Il Centro Risorse fornisce informazioni approfondite sui vantaggi offerti dalle comunicazioni unificate, sia dal punto di vista di COLT che da fonti indipendenti.
È possibile visualizzare interviste multimediali sull'argomento, esaminare dei case study per vedere come altri hanno sfruttato le reti convergenti e accedere a una serie esclusiva di white paper. Al tempo stesso, tutto ciò Vi aiuta a prendere una decisione consapevole in merito al passo successivo verso le comunicazioni unificate.
Video
Deploying COLT VoIP Access
Nick Scott, IT Director of NB Real Estate talks about working with COLT to deploy COLT VoIP Access
Deploying COLT VoIP Access
Nick Scott, IT Director of NB Real Estate talks about working with COLT to deploy COLT VoIP Access
COLT’s guide to unified communications
White papers
Network infrastructure prerequisites for network-centric UC solutions
The transition from TDM to IP
Presentations
VoIP Enabled WAN Solutions a COLT Business Briefing
VoIP for Enterprise Customers a COLT Business Briefing
COLT Unified Communications
FAQ
What is Unified Communications?
Unified Communications is the ability for communication applications to integrate with each other. For example: E-Mail, calendaring and IP-base telephony are communication services that are present in almost every company. These services are unaware of each other, i.e. users can perform several actions within each one of these applications, but they can’t perform tasks on one application that has an effect on another application. It would be nice if when a user is scheduled to be in a meeting in his calendaring application, the IP telephony system would be aware of this information and directly divert the call to the user mobile or to his voicemail. Another example is if the same user receives an email marked as urgent while in a meeting, the email would be sent to his mobile as a text, and the sender would be notified (via a popup, for instance) that the recipient of the email is in a meeting for the next x hours.
Does COLT have a Unified Communications product?
By definition, Unified Communications is not a product, but rather a combination of applications that are integrated with each other and with the underlying network. As a result a complete Unified Communications solution has to involve different applications and services, probably from different vendors, each of which plays a different role in the delivery of the final solution. IP-Telephony vendors (eg. Avaya) have telephony services that form part of a Unified Communications solution. This means they have for instance developed interfaces between their IP Telephony infrastructure and some of the main surrounding applications (eg. Microsoft Exchange). At the same time, applications vendors (eg. Microsoft) have developed applications that can be integrated in a wider Unified Communications solution; for example Microsoft Office Communications Server can be integrated with a network based IP Telephony service or with a multimedia Conferencing platform. COLT can deliver all of the network components required by such solutions, by combining the Data and Voice networks into a single Wide Area Network. COLT can also host and manage Customer’s IP-PBX (in partnership with Avaya) and other applications (Microsoft Exchange), and deliver a web-based multimedia Conferencing solution.
Are we saying that a single complete Unified Communications product does not exist?
Yes. Several vendors are expanding their offers so that their Unified Communications solution is more complete; however a complete solution involves network, applications and telephony service component. For example a customer may want to deploy an instant messaging application that allows users to click on a contact to call that person. There are several alternative ways of deploying the integration of these services. Some IP-PBX vendors are enriching their Softphones with Instant Messaging capabilities. The first alternative might therefore be to deploy instant messaging by upgrading the Softphone client. It might be that, beside the IP-PBX, the company has deployed instant messaging capabilities via a different application (eg. Microsoft Office Communicator). The second alternative is therefore to integrate the IP-PBX with Microsoft Office Communicator via a dedicated integration module.
Our researches show that users have a preferred application for each single task, and accessing all applications from a single interface is not one of their requirements. It might therefore be that they want to access their IP Telephony features via the Softphone, and use Microsoft Office Communicator for Instant Messaging. At the same time, however, they want to be able to click on a contact detail in an instant messaging contacts list and click to dial that person via their Softphone.
What can COLT sell to customers today in relation to Unified Communications?
COLT can deliver all of the network components required by a Unified Communications solutions, by combining the Data and Voice networks into a single Wide Area Network. COLT can also host and manage Customer’s IP-PBX (in partnership with Avaya) and other applications (Microsoft Exchange), and deliver a web-based multimedia Conferencing solution.
Do we have a roadmap to develop more Unified Communications products?
Yes. Thanks to our partnership with Avaya, we can today build together with the customer Unified Communications solutions based on IP Telephony. We will both extend the capabilities of our IP Telephony offer and the ability to integrate with other applications. Our network is evolving towards a New Generation Solutions infrastructure that will allow the integration of multiple applications; this means that while today a Customer may decide to integrate internally an IP-PBX and an Instant Messaging platform via dedicated integration modules, COLT in the future will be able to perform this integration in the core network.
Shall we sell the Unified Communications solution from Avaya on top of IP Voice Solutions?
Yes. We have successfully deployed such solutions together with some of our customers. Although these are custom solutions today, COLT has the capability of delivering these today with Avaya.
Can we deliver Instant Messaging?
Yes. This is possible today as part of COLT IP Voice Solutions, our partnership with Avaya.
Why should customers ask COLT as a "network provider" for UC?
Companies are looking to Unified Communications to enhance their processes and ultimately save cost.
The first step in this direction is the deployment of converged data and voice networks. This step alone increase the return of the network itself, and is a necessary step towards the deployment of a full Unified Communications solution, which in turn will add productivity improvements, through real time responses capabilities and effective management of remote workers.
COLT is the right partner on this journey. Beside the more traditional Voice services, our portfolio includes VoIP and Data services which are delivered on top of a leading edge next generation service infrastructure. This gives customer the ability to create a converged VoIP and Data network today, and to evolve together some of the existing applications towards an always accessible and interactive collaboration environment online, which forms the essence of COLT’s Unified Communications strategy.
How many / which UC applications can be delivered by COLT today?
As part of IP Voice Solutions, our partnership with Avaya, the following components can be delivered: Desktop Telephony, Mobility Solutions, 3. Video Telephony, Unified Messaging, integration with Microsoft Exchange or with IBM Lotus Domino. For more information on all services available via the Avaya partnership: http://www.avaya.co.uk/gcm/emea/en-us/solutions/offers/unified_communications.htm
Conferencing is also available as part of IP Voice Solutions (for internal multimedia conferencing purposes) or as a COLT managed platform for any worldwide multimedia conferencing needs. Moreover we can also support the integration between these communication applications and customer’s business processes and applications.
How will Unified Communications evolve in the future?
As effective communication and collaboration is becoming a key factor in the business, Unified Communications tools can be brought into other business applications to enhance work flow in the communications process. This will enhance business processes and will realise significant operational benefits, enabling enterprises to improve their communication with customers, business partners, suppliers and employees, across technologies and devices. Unified Communications is an experience that simplifies work and increases productivity by reducing delay in accessing and communicating with others.