[LINK] Unified communication/collaboration

stephen at melbpc.org.au stephen at melbpc.org.au
Thu Feb 21 01:19:06 AEDT 2013


Regards Skype .. the first Microsoft Lync 2013 unified comms conference:

 http://lync.microsoft.com

"Microsoft Lync is an enterprise-ready unified communications platform. 
Lync 2013 connects people everywhere, on Windows 8 and other devices, as 
part of their everyday productivity experience. Lync provides a consistent, 
single client experience for presence, instant messaging, voice, video and 
a great meeting experience. Lync 2013 users can connect to anyone on Skype, 
enabling rich communication with many millions of people around the world."

And http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/454277/ "Microsoft is launching new 
capabilities in its Lync communication platform that ties Lync and Skype 
together to enable HD video and audio call and Instant Messaging 
interoperability as well as shared presence (and) room-based conferencing 
systems Microsoft announced today at its Lync Conference 2013, the first 
such conference. During the opening keynote Microsoft vice president of 
Lync demonstrated VoIP over Wi-Fi and video on a Windows phone, as well as 
on an Android phone and an iPhone. Another demo brought voice and video to 
an iPad, a device that lacks native cellular voice support and video-
conferencing capabilities. With a larger screen than mobile phones, the 
iPad can simultaneously display video of other meeting participants as well 
as a whiteboard, desktop sharing or data presentations such as PowerPoint 
slides.."
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Cisco are gearing up for a battle ..

Cisco Blog > The Platform, "What Really Matters in Collaboration"

By Rowan Trollope, February 18, 2013 at 5:00 am PST 
http://blogs.cisco.com/news/what-really-matters-in-collaboration


On the eve of Microsoft’s first Lync User Conference, I think it’s a great 
time to start a frank and direct conversation about what’s changed in 
collaboration and, because of those changes, what’s really important for IT 
decision makers to consider as they evaluate collaboration vendors and 
solutions. This conversation, which I’m confident will spark a lively and 
healthy debate, will last for weeks and will include input from a variety 
of Cisco Collaboration leaders.

So, to start, what has changed in collaboration? 

At the macro level, I would argue that collaboration has evolved from a 
tolerated office tool into the single most important technology investment 
that an organization can make. 

Why? 

Because the next breakthrough levels of performance and productivity needed 
in business won’t come from a better-looking web portal or a bigger Inbox — 
they’ll come from the ability to tap into the collective knowledge and 
creativity of our people.

But, here’s the catch: not all collaboration solutions are designed to help 
people engage the way they want to engage, and they’re also not architected 
from the ground up to cater to IT’s needs and requirements.

Customers tell us time and again that a modern collaboration platform needs 
to deliver more than the basics like IM, conferencing and VoIP.  

It needs to offer flexibility and choice in support of trends such as BYOD 
(Bring Your Own Device), high-quality video, and cloud-based deployments 
(private, public, hybrid, and hosted). 

The modern collaboration platform needs to be usable not just by office 
workers but by anyone, from physicians to customer care agents, executives, 
mobile and desk-less workers. And it needs to be as complete of a solution 
as possible — including the underlying infrastructure, a wide choice of 
compatible endpoints, and world-class support and maintenance — to maximize 
business and IT value.

Which brings me back to Microsoft and Lync. We believe that a solution 
that’s primarily been developed for a desktop PC user experience is less 
able to meet these wider post-PC requirements than one that has been 
designed and optimized for them from the outset.

For instance, Microsoft’s approach with Lync leaves out several important 
collaboration elements many enterprise organizations find critical today — 
such as phones, video endpoints, voice and video gateways, networking and 
cloud PSTN connections. These components need to be procured, integrated 
and supported separately for those who choose to use Lync. And, in our 
opinion, that could lead to increased complexity, cost and risk, not to 
mention the hours spent trying to figure out “who’s on first” when 
troubleshooting is an issue.

There are other important topics that we think should also be discussed. 

Does your collaboration vendor have any conflict of interest with other 
BYOD device vendors? Can you move from an in-house deployment to a cloud-
based service and get the same functionality? We would encourage you to 
explore these points with us and any other vendors you are considering.

As mentioned earlier, this is a discussion that can’t be wrapped up in one 
blog. That’s why we’re making this the first of a series of posts where 
Cisco leaders will examine questions like these, comparing Cisco’s approach 
to enterprise collaboration with Microsoft’s, highlighting a different 
topic in every post.

You will also hear (and can read about) about the results of a global 
survey released today where 3200 IT leaders pinpointed what really matters 
to them when it comes to enabling collaboration in the enterprise. And, to 
complement these discussions, starting today, you will find an entire 
microsite dedicated to this conversation, which we hope will help in your 
evaluation efforts. There you will find customer case studies, research 
reports and a variety of other materials.

Again, as I stated from the beginning, I’m quite sure some of it will 
generate controversy but that’s OK — it’s a conversation worth having in 
our opinion, and we welcome your comments.

To reiterate, I believe that technology specifically designed to improve 
the collective creativity and productivity of the workforce is a critical 
investment, and one that shouldn’t be left to a narrow decision based on a 
convenient licensing bundle, or a capability such as desktop IM.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to the debate.  Rowan

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