“I was struck by the relative silence from one group that, you’d think, would be playing a critical role in UC’s evolution–the carriers and service providers.”
“The question, however, is whether the carriers intend to become more active participants in the UC process. So far, there’s no evidence that they intend to do so.”
These statements came from a recent post by Eric Krapf, lead blogger for the new CMP site No Jitter.
He validated a couple of very key points for me:
- Carriers are focused on selling to consumers, not enterprises
- Enterprises need to look to in-house solutions for UC, and in particular mobility.
As highlighted in this article, enterprises have gone so long with IP Telephony that the carriers are falling far behind. IP Centrex, as referenced in the article, is really being positioned within enterprises as an SMB solution for limited deployment in the enterprise branch. This paradigm remains as the next evolution of mobile communications has arrived and users are increasingly mobile inside and outside the workplace. Enterprises are facing challenges dealing with user mobility, especially as users increasingly depend on their mobile phones for getting their jobs done.
To deal with some of these challenges, the requirements for UC, especially mobile UC are evolving and maturing. UC now allows the enterprise user to have a single, integrated identity for their IP phone line, their web and audio conferencing sessions, and their instant messaging and presence software. Without involving the carrier, this user identity is now centrally managed within the enterprise, tying in enterprise e-mail, enterprise voice mail, and UC systems to expose valuable features like Click2Call.
As far as enterprise-based UC solutions have evolved, enterprises did have some dependency on the carriers for a core part of their communications infrastructure, namely their enterprise mobile phones. But now these devices are available, and unlocked, from a variety of alternate distribution sources – as an example, I bought my phone, an unlocked dual mode phone from Nokia, from Dell. And it cost less than a similar model from a carrier that would require me to purchase a 2 year contract commitment.
I agree with Eric that the leaders within the UC space are still emerging and there is no one player that is ahead of the pack. But if you were a betting man, you’d move your money away from the carriers on this one. Momentum has shifted in the favor of enterprise-based UC systems, designed to easily mobilize mission critical enterprise applications like Business Voice.
But before innovative technologies introduced by upstart Agito Networks, enterprises were not fully able to realize the value of Mobile Unified Communications. Enterprises faced challenges with in-building coverage, disjointed mobility due to lack of integration of their mobile phone and the enterprise desk phone, lack of visibility and control with mobile usage, and mounting cellular costs. Agito Networks now brings patented technology to allow enterprises to maximize their value of their enterprise UC infrastructure. Here are the benefits Agito delivers with the RoamAnywhere Mobility Router:
- Increased in-building wireless coverage by using enterprise WiFi for business voice when inside the building and cellular when outside the building, with fast, sub-100ms automatic handover as users move between WiFi and cellular. With Agito’s technology deployed in a large university on the East Coast, I was able to make and receive calls with superior call quality while down in the basement of their Engineering building with “zero” cellular coverage, on my Nokia E-90 dual-mode phone.
- Complete integration of the enterprise desk phone with the user’s mobile phone, providing the user with one number (their enterprise number) for all communication. Agito has abstracted the mobile phone identity from the user, such that when calls come into the enterprise, the communications infrastructure, led by Agito’s Mobility Router, has the intelligence to route the calls over the best interface based on the user’s location.
- Full control of their mobile phone infrastructure, which up till now was owned purely by the carrier. Enterprises now have the visibility of exactly how the mobile phone is being used anywhere using Agito’s robust policy and reporting suite, allowing them to modify cellular plans, and define better controls around usage.
In short, the gloves are off. Enterprises are taking control of their communications infrastructure and rolling out solutions that are highly integrated into existing enterprise services. Leading UC initiatives are being led out of enterprise equipment vendors such as (Agito partners) Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, and carriers have taken a back seat. While it is true that the leadership around UC is up for grabs, all paths point towards the destination being an enterprise equipment vendor winning this race.
Sandeep