Unified Communications Week in Review: AtHoc, CounterPath, ITWeb, More

By Andrew Bindelglass
Contributing Writer

The next big thing in mobile business communication got even bigger over this past week. As more and more businesses are realizing the need for increased complexity and capability in their messaging. With that in mind, many organizations began the move towards Unified Communications (News - Alert) for their communication needs.

One of the most important uses of unified communications is in crisis situations, when people are scrambling and may not have the time or presence of mind to check their various communications accounts. AtHoc is one of the industry leaders when it comes to networked crisis communications, and they continued to expand this week by making their app available on Cisco CUCM capable phone handsets.  

But Unified Communications serve a purpose outside of pure crisis management. This technology is making its way into more and more businesses, as fiber-to-the-home provider EPB seems to be aware. They announced a partnership with CounterPath (News - Alert) Communication earlier this week, allowing them to offer OTT content services on top of the broadband service they already provide to businesses.

Organizations all around the world are turning toward UC technologies as they search for the best and most cost-effective method to deliver vital information to employees quickly and easily. Research by ITWeb in South Africa revealed that nearly half of all organizations are working on moving in this direction.  The driving force behind nearly all of these moves is a desire for increased user customization for how people receive their information and easier and simpler communication with mobile devices.

As demand for OTT content services has grown in recent months, the supply has begun to as well. Dasher, a UC app that boasts, among other things, advanced location services, concluded an $840,000 round of fundraising this week with a valuation of around $2 million. Investors and outsiders alike seem very optimistic that Dasher can be very successful in the OTT content market.