FAQ’s

Unified Communications FAQ’s

What is Unified Communications? How has the technology developed?

Unified communications (UC) is the integration of all forms of communication – from voice and email to IM and fax. This generally means, for example, that you can receive a voicemail now and later read it in your email inbox or, for example, a user could Instant Message a colleague; escalate it to a phone call or full video meeting whilst sharing content to all users participating in the meeting. UC has been proven to increase employee productivity and efficiency.

Traditionally, UC was seen to be quite difficult to implement and required specialists in both telecoms and data communications to bring it all together. Nowadays, the integration of systems is becoming much easier and more secure. All of the major companies who offer UC as a service hold documentation regarding the installation and configuration of the equipment/software.

Is maximising staff efficiency typically the goal of a Unified Communications implementation? What difference does Unified Communications typically have on an employee’s working day?

Efficiency is a natural by product of a UC installation, as it provides easier methods of contacting people within an organisation. For example, a person can save a lot of time because they can easily see if another colleague is at their desk by looking at their presence function. If the user is available, then they can instantly get the information they require, rather than wasting time playing phone tag or email tag.

What is ‘Presence’? Does the person themselves generally decide how best they would like to be contacted?

The ‘Presence’ function is probably one of the most useful functions of UC. It can tell you if a colleague is available, busy, in a call or in a meeting. This is real time information so it proves very useful if you are in a hurry to contact that particular person.

Is there much competition between Unified Communications providers / vendors? What are the differences / pros / cons between the competing Unified Communications products?

Currently, there is a lot of competition in the UC market. There are UC solutions from all the major vendors and even some open source vendors. UC solutions essentially support all of the same functions (voice, IM, fax and email). One interesting development is the interoperability of each vendors solution. For example, Microsoft and Cisco have put a lot of research into making sure their systems can talk to each other directly, with very little configuration. This signifies a reaction to the market where people who like Cisco as a vendor can deploy a Cisco UC solution, and in the future, if they take on a company who has a Microsoft UC Solution, can easily integrate them. In terms of the pro’s and con’s, it really is a personal choice. If you are from a telephony background you will like the Cisco/Nortel approach and if you are coming from a server background, you will like Microsoft’s approach.

What type of company typically invests in Unified Communications solutions? Small / big / tech-savvy? Does it suit some companies more than others?

At the moment in the Irish market, enterprise customers have implemented UC more than SMB companies. This is typically due to the perceived cost of implementing UC and the lack of understanding of how beneficial the roll-out of UC could be. It does of course suit some companies more than others. Companies who have distributed offices or teams who work away from the office or large companies who employee hundreds (or more) of people benefit the most, as they can communicate in real time with staff in the central locations without leaving their desk and usually without any additional cost to the company.

Does an organisation need an IP telephony platform to get Unified Communications up and running? How does a Unified Communications solution differ from a standard IP telephony offering?

No, an organisation doesn’t need an IP telephony platform to get UC up and running. Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange 2007 can provide a complete UC infrastructure. Standard IP telephony solutions do not offer presence functions to every user, only to the receptionist. Voicemail systems can be quite expensive and hard to manage, and standard IP telephony solutions do not offer fax to email options as standard. UC solutions provide all of this functionality, thus greatly reducing the amount of devices to manage and the costs that come with them.

Does an organisation need to invest in new hardware / networks / handsets to get Unified Communications?

In most cases, the answer to this question would be yes. A business does need an investment of some kind into new hardware/networks/handsets. It is important to remember that this investment is a for a longer period of time and when you consider the time saved for employees and reduced costs, the overall picture means a slimmer and more cost efficient environment.

Can Unified Communications be used with mobile devices? Is this generally done? How does it work? What about video?

UC can of course be used with mobile devices. Generally people use laptops or notebooks to conduct the majority of their UC interaction, as these are very cheap to purchase compared to a few years ago. However, you can simply dial in with your mobile device and collect your email, voicemail or faxes! You can also compose an email or send a fax or have the presence/IM function installed, if required. At the moment however, video support on mobile phones for UC is really nonexistent (although I have noticed several debates to see if the demand is there and more so, if the devices can support and cope with the demand video might place on the device).

Do you think more and more companies will invest in Unified Communications over the next 12 – 18 months? How will the technology (and its use) evolve in the Irish marketplace?

