The fire has been lit, and the frequency with which the term 'unified communications' appears in discussions concerning enterprise technology today only adds fuel to the flames. To ignore it would be akin to closing an eye on a smoking kitchen stove."

Don Van Doren, principal and cofounder of UniComm Consulting, an independent consulting firm, which focuses exclusively on unified communications, likens the shift to unified communications to a phenomenon most of us are familiar with.

"The new functionality enabled by converged communications capabilities opens up new ways of thinking about the role of communications and how it works in our everyday lives--both business and personal," says Van Doren. "It's really a similar shift as what happened when wired communications was overtaken by cellular-based telephony, data and video applications.""

Information technology heads now find themselves armed with a budget, but faced with an overwhelming number of options from various vendors, all pitching the perfect unified communications strategy for the organization. But what does the term 'unified communications' mean?

Various Definitions

Shalini Verma, a research manager at IDC's Asia/Pacific communications group, takes on a software-centric approach to the definition of UC.

"Unified communications is a common software platform that integrates IP PBX with a host of communications applications such as instant messaging, unified messaging, voice, web and video conferencing, with common management and provisioning mechanisms," says Verma. "Unified communications integrates telephony with different business applications to make communication and collaboration more intuitive for the business users."

Van Doren chooses to describe it with the end-product in mind.

"Communications integrated to optimize business processes," says Van Doren.

Van Doren's view is echoed by Jim Burton, founder and CEO of CT Link, a consulting firm which helps clients in the voice, data and networking industries with strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, alliances and distribution issues.

Both Van Doren and Burton are also cofounders of Unified Communications Strategies, a website containing resources on unified communications for enterprises, vendors and systems integrators.

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