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Unified communications
Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept that integrates multiple enterprise communication services. These include instant messaging, presence information, IP telephony, mobility features, audio/video/web conferencing, desktop and data sharing, call control, and speech recognition. UC also links with non-real-time services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS, and fax). UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.
In its broadest sense, the UC can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via a network to include other forms of communications such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and digital signage as they become an integrated part of the network communications deployment and may be directed[clarification needed] as one-to-one communications or broadcast communications from one to many.
UC allows an individual to send a message on one medium and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, one can receive a voicemail message and choose to access it through e-mail or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or a video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non-real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.
There are varying definitions for unified communications. A basic definition is "communications integrated to optimize business processes and increase user productivity", but such integration can take many forms, such as: users simply adjusting their habits, manual integration as defined by procedures and training, integration of communications into off-the-shelf tools such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Lotus Notes, BlackBerry, Salesforce.com, etc., or purpose-specific integration into customized applications in specific operating departments or in vertical markets such as healthcare.
Unified communications is an evolving set of technologies that automates and unifies human and device communications in a common context and experience. It optimizes business processes and enhances human communications by reducing latency, managing flows, and eliminating device and media dependencies. A UC system may include features such as messaging, voice and video calls, meetings, team collaboration, file sharing, and integrated apps.[1]
The history of unified communications is tied to the evolution of the supporting technology. Originally, business telephone systems were a private branch exchange (PBX) or key telephone system provided and managed by the local phone company. These systems used the phone company's analog or digital circuits to deliver phone calls from a central office (CO) to the customer. The system —PBX or key telephone system— accepted the call and routed the call to the appropriate extension or line appearance on the phones at the customer's office.
In the 1980s, voice mail systems with IVR-like features were recognized as an access mechanism to corporate information for mobile employees, before the explosion of cell phones and the proliferation of PCs. E-mail also began to grow in popularity, and as early as 1985, e-mail reading features were made available for certain voicemail.
The term unified communications arose in the mid-1990s, when messaging and real-time communications began to combine. In 1993, ThinkRite (VoiceRite) developed the unified messaging system, POET, for IBM's internal use. It was installed in 55 IBM US Branch Offices for 54,000 employees and integrated with IBM OfficeVision/VM (PROFS) and provided IBMers with one phone number for voicemail, fax, alphanumeric paging and follow-me. POET was in use until 2000. In the late 1990s, a New Zealand-based organization called IPFX developed a commercially available presence product, which let users see the location of colleagues, make decisions on how to contact them, and define how their messages were handled based on their own presence. The first full-featured converged telephony/UC offering was the Nortel Succession MX (Multimedia eXchange) product, which later became known as Nortel Multimedia Communications Server (MCS 5100).
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Unified communications
Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept that integrates multiple enterprise communication services. These include instant messaging, presence information, IP telephony, mobility features, audio/video/web conferencing, desktop and data sharing, call control, and speech recognition. UC also links with non-real-time services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS, and fax). UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.
In its broadest sense, the UC can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via a network to include other forms of communications such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and digital signage as they become an integrated part of the network communications deployment and may be directed[clarification needed] as one-to-one communications or broadcast communications from one to many.
UC allows an individual to send a message on one medium and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, one can receive a voicemail message and choose to access it through e-mail or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or a video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non-real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.
There are varying definitions for unified communications. A basic definition is "communications integrated to optimize business processes and increase user productivity", but such integration can take many forms, such as: users simply adjusting their habits, manual integration as defined by procedures and training, integration of communications into off-the-shelf tools such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Lotus Notes, BlackBerry, Salesforce.com, etc., or purpose-specific integration into customized applications in specific operating departments or in vertical markets such as healthcare.
Unified communications is an evolving set of technologies that automates and unifies human and device communications in a common context and experience. It optimizes business processes and enhances human communications by reducing latency, managing flows, and eliminating device and media dependencies. A UC system may include features such as messaging, voice and video calls, meetings, team collaboration, file sharing, and integrated apps.[1]
The history of unified communications is tied to the evolution of the supporting technology. Originally, business telephone systems were a private branch exchange (PBX) or key telephone system provided and managed by the local phone company. These systems used the phone company's analog or digital circuits to deliver phone calls from a central office (CO) to the customer. The system —PBX or key telephone system— accepted the call and routed the call to the appropriate extension or line appearance on the phones at the customer's office.
In the 1980s, voice mail systems with IVR-like features were recognized as an access mechanism to corporate information for mobile employees, before the explosion of cell phones and the proliferation of PCs. E-mail also began to grow in popularity, and as early as 1985, e-mail reading features were made available for certain voicemail.
The term unified communications arose in the mid-1990s, when messaging and real-time communications began to combine. In 1993, ThinkRite (VoiceRite) developed the unified messaging system, POET, for IBM's internal use. It was installed in 55 IBM US Branch Offices for 54,000 employees and integrated with IBM OfficeVision/VM (PROFS) and provided IBMers with one phone number for voicemail, fax, alphanumeric paging and follow-me. POET was in use until 2000. In the late 1990s, a New Zealand-based organization called IPFX developed a commercially available presence product, which let users see the location of colleagues, make decisions on how to contact them, and define how their messages were handled based on their own presence. The first full-featured converged telephony/UC offering was the Nortel Succession MX (Multimedia eXchange) product, which later became known as Nortel Multimedia Communications Server (MCS 5100).