TMCnet's Unified Communications Week in Review

Unified Communications (News - Alert) (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 (News - Alert) and DonorsChoose.org who donating $250,000 through grants to schools for Skype video calling technology.

Clear-Com, a global provider of critical voice communication systems, is always looking to expand its presence in the market. The company has recently hired QinMedia as its new broadcast industry distributor in Spain. 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.

“QinMedia is a fairly new company, but the professional team has been supporting Clear-Com for many years, with my personal relationship with the company beginning in 1993. We're excited to join Clear-Com in providing the wireless, Intercom-over-IP and wired intercom solutions that can integrate with the Eclipse platform,” said Jose María Alvarez González, general manager for QinMedia, in a press release. “Clear-Com Concert is already widely adopted in the Spanish market, as IP communications is seen as the intercom solution of the future.”

In other UC news, cloud communications provider IntelePere launched two new cloud-based service bundles in the UC market today.  The IntelePeer (News - Alert) 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.

UC comes with several benefits as users can communicate more efficiently by having access to all communications at one time and information can be shared, forwarded, or managed conveniently. But not all UC solutions are created equally because customers tend to look for less complex solutions that are easy to manage.

"Customers clearly see the benefits of Unified Communications, but they want more control and predictability when it comes to budget management and deployment of advanced features," said Margaret Norton, general manager, Enterprises at IntelePeer. "Our CoreCloud bundles offer the ideal solution, with inclusive monthly fees and a per-user pricing option that makes it very easy for organizations to deploy and manage their UC solutions."

Finally, Skype has partnered up with DonorsChoose.org to donate $250,000 in 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.

“We realize that to achieve our goal of connecting one million classrooms across the globe, we need to partner with like-minded organizations that serve teachers,” said Tony Bates, president of the Skype Division at Microsoft (News - Alert).

DonorsChoose.org allows public school teachers from all over the globe to post requests educational needs. People then go to DonorsChoose.org, select projects that interest them, and make donations. DonorsChoose.org has collected $102 million for items such as books, art supplies, and technology.

For more of this week’s Unified Communications news, click here.