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R. Savitha

"There will be a set of unified communications functionality built-in before (the notebook) chips with features that we haven't seen in the past."

Pune May 28 When Indian organisations are in the nascent stage of adopting various communication tools, Unified Communication (UC) makes an interesting revelation on where this technology is going. It is all set to move from network to business applications, bringing in more intelligent communication.

Talking to Business Line, Mr Vivek Tuljapurkar, Managing Director, Avaya Research and Development, said the Avaya President and CEO, Mr LouisD'Ambrosio, at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 had advised attendees not to take their communications strategies lightly. "Unified Communications will be built-in at the factory. There will be a set of unified communications functionality built-in before (the notebook) chips with features that we haven't seen in the past," Mr D'Ambrosio said.

Mr Vivek noted that while convergence is the over-arching trend, the individual technology and product areas are evolving as follows: IP telephony and soft phones are replacing the PBX, unified messaging is integrating various modes of communication such as voice and e-mail, e-mail itself is evolving toward a more-powerful desktop knowledge and contact management tool.

Convergence

He pointed out that the voice, video and Web-conferencing capabilities are also converging and IM (instant messaging) is expanding its capabilities to incorporate presence for multiple communication methods (sometimes called rich presence).

"Instead of communications being external to mainstream of a business process, intelligent communications capability is embedded into the business process itself to foster immediate collaboration between the right people as and when necessary,'' he pointed out.

Unified Communication allows individuals or groups of individuals to communicate using whatever mode of communication they prefer, at the time and from the location of their preference. In a way, UC also allows the convergence of real-time and non-real-time communication.

People use many different devices to communicate (wireless phones, personal digital assistants, personal computers, thin clients, etc.), and there are multiple ways to communicate such as email, voice and voice mail, instant messaging, video, and collaboration.

As the name suggests, UC is about unifying these methods of communication across devices to enhance individual and organizational productivity.

Reducing delay

Asked about the driving factors for the growth of UC, Mr Vivek noted for the individual user, UC reduces delay experienced when transitioning between communications devices. Mr Kerravala of the Yankee Group estimates that productivity can improve by 15-20 per cent per day by eliminating these transitions.

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