Cloudy, Mobile and Secure: Just Like UC Should Be

By Maurice Nagle
TMCnet Web Editor

Unified Communications (News - Alert) (UC) have grown in leaps and bounds since the advent of the concept years ago, and today’s offerings, whether cloud, hybrid-cloud or premises-based must be ready to meet the demands of today’s always-on, always plugged-in lifestyle to which professionals have become accustomed. While many UC providers have their sights on developing the end-all, be-all in enterprise communications very few are offering the mobile, reliable and bottom-line friendly solutions.

A recent article outlined 10 trends in UC for 2015; let’s take a look at a few that are quickly coming into focus. Top of the list is UC-as-a-Service, with SMB and enterprise alike making the migration to the cloud; its ease of use, flexibility and pricing model make it understandable to see why.

Piggybacking on the number one trend, next on the list is the growth in adoption of cloud-based video conferencing. Vidyo (News - Alert) is a player in the virtualized video space making some racket in early 2015, following up on its partnership with Google (News - Alert) to now provide Tadiran’s Aeonix users with its video capabilities. Video conferencing technology has given so much to the enterprise in cost cutting, and now with the innovation we see in the market today, virtualization of this functionality is the next step.

A third point I would like to note is the relationship between UC and mobility. The report mentions that mobile UC is garnering some real attention, and many providers offer the ease of collaboration through a few clicks on a smartphone. As this space matures, the level of competition has matured as well. From AT&T (News - Alert) partnering with Blue Jeans to the above mentioned Tadiran/Vidyo partnership, the space is seeing consolidation to provide the most complete end-to-end solution. 

While the article offers some interesting predictions, one subject not mentioned is the issue of redundancy and fault tolerance. For example, Aeonix addresses these issues with its matrix of clustered devices and by creating a fault tolerant cloud gateway to ensure high availability as well as improved security—the report does predict a rise in VoIP attacks.

While this is simply another “talking head” offering my two cents, it seems most of the market has missed the mark and is not addressing demand. An example of one embracing the current UC landscape is Tadiran’s Aeonix. One should go out and do their due diligence when seeking a UC solution, but I will say that Aeonix has definitively differentiated from the pack with its high availability, redundancy, mobility, security and not to mention pool licensing to provide the enterprise one of, if not the most complete UC offering available today—but hey, what do I know?