UCStrategies Spotlight – September 23, 2010

Updated: September 23, 2010

Microsoft Lync - First a New Name and Then on to General Availability

By David Yedwab

Well, we have a new name for what has been broadly known as Microsoft OCS - Microsoft's UC product family. But somewhat lost in the discussion of the name change and branding effort being undertaken by Microsoft has been the formal march towards launch which was signified by the simultaneous announcement of availability of a formal Release Candidate (RC) for the Lync family (Microsoft Lync Server 2010 for what was termed Communications Server; Lync 2010 for the client, what was Communicator; and the balance of the family - Lync Online, and Lync Web App). Read the rest of this article on UCStrategies.com.

Avaya's Flare for Video

By Blair Pleasant

What will get more attention from Avaya's announcement - the new video products or the new name for the video experience? Branding has certainly gotten its fair share of attention in the past few months - first the Cisco Cius (rhymes with see us), then Microsoft Lync (rhymes with sink), and now, Avaya Flare (rhymes with - uh, Blair). UCStrategies' Nancy Jamison wrote a great article about the latest in naming trends (Microsoft Lync - New Name Part of a Bigger Trend that will Help Unified Communications), and Avaya Flare hits the mark in several respects - it's a single syllable and can appeal to both consumers and businesses. On the down side, the name doesn't really tell you what it does (no, it doesn't set you on fire). Read the rest of this article on UCStrategies.com.

UC in the Emergency Management World of E911

By Samantha Kane

What do Bebo, Cyworld Facebook, and Xanga all have in common? All are currently on a list of major active social networking websites. Cyworld, a popular social networking site in Korea, has 27,000,000 registered users while Bebo, an acronym for Blog Early, Blog Often, has 117,000,000 registered users ranking it 1,060 according to Global Alexa, a web information company owned by Amazon. Based on statistics from Facebook there are more than 500,000,000 active users with over 50% of the active users logging on the Facebook on any given day. Read the rest of this article on UCStrategies.com.

The Other Voice Channels

By Dave Michels

The majority of voice systems are procured through indirect channels. The old term was "Interconnect," the provider interconnected branch equipment to the carriers. Other terms include Dealer, VAR, Systems Integrator, and Solution Provider. Yes, there are slight nuances, but for the most part they all describe channel partners that resells, installs, and supports voice systems. As a result of new technologies and the notion of convergence, several new channels are emerging. And these non-traditional channels deserve some recognition. Read the rest of this article on UCStrategies.com.

Same Fate as the Dinosaurs?

By Pam Avila

Sometimes we have to be hit over the head with a club in order to have an "aha" moment. Well, to all of you data VARs and telecom dealers reading this - consider this your club if you haven't already experienced the "aha" moment! Read the rest of this article on UCStrategies.com.

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