UC is beginning to and will play an even bigger part in companies over the next 18 months. Like all technology, UC is losing its perception as a technology that was quite raw and sometimes clunky and was more for the tech savvy companies. Now it is seen as a sleeker, more usable and easier to implement solution. More and more companies want to reduce the cost of managing their systems and the costs associated with them. Companies are now realizing that with UC, they can not only reduce the amount of support contracts in place which reduces their overall costs, but employees can save more time by not playing phone tag or email tag by instantly viewing their colleagues status. This all combines to massive savings, huge reductions in wasted time and often improvements in customer service as staff can deal with queries more quickly and effectively.

Over the next 18 months, Irish companies will be looking at costs and their associated costs centres. They will be looking to become more efficient in how they operate. UC will certainly help with this as the technology around UC is becoming cheaper & easier to implement. Combined with virtualization, you can see that for a company of any size, this is becoming a very viable solution to implement.

Another huge benefit people to companies is signing up to SIP trunks for their UC Solution. This allows them to directly interface over a datacommunications medium (leased line/broadband) to a provider, allowing them to greatly reduce their monthly phone bills and line rental. With datacommunications technology becoming cheaper for faster speeds and of course more stable, you will see this play a very interesting role over the next 18 months in the adoption of UC. In response to this demand, Microsoft Office Communications Server R2 now has direct SIP trunk capabilities, signifying to the wider marketplace that this is the way things are heading and out of the box support must be available in order to stay ahead.

What is SIP Trunking?

For enterprises wanting to make full use of their installed IP-PBXs and not only communicate over IP within the enterprise, but also outside the enterprise, a SIP trunk provided by an Internet Telephony Service Provider to connect to the traditional PSTN network is the solution. Unlike in traditional telephony, where bundles of physical wires were once delivered from the service provider to a business, a SIP trunk allows a company to replace these traditional fixed PSTN lines with PSTN connectivity via a SIP trunking service provider on the Internet.
SIP trunks can offer significant cost-savings for enterprises, eliminating the need for local PSTN gateways, costly ISDN BRIs (Basic Rate Interfaces) or PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces).

What developments in Unified Communications are making an impression at the moment?

Vendors from both the software world and the traditional PBX world are now either releasing their own UC solution, or ensuring their products have the ability to integrate into a UC environment. That, coupled with making the overall integration easier, is currently having a huge impact on the market. Companies on the whole are also noticing the pure benefits of having UC in their organisation, and the time and money it can save.

How can customers ensure that they are gaining dynamic end to end communication solutions for their business?

The best way of ensuring a customer gets a dynamic and beneficial end to end communication solution in place, is to explain to them that UC cannot be deployed quickly. UC will work and provide huge benefits to an organisation if the design and roll-out of the system is planned out properly. Depending on the UC solution chosen, be it a traditional PBX vendor solution or a software solution like the Microsoft Office Communications Server, various teams from an organisation will have to get involved and their concerns and needs must be met before going forward. Next, a reputable company must be chosen wisely – vendors usually know what company supplies specific solutions, and will be ready to recommend a good partner as they don’t want to tarnish their offerings. The customer should always ask for a trial. Companies who roll out UC as part of their solutions package will be able to demonstrate the benefits to the customer in-house, before they commit to anything. They should be able to offer a trial solution, resulting in the customer being able to see the benefits without paying for it straight up.

Are there any pitfalls in this area that customers should avoid?

Lack of planning is the biggest pitfall in UC deployment. UC has to involve all aspects of the company and needs to be fully integrated into the business strategy in order for it to be successful. Usually multiple teams have to be involved for a successful roll-out and adoption by the business, otherwise UC deployment will not go well and will most likely fail.

Which particular technologies are currently making a mark in the Unified Communications sector?

Currently, IM and presence are making the most impact, with video and voice conferencing coming a very close second. People are beginning to really see the benefits of deploying UC solutions, and how much time it can save them.

What are customers demanding for their money when it comes to Unified Communications?

We are finding that most customers want out of the box IM & Presence, with video conferencing being a close second and PBX integration or in some cases, complete PBX replacement (in the Microsoft solutions) following on from that. It really does depend on the ethos of the business and their general approach to technology adoption. We’re finding that once they experience IM & presence, and are shown the capabilities of the UC Platform, then they want it all, some alot quicker than others and obviously only as budgets permit!

The real savvy customers want to utilize virtualization technologies in order to keep control of costs and footprint space in their datacentres. The only thing I would state at this point (to the customer), would be for them to ensure and verify that their UC Solution is supported in a virtualized environment. The reason we would ask this is because there are very important guidelines to be followed, which if not adhered to, could cause problems and lead to a failed project.

Which are more popular – out of the box solutions or more personalised bespoke options?

