Unified Communications: Features

While there are sure to be a lot of new networking and IT companies that emerge in 2012, these nine stood out for their potential to deliver game-changing innovations in a wide array of fields, including Cloud computing, enterprise search, and mobile application development. (These are in addition to seven hot Cloud companies and seven storage companies to watch that we highlighted last year.)

Technology firms wowed us in 2011, delivering tablets, ultrathin laptops, innovative cloud services, and voice command digital assistants. Not so long ago, the technology underlying these products was nothing more than research and development projects. So, in an effort to peek into our not-so-distant tech future, here's a glimpse at ten promising projects percolating in tech research labs.

ORLANDO -- The technology that makes up many of the systems in the ITworld today is at a critical juncture and in the next five years everything from mobile devices and applications to servers and social networking will impact IT in ways companies need to prepare for now, Gartner Vice President David Cearley says.

SharePoint, the fastest growing product in Microsoft's history, is used to store reams of documents, meaning application performance is a key component for successful SharePoint deployment and adoption. Here are 10 steps to improve the performance of your SharePoint servers.

Researchers and hackers are developing tools to execute a new data-leak threat: sneaking proprietary information out of networks by hiding it within VoIP traffic.

For years, IT and business have heard the sexy promise of "IP convergence," which would allow all sorts of voice- and video-enabled applications to appear in business. However, for most organizations, this Jetsons-like vision has yet to occur.

When we tested the DiVitas Mobile Convergence Appliance in May 2007, the value proposition was straightforward. By leveraging VoIP, wireless LAN connections, and dual-mode Windows Mobile phones, the DiVitas solution allowed mobile users to save precious minutes on their voice plans and even turn long distance into local calls. It was all about the mobile phone bill.

IP contact centers are proliferating, but they still pose a set of potential gotchas that businesses need to beware of as they consider upgrading from the TDM world, experts say.

Innovation is not just about cool new products. In technology, the best ideas require a) really smart people and b) lots of funding. For the past 33 years, Microsoft has had both in spades.

The iPhone started it, but everyone and his brother now seem to have a fancy smartphone on offer. If it's time to join the "mobile 2.0" generation, we can help you make the right choice. We've reviewed the new generation of mobile devices and sussed out their strengths and weaknesses.

A mock-up of a smartphone with a flexible display developed by Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute.

Although the ramifications of the dour economic climate have yet to be fully felt, networking market observers are already forecasting significant changes in 2009. Many predict organisations will look to reduce travel expenses and implement cost-effective mechanisms such as unified communications and video conferencing, increasing demand on the network. Meanwhile, virtualisation, which has had a strong hold in the storage and server space, will gain prominence as a network trend.

Using teleconferencing technology has lately become an obvious and financially practical choice to offset rising business travel expenses. Yet sometimes simple chatting doesn't cut it. There has been growing interest in the notion of online conferencing with a "virtual presence" emphasis, which enables people to share information and their very selves with one another with a stronger sense of near-tangible "face time."

When Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) first grabbed the public’s fickle attention a few years ago, the focus was often on how you could save on your telephone bill. Not wanting to add to the kitty of the big telecommunication corporations, it seemed, was a commonly held aspiration.

Buyers of IP PBXs need to look beyond simple voice capabilities to unified communications and make sure the gear they buy will be compatible with applications they will want in the future, experts say.

Unified communications opens up your VoIP network to new avenues of collaboration, including instant messaging, video, business applications and e-mail. And that opens up your network to new avenues of attack.

Driving better operational efficiency within an organisation is a top priority and unified communications is helping to make it happen.

Anyone who has worked in IT for more than five minutes knows that the field has been in a dramatic transformation for the past 10 years, invading and conquering other organizational domains such as communications and security, while also wrestling with the new issues that technology has wrought such as employee mobility. In most organizations, IT has had to transform itself from a bunch of techies installing and troubleshooting equipment to a key enabler of business strategy and competitiveness.

What would your business avatar look like? No, seriously, if you had to develop an avatar for your virtual office what would you choose: A suitclad executive? A Pokemon or World of Warcraft character? Or maybe you prefer one that looks more like yourself, just a little sexier to help boost your profile? As a journalist I think I’d have to go for the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Raoul Duke look – gonzo journalism at its best.

Integrating enterprise communication tools -- from telephony to e-mail, conferencing and instant messaging -- is the key to delivering a richer collaboration environment that increases productivity. But deployment and management of unified communications systems can be daunting.