Verizon to launch UC cloud service; collapse desktops and mobile phones
Verizon said yesterday that it would make available a unified communications cloud service in June that will, among other capabilities, support smartphones as replacements for desk phones.
Verizon is building the service, dubbed Unified Communications and Collaboration-as-a-Service (UCCaaS), on Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solution platform, which operates on Cisco’s virtualized Unified Computing System (UCS) data center platform.
ANALYSIS: UC will be indispensable
Verizon is demonstrating UCCaaS at the Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando this week.
Instead of running separate, application-specific servers or integrated UC servers in-house, business customers can simply sign up users to access capabilities such as VoIP, voicemail, IM, presence, videoconferencing and WebEx conferencing over the network. The unified apps will be hosted on the Cisco gear in Verizon data centers.
The general appeal of cloud services is their dynamic service provisioning capabilities and utility computing model, which holds the promise of lower costs in general and capital expenditures in particular. Utility computing payment models can be usage based in a “pay as you go” setup or, as in the case of Verizon’s forthcoming service, involve a flat fee per user per month.
The mobile UC client will enable a single smartphone to replace separate IP desk phones and mobile phones and allow users to tap into the UC features described whether they are in the office or elsewhere, according to Verizon.
“The mobile UC client is a software application that resides on a [Android] smartphone. It will be available for download from the Verizon App Store,” according to Roberta Mackintosh, director of global unified communications and collaboration at Verizon.
A dock that bridges the Android device into the corporate network via the user’s PC and retains smartphone features will also be available.
“The dock will be sold separately as an accessory through Verizon,” Mackintosh says.
The company has developed eight separate UCCaaS packages that business customers can choose from, rather than having to buy each service separately. “[Verizon is] putting [UC capabilities] together in new packages to create more of a foundation for customers,” says Cindy Whelan, principal analyst for business and wholesale services at researcher Current Analysis.
Most larger enterprises will end up using a hybrid model, with some gear on the enterprise premises and some in a cloud provider’s network, rather than jumping fully into cloud services with both feet, she predicts.
Verizon says it intends to roll out a hybrid flavor of UCCaaS later this year.
