Release Date

2Q 2011

Product Code

VM-UNFCOM-102

Price

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Despite the growth of the premises-based unified communications (UC) market during 2010, some of the key challenges that confront the market remain unaddressed. Proprietary platform architectures and dedicated stacks of hardware and software that offer little interoperability in a multi-vendor environment have been the biggest roadblocks to more pervasive UC adoption. Also, the presence of aging communications applications that are inflexible and present little opportunity for integration with newer, IP-based communications platforms is by no means a lesser challenge.

The number of moving parts in a UC suite is so high that it is impossible for a single vendor to provide all of them. Many of the UC vendors realize this and are forging partnerships to fill technology gaps in their portfolios. Enterprises have therefore come to expect that multi-vendor solutions should integrate well so that they can leverage the benefits of best-of-breed infrastructure. Hence standards-based approach, the ability to provide open application programming interfaces (APIs) and connectors for integration with business processes and the breadth of portfolio become key differentiators influencing vendor choice.

What is required for UC to Go Mainstream?

Interoperability: Many of the large vendors in this space have expanded their portfolios through acquisitions and have worked on integrating them. Though many have achieved deep integration and deliver these solutions in a single, tightly-integrated suite, for some vendors the solutions remain a patchwork of disparate applications that have little interoperability. Also, UC today offers a number of interoperability challenges between best-of-breed vendor systems. Another key challenge is that many of the UC implementations need to be built on top of legacy infrastructure. The different refresh cycles for each of the infrastructure components also compounds integration challenges.

From an end-user perspective, the need for UC interoperability is the need of the hour as a number of large enterprises with multi-vendor environments are required to invest substantially in system integration. The formation of the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF) is in response to the absence of interoperability between different UC vendor platforms. The business case for UC gets defeated unless there is seamless integration of communication functionality within applications.

UC Architecture: Interoperability and the UC architecture are two closely-linked considerations in making vendor choice. Architectures that are based on industry standards such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) can integrate across a number of enterprise applications and be used for a variety of functionalities that can result in significant reduction in communication costs. A simple example would be the support for a single SIP address where all communications can be routed, irrespective of the user’s location, network, or the device type. A SIP-based architecture also allows organizations to leverage carrier services such as SIP trunking in order to federate UC applications across networks and devices. Use of proprietary architectures or even proprietary enhancements to standards-based architectures is a strong deterrent for interoperability and integration across platforms.

UC Technology Partnerships: Another key attribute closely associated with both interoperability and the platform is the partnerships that vendors are forging to enhance the functionality of their UC platforms. Video is a classic example: vendors that do not own the technology partner with videoconferencing vendors (who do) so that they can integrate natively with their platforms. A classic case is Avaya, which has had a long and deep relationship with Polycom for offering videoconferencing to its customers as part of a larger UC bundle.

A number of vendors also partner with fixed-mobile convergence providers to offer seamless hand-off of their applications across networks and devices.

UC Channel Ecosystem: Persisting interoperability and integration issues have led to the evolution of strong channel partner networks for almost all of the major vendors. Almost all major system integrators have built their expertise in UC. However, some of the UC components, especially video and FMC require specialization that is not pervasive across all SIs. In the recent past, we have seen some consolidation in the system integration market as well, especially among video integrators.

Vertical Applications: Despite claims to the contrary, not many UC vendors have developed vertical-oriented solutions in their portfolios. The market tends to be rather horizontal-focused with solutions for enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs). Even SIs, which are known to have vertical consulting and domain expertise, have not been looking at the opportunities presented by certain verticals. The vertical opportunity has been left unaddressed due to inadequate knowledge of vertical software applications or processes.

UC Product Portfolio: Most of the big vendors have identified their core areas of expertise and have built their UC applications around these. In the case of messaging vendors, the products integrate around the messaging platform while for telephony vendors, the PBX and the call manager applications form the UC anchor. Vendors that can integrate a critical number of key UC applications with their core voice/data products are the most successful in this market. Also, an established presence in messaging or telephony gives them a ready customer base that they can tap into to upsell UC applications.

Mobility: Mobility and fixed-mobile integration have emerged as key differentiators when evaluating different UC offerings. As the enterprise workforce becomes more mobile, the value of basic and enhanced FMC features is being realized. Until a couple of years ago, FMC was probably the weakest link in the UC puzzle. However, this is changing as UC vendors partner with or acquire FMC vendors that have strong foundations in mobility.

