 7, the "Performance Verified" certification based on Miercom's independent lab testing.

Norwalk, CT, (February 24, 2012) - TMC, a global, integrated media company helping clients build communities in print, in person and online, today announced the winners of its Fifth Annual Unified Communications Product of the Year Awards.

Jebsen and Jessen Communications (JJC), a customer driven communication-solutions provider, has extended its geographic reach to Asia with a focus on business solutions consulting services.

LG-Ericsson USA reportedly expanded its iPECS ES-3000 switch family with the introduction of four new products. According to its maker, the switches are specially designed to support today's unified communications applications.

Customers will now be able to download the next generation of FuzeBox's Fuze Meeting solution at Apple's App Store. Fuze Meeting purportedly converts iPads into telepresence devices, enabling communication and collaboration for business customers who don't want to worry about distance, device compatibility, and location limitations any more. The solution is available in nine languages in over 124 countries.

Cisco just had a talk with the European Commission, urging them to look twice at their approval of Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, valued at $8.5 billion. Cisco argues that Microsoft is going to make it difficult for other VoIP providers, since Skype has always had integration with Microsoft's Lync in mind. Many companies have prevented affordable (or free) services from working properly under the premise of unfair competition. Cisco believes that Microsoft should take advantage of open video calling standards that allow video calls to work easily.

Much happening, as always, in the unified communications space. This past week TMC noted that "Unified Communications" might be one of those phrases you've heard bandied about, don't really understand, but don't want to ask one of the tech geeks, "Uh, so... what's unified communications, anyway?"

There is a great deal of news in the Unified Communications arena this week.

CounterPath Corporation has entered into a commercial agreement with Rogers Communications to allow Canadians to use their wireless numbers to enable single-number reachability by talk and text, the company has announced.

New research by In-Stat, an NPD company, finds that more and more people are bringing their tablets into the workplace. Email is the most common function for tablets, while note-taking is the second most popular use. Only 22 percent of users had tablets that were paid for by their companies, and people who used 3G tablets tended to travel more often.

Customer contact solutions vendor Aspect has inked a partnership deal with 2e2, an ICT lifecycle services provider, to offer enterprises solutions that combine Aspect's unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) applications and 2e2's project management, technology and support services. The partnership, announced on Monday, will give 2e2 complete access to Aspect's portfolio of UC solutions, which come fully integrated with Microsoft's leading software suites including Exchange, Lync, and Dynamics Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

There was an array of breaking news in the Unified Communications Community this week. Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, said this week his company would ban e-mail for internal communications within the next year and a half. The plan is to replace e-mail with an enterprise social networking platform, which would handle all communications among Atos' 70,000 employees worldwide.

Infrastructure costs alone can be intimidating to those considering setting up their own VoIP company. However, entering the voice over IP market has become that much easier, thanks to General Telecom, which has rolled out its VoIP Concierge Partner Program. During ITEXPO East in Miami last week, General Telecom announced its Full Service VoIP Concierge Partner Program, allowing resellers to sell UC solutions without expensive and redundant infrastructure.

Catching up with two of the top unified communications headsets stories recently, there was an interesting post on the Plantronics blog about their resource called the "UC Toolkit."

Black Box Corporation, a global communications system, reportedly obtained two important specializations from Cisco: the Advanced Unified Computing Technology Specialization and the Advanced Unified Fabric Technology Specialization. Black Box earned the specializations after the successful completion of program prerequisites to sell, design, and deploy Cisco Unified Computing Systems (UCS) to organizations across the USA.

Thierry Breton, Atos CEO, has said his company would ban email for internal communications within the next year and a half.

While the ITEXPO East in Miami, Fla. this week provided interesting panels, presentations and product launches, the unified communications (UC) community also witnessed acquisitions and partnerships to keep the momentum going.

It was a big day for IP phone system provider ShoreTel. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company announced it will acquire M5 Networks just before releasing its second quarter earnings report, which shows revenue of $58 million, up eight percent over Q1-2012 and up 22 percent from the second quarter of fiscal year 2011.

Unified Communications (UC) is a set of programs and protocols that allows users to contact each other using a range of different media platforms at any given time. It brings together diverse communication devices, from mail programs to video conferencing and telecommunications, to establish streamlined connectivity between users. As the UC marketplace continues to grow and the need for effective solutions increases, certain companies have established influential positions, such as Siemens Enterprise Communications.

Affant Communication recently announced that it has released a unified communications system that has been specifically designed to address the requirements of companies who are looking to lower their costs without lowering their levels of service.