Gartner placing Lync in the UC Magic Quadrant for 2011

Check out this great discussion from Linkedin

 

I was talking with a friend about Gartner placing Lync in the UC Magic Quadrant for 2011 and he asked me why it was there and did it deserve to be there? I would love to know your thoughts? | LinkedIn.

Unified communications Definition from Wikipedia

Unified communications – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Unified communications (UC) is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, telephony (including IP telephony), video conferencing, data sharing (including web connected electronic whiteboards aka IWB’s or Interactive White Boards), call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). UC is not a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.^[1]

In its broadest sense UC can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via the medium of the TCP/IP network to include other forms of communications such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and Digital Signage Communications as they become an integrated part of the network communications deployment and may be directed as one to one communications or broadcast communications from one to many.

UC allows an individual to send a message on one medium and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, one can receive a voicemail message and choose to access it through e-mail or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.

InterCall | Lync Trial

InterCall | Lync Trial.

Call recording: making Unified Communications Compliant.

Software such as Microsoft Lync, Microsoft Office Communications and Broadsoft BroadWorks is bringing together a wide range of desktop applications into “unified communications” suites. Call recording solutions are designed to enable organisations to meet FSA and other regulations while benefiting from the efficiency, productivity and savings that unified communications can bring. This paper investigates the benefits of unified communications, highlights the regulations that make call recording mandatory and suggests the key features to look for in call recording software.

https://livepacallrecording.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/call-recording-making-unified-communications-compliant/live-pa-white-paper_aw/

Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications as a Service

One of my colleagues sent me this link the other day on how Gartner views the Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications as a Service and the opening section on “What you need to know” (copied below) got me hooked into what turned out to be a very interesting piece.

UCaaS offers potential benefits in several areas. However, current solutions are at an early stage of maturity and the relative competitiveness of this market remains to be established. Organizations considering a UCaaS option should carefully consider two points:

• First, current vendor solution capabilities vary greatly, and some brand their solutions as “unified” and “complete,” while the actual functionality offered is limited and is not particularly unified. As a result, enterprises should look beyond the marketing hype to carefully consider the capabilities and integration actually available, and should match these to their requirements. Enterprises might also consider whether bundles of nonunified, software-as-a-service (SaaS) communication applications are “good enough” to meet present needs, without being unified.
• Second, the UCaaS market is entering a period of rapid evolution; most vendor solutions will improve and evolve significantly during the next several years. As a result, enterprises should be prepared to change providers in several years as the functionality and pricing options change, and as the market matures and consolidates. In other words, you should plan for out clauses and transition clauses.

The full article can be found here:

http://www.gartner.com/technology/mediaproducts/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article18/article18.html