Videoconferencing: Videoconferencing is set to emerge as the fastest growing component of integrated UC suites between now and 2016. Video is being integrated across multiple endpoints as enterprises ask for richer collaboration tools for delivering more meaningful meeting experiences. UC vendors are working on delivering video over multiple channels, be it integration with conference room systems, mobile devices and thin clients, or desktop videoconferencing systems.

Roadmap and Migration Path: Customers looking to extend their telephony resources typically adopt a staggered migration to UC, adding applications when their needs are felt across the organization. Telephony vendors that are successful in this market are those that have a clearly articulated UC roadmap in terms of newer applications and features, which helps in planning the migration path for their customers. Large telephony and contact center vendors such as Cisco and Avaya have a well-supported channel partner ecosystem and certification processes in order to assist customers move from legacy infrastructures to newer architectures.

Software Focus: The market is certainly making the transition from implementing hardware-centric point solutions to a more software-based approach where multiple communications applications can be tightly integrated and virtualized, resulting in significant reduction in UC implementation and management costs. Telephony vendors that are predominantly hardware are being forced to respond to market demands and many of them have started migrating to software-based platforms.

Support for Multiple Implementation Models: Enterprises are moving away from point solution implementations   as UC deployment models diversify in order to address growing end-user concerns about cost.

Based on industry feedback, ABI Research has selected the following criteria for evaluating UC vendors across several parameters we believe are critical in this market. ABI Research has prepared this vendor matrix to offer an unbiased rating of leading UC suite vendors on the basis of each company’s perceived “Innovation” and “Implementation.”

Although a growing number of vendors are offering components of UC, the focus of this vendor matrix is on a select group of leading, highly specialized vendors who offer the broadest range of innovative applications that are integrated. ABI Research selected the profiled vendors based on interviews with industry participants –– including UC vendors, service providers, value-added resellers, and end-users — and the feedback received from them.

Innovation

The seven Innovation scoring criteria and their associated weighting are as follows:

1. UC Channel Ecosystem (15% weighting)

• The number of resellers specializing in UC
• The global reach of the vendor
• The mix of distributors for SMBs and large enterprises
• Strength of service provider channel
• UC certifications for channel partners
• Channel specialization in specific UC technologies

2. UC Mobility (15% weighting)

• The ability to offer clients the same user experience on different devices
• Number and type of mobile platforms supported
• The degree to which fixed mobile convergence is supported (basic versus advanced features)

3. UC Technology Partners (15% weight)

• Quality and depth of partnerships
• Telephony technology partnerships
• Mobility technology partnerships
• Video technology partnerships
• Telepresence technology partnerships
• Conferencing and collaboration technology partnerships
• Contact center technology partnerships

4. UC Cost (20% weight)

• Licenses and equipment needed for UC
• The number and range of core and add-on functionality
• Level of native integration
• Integration costs

5. UC Application Development (15% weight)

• APIs offered
• Application development support
• Strength of developer channel

6. UC Professional Services (5% weight)

• Range of professional services offered
• Partner ecosystem for offering UC-related services

7. UC Product Portfolio (15% weight)

• Number of applications
• Level of functionality
• Level of integration
• Connectors for integrating with LOB applications

Implementation

The seven Implementation scoring criteria and their associated weighting are as follows:

1. UC Security (10% weight)

• UC security features
• Awards for UC security
• Independent lab bake-offs on security

2. UC Architecture (20% weight)

• Architecture as a development platform
• Openness of the architecture
• Virtualization support
• Vertical solutions
• Architecture roadmap
• Architecture flexibility

3. UC Scalability (15% weight)

• The maximum number of users supported
• The applicability to SMBs
• Service provider applicability

4. UC Interoperability (20% weight)

• Standards supported
• Support for proprietary protocols of other vendors
• Ability to interoperate with other major platforms
• Specific public statements on product set’s UC interoperability and future directions of it

5. UC Video & Telepresence (15% weight)

• Video conferencing support
• Telepresence support
• Support for video on the UC platform including video e-mail

6. UC Messaging (10% weight)

• Support for MS Exchange
• Support for IBM Lotus Notes
• Support for Novell GroupWise
• Support for other messaging platforms

7. UC IP Telephony (10% weight)

• Specific UC IP telephony features
• IP telephony elements included in basic package
• Specific IP telephony features applicable to specific UC verticals such as Healthcare & Hospitality