Unified communications is not a new term in telecommunications. But as time goes on it seems that more and more technologies are falling into this aggregate category. So what is unified communications? When someone refers to unified communications what are they really saying?
Definition of Unified Communications
According to the International Engineering Consortium, unified communications is an industry term used to describe all forms of call and multimedia/cross-media message-management functions controlled by an individual user for both business and social purposes. This includes any enterprise informational or transactional application process that emulates a human user and uses a single, content-independent personal messaging channel (mailbox) for contact access.
What does Unified Communications Mean?
OK, so let’s digest that information a bit. So basically, unified communication is any device and/or piece of software that allows you to aggregate your communications. For instance, say you use the FreedomIQ hosted VoIP PBX for your business VoIP service. With FreedomIQ, you can receive faxes, calls and have voicemails transcribed and sent to your inbox. The technology allows you to unify these forms of communication and is therefore a unified communications product.
Common Unified Communications Technologies
Unified communications systems can fall into a variety of categories. Many business VoIP services are also unified communications products. Common business VoIP unified communications technologies are hosted VoIP PBX systems and IP-PBX systems. There are also hybrid business VoIP systems that have qualities that can be attributed to both of these VoIP technologies. Other unified communications technologies are smart phones, like the iPhone or Blackberry, and web services like our WebLINK Internet Control Panel.
Why is Unified Communications Important?
Experts believe that unified communications technologies are the future or business VoIP, hosted VoIP PBX and basically all communications devices. The issue is, with so many different technologies and ways to transfer data, it is important that communications devices and software have the ability to digest that information and make it easily presentable to end users.
Recent news on Unified Communications
In a recent post, we covered some excellent information just releases on the future of unified communications. The post cites a quote from a Wainhouse Research report stating that, “the UC (Unified Communications) market is projected to reach $30 billion by 2013.” It goes on to say that products under the unified communications umbrella, like hosted VoIP service, will grow with the market.
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