IP Growth Gives New Life to Unified Communications, Report FindsEnterprises' continued adoption of IP is creating a new opportunity for providers of unified communications platforms, says Light Reading's VOIP Services InsiderPRNewswire NEW YORK, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Continued adoption by enterprises of applications and services based on IP technology is creating a new opportunity for providers of unified communications platforms, especially in vertical industries that are well advanced in the move to all-IP networks, according to the latest report published by Light Reading's VOIP Services Insider (http://www.lightreading.com/entvoip), a subscription research service from Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/). Light Reading is an operating unit of CMP. Unified Communications: Vendors Think Vertical examines the unified communications market, providing an in-depth examination of what unified communications is and key features of its offerings. It examines the reasons why unified communications can succeed, including the benefits, applications, and vertical markets that have a particular need for the kinds of features it provides. Further, it explores the challenges that the unified communications market has yet to address, including marketing issues and cost and return-on- investment (ROI) problems, and provides a comparative analysis of some of the top companies in the unified communications industry. Companies analyzed in this report include: Adomo Inc.; Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU); Applied Voice & Speech Technologies Inc. (AVST); Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Ericsson AB (NASDAQ: ERIC); IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM); Interactive Intelligence Inc. (NASDAQ: ININ); Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT); Mitel Networks Corp. (NASDAQ: MITL)(NASDAQ: Proposed); NEC Corp. (NASDAQ: NIPNY); Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT); Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL); ShoreTel Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOR); Siemens Corp. (NYSE: SI); and TeleWare plc. "Enterprises face heavy pressure to streamline business processes and increase worker productivity, both of which can be accomplished through unified communications," notes Denise Culver, research analyst with Light Reading's VOIP Services Insider and author of the report. The greatest attraction may ultimately lie in unified communication's ability to deliver strong, targeted applications for enterprises in vertical market sectors, she says. "For example, the insurance industry has a strong need for presence- based and find-me/follow-me technologies, since most of its workforce is made up of teleworkers and road warriors," she explains. Despite the benefits delivered by unified communications, platform suppliers still have to convince enterprise customers to invest in the technology, Culver says. "In terms of marketing, vendors must address the issue of better defining unified communications, how it works, and how it is implemented throughout an enterprise," she explains. "In terms of pricing, vendors must develop more apples-to-apples pricing strategies to enable enterprises to comparison-shop their products. Additionally, they must better define and explain hard-dollar ROI in order to draw enterprises to the systems." Other key findings of Unified Communications: Vendors Think Vertical include the following: -- Instead of replacing a company's communications infrastructure, unified
communications should complement it by integrating existing resources,
as well as introducing new ones.
-- The benefits of unified communications include providing companies with
a global reach and enabling seamless, borderless communication across
multiple devices.
-- Major technology suppliers including Cisco Systems and Microsoft are
now aggressively pursuing unified communications, which is likely to
clarify its role for the entire industry.
-- Marketing remains a challenge, primarily due to confusion about what
unified communications encompasses.
Unified Communications: Vendors Think Vertical provides critical data and analysis for a range of industry participants, including: -- Suppliers of unified communications products needing independent market
analysis of the unified communications sector
-- Network operators and enterprise network planners evaluating deployment
of unified communications platforms and applications
-- Investors needing a better understanding of the scale of the
opportunity that unified communications presents, and which types of
companies are best positioned in the sector
Unified Communications: Vendors Think Vertical, a 15-page report in PDF format, is available as part of an annual subscription (six issues) to Light Reading's VOIP Services Insider, priced at $1,295. Individual reports are available for $900. To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: http://www.lightreading.com/entvoip. For more information about other Light Reading Insider research services, please visit: http://www.lightreading.com/research. To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact: Jeff Claudino Director of Sales Insider Research Services 619-229-9940 claudino@lightreading.com Press/analyst contact: Dennis Mendyk Managing Director Insider Research Services 201-587-2154 mendyk@heavyreading.com About Light Reading Founded in 2000, Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/) is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. It reaches an extensive audience of executives and technologists within the telecom and enterprise networking communities, as well as the financial/industry analysts and investors who track these sectors. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005, and operates as a unit of CMP Technology. About CMP CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event, and print brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times, and TechOnline; produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game Developer Conference, and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides business information and marketing services such as the International Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights, and Second Life consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to cmp.com/news. SOURCE: Light Reading Insider CONTACT: Jeff Claudino, Director of Sales, +1-619-229-9940, Web site: http://www.lightreading.com/ |