Unified Communication
Unified communication is a technology that brings call features, messaging functions and multimedia under one roof.
These services are integrated to provide features such as unified messaging, VoIP services and collaboration tools. Unified messaging provides users the facility to access their email, voice mail and fax from a single mail box. The user can use a wide range of facilities from video conferencing and speech technology to paging and these can be real time or near real time. There are other services too such as calendaring, scheduling and integrated voice response that accepts input based on voice, touch tones and also routes calls. This technology can be used not just for business but for social purpose too. Communication services can also be integrated with enterprise applications such that if any of your machinery acts funny, you would be sent a message or notified about the process.
Opinion
The market contains various communication devices such as mobile phones, PDA’s and computer internet devices but they need to be integrated so that user has continuous access to information in both a fixed and mobile environment. Phone services such as voice mail and telephone calls are synchronous modes of communication whereas computers are asynchronous and services such as email don’t allow you to integrate voice services into it. The combination of both these modes brings together a platform that allows you to make calls from your computer.
You could be at a vacation in the mountains and still attend that conference in Hawaii over web conferencing or troubleshoot a problem for one of your clients using this service. It basically allows you to be reachable and allows you to access information at any time and at any place. In conclusion, unified communication unites different communication devices or technologies and breaks down telecommunication barriers for better accessibility.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Lazar, Irwin (2007, May 16). The ROI of unified communications. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from Network World Web site: http://www.networkworld.com/techinsider/2007/052807-unified-communications-guide.html?page=1
(How Unified communication can make business process, save time and make employees more productive)
2. (2006). International Engineering Consortium. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from Unified Communications Web site: http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/unified_comm/index.html
(Defines Unified Communication and explains how it is benefits both the consumer and subscribers)
3. (2008, March 7). Retrieved March 24, 2008, from searchunifiedcommunications Web site: http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid186_gci1239583,00.html (Uses and services of Unified communication)
Deepak Sivakumar
http://www.linkedin.com/in/deepaksivakumar