Legacy phone systems are no longer cutting it, especially as more people work remotely and require mobile capabilities to collaborate effectively. As a result, an increasing number of enterprises are transitioning toward IP-based unified communications. But if the network migration isn't managed properly, unified communications can overwhelm networks and affect application performance. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Ed Basart explains how to transition to IP-based unified communications without overtaxing your IT department or budget. - Legacy phone systems are no longer offering the modern capabilities that drive business value, especially as more people are working remotely and requiring mobile features to collaborate and be productive. On top of that, IT teams are short on staff and budget. Add increasing layers of IT complexity...

eZuce's OpenUC is a software-only, SIP-based enterprise product that is designed to be a less expensive alternative to Microsoft's UC offerings. - A startup called eZuce is offering an open-source, software-only unified communications solution that company officials say is an alternative to Microsoft's UC offerings. eZuce, which launched Aug. 12, is rolling out OpenUC, which officials say is aimed at midsize to large enterprises of 200 to ...

Microsoft and Polycom are entering an alliance that will include jointly developing, selling and marketing unified communications products based on Polycom endpoints and Microsoft's Communications Server 14. - Polycom, which already has partnerships with the likes of Hewlett-Packard and Avaya as it ramps up its competition with Cisco Systems in the unified communications space, is now hooking up with Microsoft. The two companies announced a partnership Aug. 9 in which they will jointly develop and ma...

PHILADELPHIA, July 8 /PRNewswire/ — Transcend United Technologies announced today that the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) will be replacing their current Nortel phone system and Symposium Call Center with a ShoreTel Unified Communications and Contact Center system. The work will begin in the next 60 days and will be done by Transcend United. “PHFA relies heavily on the function of …

Transcend United Technologies announced today that the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency will be replacing their current Nortel phone system and Symposium Call Center with a ShoreTel  Unified Communications and Contact Center system.  The work will begin in the next 60 days and will be done by Transcend United. Â

HP and Avaya have announced a three-year partnership that will have HP selling and servicing Avaya UC solutions, including Avayas Aura platform. The move is part of HPs strategy of competing with Cisco through a series of alliances with the likes of Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent. - Hewlett-Packard is partnering with Avaya to help expand its unified communications offerings in its ongoing competition with Cisco Systems. HP officials on June 29 announced a three-year alliance that will include HP selling and servicing Avaya UC and Contact Center products as part of HPs UC am...

A number of vendors, including Microsoft, Polycom and HP, are creating the UCIF to leverage currently available standards to improve interoperability among unified communications products. Juniper and Logitech also are founders of the UCIF, which has about a dozen members. However, absent from the membership rolls are Cisco and Avaya. - Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Polycom are among the founding members of an alliance created to push interoperability between unified communications offerings using currently established standards. Other founding members of the UCIF (Unified Communications Interoperability Forum) include Juniper...

Qwest is offering a hosted UC platform that gives enterprises and smaller businesses alike a way to take advantage of a unified communications environment without having to worry about the cost or complexity associated with in-house offerings. Qwest joins a growing group of vendors, including Nortel, Cisco, NEC and BT, in developing hosted UC platforms. - Qwest Communications is the latest company to offer a hosted unified communications platform. Qwest on April 7 unveiled its iQ HUCS (Hosted Unified Communications Service) to help businesses bring together the various pieces of their communications infrastructure from voice and video to e-mail, ...

Officially known as Office Communications Server 14, the update to Microsoft’s unified communications greeted the world this week in a preview demonstration at the VoiceCon event in Orlando.

Microsoft announces the next version of its unified communications software, code-named Communications Server 14, at VoiceCon Orlando. The platform will provide full enterprise telephony and allows embedded communications and the use of tools such as instant messaging, in what Microsoft is touting as a complete enterprise communications package. Analysts predict that UC could become a $14.5 billion market by 2015, making it an attractive prize for companies such as IBM and Microsoft. - Microsoft announced Communications Server quot;14, quot; the next version of the company's unified communications software, at the VoiceCon Orlando conference on March 24. The platform, which will provide holistic enterprise telephony and allow customers to embed communications within applicatio...

Siemens Enterprise Communications is bringing greater virtualization capabilities, a new hosted model and bundled applications to its OpenScape UC Server 2010 platform, announced at the VoiceCon show. Siemens also announced an expanded partnership with VMware. - Siemens Enterprise Communications is looking to take advantage of virtualization and other technologies to make it easier for enterprises to bring unified communications into their data centers. Siemens, at the VoiceCon show in Orlando, Fla., on March 23, unveiled OpenScape UC Server 2010, whic...

Verizon Business is partnering with Microsoft to enable customers using Microsoft's Office Communications Server 2007 R2 UC platform to take advantage of Verizon's IP Trunking technology. Verizon and Cisco also are partnering on an immersive video collaboration service. - <p>Verizon Business is building up its unified communications offerings through partnerships with Microsoft and Cisco Systems.</p> <p>At the VoiceCon show in Orlando, Fla., March 22, Verizon officials announced that the company's IP trunking technology has been certified to interoperate with Mi...

Cisco Systems is preparing to launch its IME server, designed to extend the same sort of video collaboration that is found within a company to partners and customers. A new protocol proposed by Cisco, dubbed ViPR, will help Cisco's IME server work with third-party systems. - <p>Cisco Systems is looking to bring the advantages of unified communications, which primarily are seen within individual companies, to dealings between businesses.</p> <p>Cisco is rolling out a new appliance and a protocol designed to make it easier for companies to communicate with their business...

Cisco Systems is integrating its TelePresence video collaboration technology and its unified communications products to create a health care platform designed to improve patient care in virtual physician visits. The platform, which will launch later in March, will allow more collaboration between doctors and patients, Cisco says.
- Cisco Systems is bringing together its TelePresence video collaboration technology and unified communications products to create a platform to enable better patient care in virtual settings. Cisco announced its HealthPresence platform March 1 at the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management S...