Unified Communications Featured Article

Collab9 Becomes First FedRAMP Authorized UCaaS Provider

By Alicia Young
Web Editor

In the wake of the federal government’s cloud-first mandate to adopt cloud-based services, agencies have moved email, enterprise applications and mission-specific apps to the cloud. Now, they can take the next step and start moving their unified communications (UC) systems to the cloud as well. This development is possible thanks to the General Services Administration’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program’s (FedRAMP) decision to authorize Collab9 to operate with federal agencies. Collab9, a Unified Communications (News - Alert) as a Service (UCaaS) provider, is the first company to receive this authorization.

Needless to say, Collab9 is pretty excited about their new status and capabilities. They said in a statement that agencies that adopt its system will benefit from increased productivity, newer technology, cost savings and the flexibility that cloud technology brings. According to the company, its UCaaS offering is more financially sound than traditional UC solutions because there are reduced capital expenditures for critical phone infrastructure, maintenance and upgrades. The system also needs fewer IT staff to work on-premises at agencies, leading to even more cost savings.

Other benefits to Collab9’s solution are that its system can be rapidly deployed, and the solution and infrastructure will be continuously updated. This will allow agencies to easily move away from older communications systems and replace them with the cloud. This setup is ideal for agencies looking to improve their efficiency, according to Burke Daidy, senior director of government solutions at BroadSoft (News - Alert), who said, “As agencies adopt newer and faster network technologies, they are more likely to adopt services like UCaaS. Such systems will also help them lower their costs”

He continued, “The application of the service has really started to latch onto the gears here and has become an obvious choice for the government, and I believe it is why you are now starting to see these services.”

However, Collab9’s time in the spotlight may be limited. Ashley Mahan, the FedRAMP agency evangelist at GSA (News - Alert), said that more cloud service providers are looking to become certified for specialized services like UCaaS, as opposed to more traditional Software as a Service or Infrastructure as a Service offerings. This is unfortunate for Collab9, who is currently the only authorized provider. However, agencies will benefit from these companies changing course because they’ll have more options to choose from, thus lowering costs even further.

For now, Collab9 will just have to enjoy its time as the only UCaaS provider with FedRAMP’s blessing. Their time in the spotlight is undoubtedly fleeting as more agencies move to the cloud and other UCaaS providers rush to gain authorization. But, for now, they might as well take advantage of the situation while they can.