Also, predictions for fate of 'Lifeline' broadband in 2012
For those readers who found sound advice in our last newsletter delivered from Avaya on how to avoid pitfalls with unified communications (UC), we’ve got one more paper to recommend. “UC: Mitigating the Risk and Reaping the Rewards” is available from Integrated Research through Webtorials, helping to identify some of the possible hazards associated with deploying Unified Communications so network managers can mitigate and manage the risks to achieve the best possible outcome.
The paper begins with a comprehensive description of what UC is — discussing the benefits, and the equipment and network planning considerations that go into a successful deployment; the paper also addresses how to conduct a network readiness assessment for mitigating risk in a UC world stretching from company premises to the cloud to social networks.
CASE STUDIES: Unified communications without tears
Sue Bradshaw, the paper’s author notes in her introduction, “The top risks covered in this paper are related to the ever-increasing convergence of applications on the data network and the rich ecosystem that will surround Lync. There are risks around planning, designing, implementing, operating, expanding, consolidation, redundancy and failover, as well as disaster recovery.”
Our thanks to Integrated Research and to Webtorials for furnishing us with more useful tips; the full paper can be found here.
In other news, we’d like to add a postscript to our newsletter on predictions for 2012 — in particular on the issue of net neutrality. In that edition, we predicted that 2012 would be a banner year for legal and regulatory battles over “net neutrality,” especially with new FCC rules that became effective in November 2011.
We also think that the FCC is likely to face some opposition as it considers new rules for its “Lifeline” program that, over the past 20 years, has helped low-income Americans afford basic telephone service. Among the changes proposed are plans to establish a Broadband Adoption Pilot Program (using savings from reforms) to test and determine how Lifeline can best be used to reduce the monthly cost of broadband service, including the cost of devices and digital literacy.
Meanwhile, we’ll wade through the hundreds of announcements made at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show and report in our next edition on convergence-related news.
