UCC and the Road To InfoComm 2015

April 29, 2015 - BlogSquad,

After what I considered a highly successful trip to Enterprise Connect last month as media for rAVe, it’s time to turn focus to InfoComm and UCC in the audio visual space.

When you consider the realm of Unified Communications and Collaboration, it is no doubt one of the (if not the) most visible sectors of the industry in terms of technology growth and development, as well as a true representation of AV/IT. If you take a look at the InfoComm 2015 Technology Pavilion for UCC, you’ll find this list presented as products and services that you’ll see at the show:

Videoconferencing and Telepresence Systems
Remote Worker / Teleworker Technologies
Cloud Services
Unified Communications and Collaboration Technologies
Networked Interactive Whiteboards
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Providers
Videoconferencing as a Service (VCaaS) Providers
Managed Services Providers
Collaboration System Integrators
ICT Service Providers

Add in high level discussion of Microsoft Skype for Business and WebRTC, as well as the numerous sessions and presentations that will be provided by experts and analysts and you have a well-rounded view of the UCC realm.

In a previous blog that I had written back in January, I posted a video from InfoComm 2014 (below) with Carol Zelkin, executive director of the International Multimedia and Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA). In the video Ms. Zelkin talked about her journey in the unified communications and collaboration industry and shared her thoughts on the quickly changing realm of UCC. She also focused on the changing world of AV, IT and UC and mentioned several of the newer cloud and VM videoconferencing companies. as well as the fact that many of those that created and work for them have come from Tandberg (and Cisco).

I had to agree with one statement that she made in the video, that 2014 was “the most remarkable year for UC.” And if 2014 was the most remarkable, 2015 could well be the most revolutionary.

Take a look at these three (of the many) booth videos from Enterprise Connect 2015 for an idea of what is currently taking place in the realm of UCC:

Charles Roberts with StarLeaf: Traditionally known as a cloud-enabled video conferencing and audio service, StarLeaf introduced their new Linux-based Microsoft Lync endpoint with standard AV connectors.

Mark Noble with Vidyo: Vidyo demonstrates customer engagement made simple through usage of their VidyoWorks platform for face to face personal interaction over the web.

Karl Hantho with Videxio: Videxio is a cloud service provider promoting their platform for partners to build their own videoconferencing as a service (VaaS) offering towards their customers.

Other companies including Acano, Blue Jeans Network, Pexip, SMART, Polycom, Cisco and many more will be present at InfoComm 2015. We should see Microsoft in full force this year.

The UCC Roadmap in 2015 is an audio interview series that began last month and will continue up until InfoComm – give the series a listen for some great insights from industry professionals including discussion on Microsoft Lync/Skype for Business, cloud, VM, devices, virtual contact center and more. Here is the first with Videoconferencing/UCC industry systems engineer Jordan Owens of Pexip.

May will begin a direct focus on companies, solutions and trends in UCC through to InfoComm as well as after the show.