How can unified communications help you?

From the CEO of a telecommunications company, to the orders clerk in a manufacturing company, to the receptionist of a small business, we need to get hold of someone urgently almost every day.

So we look up their telephone number and call them. Very often we get a voicemail and leave a message. Then we try their mobile number and maybe leave a second message. We may then also send an e-mail.

Even if we do reach them, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are able to speak to us or that they're in a position to provide us with the information we're looking for. Then there's the likelihood that if we didn't reach them, they'll return our call when we are unable to take their call, and so the whole process starts over from their side!

How does someone get hold of you or know where you are?

The problem is that our communications identities and experiences are too closely linked to our location, our devices and the mode of contact we are using. Your work number is tied to the phone on your desk. Your cellphone number calls the device you carry in your pocket. You may have separate identities for e-mail and instant messaging, plus a number you call for audio conferencing and a code you must input. This is far too complicated.

The goal of unified communications is to integrate all of the ways we contact each other in a single environment, using a single identity that spans phones, PCs and other devices. Unified communication should make it easy for people to reach each other using the mode of communication that is the most productive, on the device that is most convenient, while at the same time providing individuals with the highest levels of control over when and how they can be reached, and by whom.

With unified communications, you will be able to tell at a glance if the person you need to talk to is in the office and available to take your call. When you are on the phone, you'll be able to move from a two-person conversation to a conference call with a click of the mouse, or switch to a videoconference that includes colleagues and partners from around the world.

Unified communications solutions will have the intelligence to know who is allowed to interrupt you when you are busy, and automatically route phone calls, e-mails and instant messages to the right device when you leave the office. You'll also be able to listen to your e-mail or read your phone messages!

Corporates with a large PBX installation are spending R2 500 on average to give a new employee basic telephony capability, plus an additional R750 per user per year for maintenance, and continue to spend heavily on telephony even though the PC has largely replaced the telephone as the way people prefer to communicate in the workplace.

In a recent poll, 61% of information workers cited e-mail as their primary communication tool, while 75% said they check their e-mail every morning before they check their voice messages.

The arrival of unified communications products like Microsft's Lync 2010 signals the beginning of the convergence of VOIP telephony (which provides the ability to route telephone calls through the Internet), e-mail, instant messaging, mobile communications, and audio and video Web conferencing into a single platform that shares a common directory (Active Directory) and common developer tools.

Unified communications also takes advantage of standard communication protocols such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to route communications to the right people on the right device.

Together with Microsoft, NET (Network Equipment Technologies) has developed an appliance that allows integration between existing telephony infrastructure, SIP providers and new generation Microsoft Lync technologies, paving the way for companies to migrate to unified communications.

VOD Communications imports and distributes the NET UX2000. This is an approved Microsoft Lync Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA). The UX2000 boasts the following as some of its key features:

* Modular design
* 1- 6 DSP resources
* 2 card slots 2, 4, 8 port DS1 (T1/E1) spans per card
* 24 FXS ports per card
* Mix & Match DSP resources for price, performance, and application needs
* Scalable architecture - same platform for 50-1 000 users
* Large PBX interoperability
* Microsoft Lync & OCS Certified
* Branch office survivability
* Active Directory-based call routing
* SIP Trunking certification
* Router/Firewall/SBA
* Call forking
* Codec transcoding
* Hot swappable telephony cards
* Hot swappable power supplies
* Real-time monitoring Web-Based GUI

In addition to this, VOD Communications also imports and distributes the TENOR range of Quintum VOIP equipment. If you would like more information or would like to see a demonstration of the unified communications technologies and the products that we provide to assist in enabling unified communications, please contact us.