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Unified Communications Week in Review: Avaya, Generation-e and SPIRIT DSP

By Kyle Piscioniere
Web Editor

Welcome to the Unified Communications Week in Review, where we’ll run down the industry’s biggest news and try to identify some macroscopic trends in the market. The UC industry went through a bit of a love-fest this week. Lots of companies paired off, extended partnerships, or merged outright. It’s a common trend among specialized UC providers, but it’s unusual to see this much activity in one week. We’ll run through the big names in that news, then check in with Writer Art Rosenberg (News - Alert), who delivered an insightful lesson on the semantics and implications of the terms “UC” and “Business Communications”. Let’s get into it:

The biggest names in this week’s news are Avaya and Plantronics (News - Alert), who have partnered for a high-profile contact center solution. We all know Plantronics as one of the big two names in UC headsets, just behind Jabra, so readers should take note. Check out Jessica Abraham-Hogan’s article for the specs on that deal.

Generation-e, a Microsoft (News - Alert) UC provider based in Australia, has acquired Paradyne. This is smaller news, but still significant. Both companies are proud of their respective histories and enter the arrangement collaboratively. David Delony has all the details, including what this means for larger UC providers.

In the last round of industry trysts, SPIRIT DSP has continued its fruitful relationship with AT&T (News - Alert) and Cisco. The pairing allows AT&T to, in writer Casey Houser’s words, “save on costs by making Web-based conferencing available through the cloud and accessible as a pay-as-you-go service.” That’s just one feature that SPIRIST DSP is bringing to the two major service providers, so be sure to check out the article for full coverage.

And finally, Art Rosenberg gives us a look into how “Business Communications” may be a more fitting title for some of UC’s functions. The name is gaining tractions in some parts of the industry and has some interesting implications for the future. I’ll let Art handle the specifics.

That’s it for the Unified Communications Week in Review. Enjoy your weekend, relax, and be sure to hit us up next week for all your UC industry news.