To date, we have seen mainly vendor solutions being configured to the customers needs. It is difficult to create a bespoke UC Solution, as the idea is to allow for easy integration into the existing or new infrastructure.

What should any company have on their checklist when it comes to choosing a Unified Communications option?

The customer needs to ask the following questions:

• Does the solution offered support all aspects of UC (IM, Presence, UM and Voice)?
• Can it be done on my existing infrastructure, if not, what needs to be done?
• Do i have an integration program or am i dependant on only the vendors products?
• How is the product licensed, do i have to pay extra for basic functionality, additional mail box support or incoming line support?
• How secure is the product in its own right and how will it affect my environment?
• Can the product be demonstrated to meet my needs?
• Is a trial available?

How do you keep Unified Communications safe? Is security as important as it should be to many customers?

In the SMB marketplace, security is generally not as important to customers as it should be. However, in the enterprise sector, it is taken very seriously. UC provides another possible entry point into the network, be it internally or externally, depending on the required deployment. However, most vendors have recognised this and have gone to great lengths to provide a secure out of box solution. At CDSoft, we use:

• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
• OCS uses certificates for authentication
• Encrypts all SIP communications
• Active directory for identity services

This keeps the transmission of data secure and not easily sniffed off a network.

What technology developments are helping keep Unified Communications in safe hands?

From a Microsoft perspective (this is our product platform of choice for UC), it is highly secured based on certificates. Not one component of the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 implementation will work without a certificate being installed from a trusted certificate authority. This certificate is used then to encrypt the signalling and media streams between the client and servers, stopping the ability to sniff and analyse the conversation.

There is also the archiving and call details recording functionality, which can be used to enforce message compliance and audit conversations in case a compliant is ever made. For road warriors who dial into the UC experience, their information can be secured by PIN and reverse number lookup, ensuring that no-one can access their information. Granted, all of these security measures are based on people’s ability to generate complex passwords, adhere to policies and be educated in the area of security.

Are there any developments being launched over the next year to 18 months that may affect the Unified Communications market, be they products or trends?

The next big development on the market, which has just been released is Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. With more out of the box functionality (e.g. Call management capabilities, delegation for executives, desktop sharing on windows mac and linux), secure by default and x64bit support to name but a few, it has helped Microsoft become a more serious player in the unified communications marketplace.

Exchange 2010 gives more functionality to unified messaging, and is due for release towards the end of 2009.

Some of its new features are:
• Voice Mail Preview
• Protected Voice Mail (using MS AD Rights Management Service)
• Call Answering Rules
• Improved Auto Attendant
• Message Waiting Indicator
• Outlook Voice Access
• Better Language Support

Protected Voicemail will be its biggest new feature. What is impressive about Protected Voicemail is that if someone sends you a confidential message, and you have your rights management service setup and tagging for confidential messages enabled, if someone accesses your email via the subscriber numbers, they cannot gain access to this message without authorization. Furthermore, that message cannot leave the organization because of the policy being enforced. So it serves to protect your businesses confidential information and protects against data leaks. In about 18 month’s time, Office Communications Server 2010 will be available but to date, there has been no communication about what the platform will offer.

In saying that, I would imagine that a lot of small companies will be adopting Microsoft’s BPOS service, as this gives the same level of functionality when implementing exchange, SharePoint and OCS, without the need for implementing expensive infrastructure. As for enterprise customers, UC is foremost on the agenda, as it leads to savings in both time and money.

Where will vendors/manufacturers spend their money and energy over this time period as well in order to maintain a stake in the Unified Communications market?

Its possible that vendors will make integration into existing systems easier. Currently, integration into existing systems can be a little bit tricky and the knowledge out there is not great, especially when you run into different systems of different patch levels. However, integration into existing systems is currently happening, but just at a very slow pace. Easier integration and best value for money will drive many decisions around UC, as a large proportion of Irish SME’s have invested heavily in traditional pbx infrastructure, and if they can make even better use of this technology, then they will begin to see the benefits of deploying UC.

Are you aware of any particularly interesting examples of R&D in this area that may have an effect on the Unified Communications market in the near future?

Microsoft OCS2010 is rumoured to be designed as a complete PBX replacement, supporting native e911 and sip trunking (with more ITSPs available), and more “pbx” type functions. If this rumour is to be believed, it will mean exciting times for this industry, as it will really signal to people that there is no need to buy a traditional phone system. Instead, rather than having to deal with another set of management and maintenance contracts, you can buy and license one platform and worry about one system.