Week of the 15th November is set to be an exciting week in the UC world as both Microsoft and Cisco provide major updates on their UC portfolio.
Take a look at Cisco’s Collaboration update on the 16th here
And you can save the 17th for Microsoft’s Lync virtual launch here
Just to finish the week off for those in Europe/London IDC are hosting a one day conference dedicated to UC on the 18th, find details here
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I didn’t quite believe Kinect could be put to use within the Enterprise but then I found a Gizmodo article on MS’s plans for Windows 8 from June this year that seems to suggest there may be a link between Kinect technology and their Enterprise software. We are still a long way off MS providing any real details on their entire Wave 15 roadmap so lets put this in the pure speculation category at the moment.
Some leaked documents out of Redmond show a whole bevy of new features headed to the next version of Microsoft’s OS, including some very Kinect-like features.
Those features involve a camera being able to detect you via facial recognition when you sit down and sign you in automatically. When you get up and leave, it can go to sleep automatically as well. Additionally, if someone else shows up, it can quickly switch between user accounts based on who it sees in front of the computer.
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Update: here is the link to the official Microsoft Android Lync app
From the guys at Widget Media there is now an OCS client available for Android. This is a welcome addition, the MS OCS and Lync team need to recognise that they can’t expect large organisations to fall into the Windows Phone 7, Nokia and Blackberry mobility story. Many (if not all) have Android and Apple clients in their environment and to gain the full benefit of UC an OCS/Lync client for Android and Apple is needed.
Although I don’t know the technical detail I am told that the APIs in Lync make developing rich media clients on different platforms easier.
Check out the AndrOCS site here
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Martha Lane Fox in today’s Daily Telegraph argues there has to be case for the UK’s NHS to adopt Unified Communications across the service. The article has two central themes:
Public expectations are certainly racing ahead. A recent YouGov poll found that 40 per cent believe the NHS can learn from the services offered by supermarkets, banks and utility companies. A significant 77 per cent said they wanted to book medical appointments in a variety of ways, with 34 per cent preferring to do this online. And this wasn’t just young people. Twenty-six per cent of over-55s thought they would be able to see their GP via webcam in 10 years’ time, compared with 27 per cent of 18-24 year olds.
Using technology flexibly for the convenience of patients and those who treat them can free up time for invaluable face-to-face contact for those who need it. In these difficult economic times, the efficiency gains in delivering some services digitally can ensure that we maintain the quality of service for everyone.
I’ve said several times there remains significant demand, it is now up to the IT industry to step up and deliver. An organisation such as the NHS requires guiding on these matters.
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Skype continue to develop their client and version 5 brings easier Facebook integration and Group Video chat.
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I’ve mentioned Vocera a couple of times in the blog and they have some more interesting news this week. Not only are they looking to hire people (which is great in this economy and IT industry in general) they are also looking to grow via acquisition. The HealthcareIT website reports they have purchased two companies in the hospital worker space – Clinical Health Communications and Integrated Voice Solutions.
“We see tremendous synergies between the OptiVox and VoiceCare hand-off applications and the Vocera communications solutions,” says Guille Cruze, CEO of Clinical Health Communications. “We are very excited to join a company that shares our vision for excellence and commitment to the highest levels of patient care.” Cruze will join Vocera’s executive team as vice president and general manager of hand-off communications. Prem and Janet Chopra, founders of Integrated Voice Solutions, developers of the VoiceCare product, will serve as strategic advisers to Vocera.
In a rare request for a CEO these days, Zollars asked Healthcare IT News for help in getting the word out about Vocera’s need for new employees. Having made more than 30 hires in the third quarter of FY10, he expects there will be 28 open positions in Q4. “We’re constantly looking for new talent to help us deliver for our customers.”
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After trying out both Google Apps and MS BPOS-S Center Parcs are moving ahead with BPOS-S, migrating away from their on-prem Exchange and Notes platform.
Center Parcs wanted to improve coordination of guest activities. The resort operator deployed Google Apps to 250 employees for 18 months. After discovering that it did not provide the enterprise-grade performance that employees needed, it replaced Google Apps with the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite. Now, it gains from increased productivity and a platform that supports responsive guest service.
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Engadget is reporting that the Tegra Advent Android tablet could be available in the UK next week in Dixons for £249. I’m not surprised that Advent come to market first as I remember picking up one of the first available netbooks in the UK from Dixons which happened to be an Advent branded machine.
I’m probably going to pick one of the devices up when they are released in the UK. While I love the open nature of Android I do worry that the fragmentation of the system will prevent a genuine contender to the iPad.
Update, i’ve found the official release from Dixons:
Dixons Retail, parent company of PC World and Currys has today announced the exclusive UK launch of two new tablet computers; the Advent Vega and the Advent Amico in a move which will bring tablet computing to the masses.
The Advent Amico, at only £129.99, using Android 2.1 with a 7” touch screen and WiFi, offers customers a great introduction to the fun and convenience of tablet computing. It is only 15mm thick and is great for downloading quality videos, games and music to enjoy anywhere. With the addition of a camera it offers customers fantastic value for money as an entry level tablet.
The fully featured Advent Vega at £249.99 is a quality and affordable tablet computer, brimming with features. It has a capacitive multi-touch 10.1” screen and an nVidia Tegra 2 dual core 1GHz processor making it one of the fastest tablets on the market, perfect for high quality video and sound playback and indeed more powerful than many netbooks.
Popular sites such as BBC iPlayer, gaming sites, MySpace, Yahoo! Mail and YouTube can all be accessed with ease on the new Advent Vega.
The Android 2.2 operating system coupled with the fastest processor for tablets on the market enables users to easily navigate their way around the functions and programmes on the Advent Vega. With a 4Gb SD memory card as standard, up to 10 hours continued use, only 14mm thick, a 1.3 megapixel camera and WiFi capability, the Advent Vega is a very capable tablet, ideal for portable computing, at an affordable price.
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Good Messaging love the headache created by the fragmentation of the mobile market. As Android and Apple continue their consumer assault Android and iOS phones are beginning to proliferate in the Enterprise. Meaning the poor Enterprise IT shop has to manage devices from Nokia, Blackberry, Apple and Android. Good is one of the ways they can reduce overhead and impose some security on devices by placing the Good client on the devices.
Below is a chart from Good that highlights the type of phone activated with their client between May and September. It doesn’t include Blackberry but it does show how Apple and Android continue their unabated growth.
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I’m going to have the chance to give some direct feedback to the MS product team on Lync next week and item number one for me is the need for the Lync team to de-couple their client from the MS and windows predominance. They have started this move in the conferencing space, making Lync conferencing available via browsers other than IE. They now need to push very hard with their senior managers to allow the full Lync client to be widely available on Apple and Android systems.
If this were to come to fruition lets just take a couple of examples from the last couple of weeks. Cisco announced Umi which costs circa $600 for the unit. If Lync were available as an app in the Android Market they could have provided exactly the same solution with Google TV and a Logitech HD camera for at least half the price. The same would go for the Cuis or the Avaya tablet. If there were a Lync Apple app that could provide voice and VC on Apple’s iOS platform it would make the costs of Cisco and Avaya’s VC systems prohibitive.
The Lync software is expensive and difficult to provide a traditional ROI, it will be even more difficult with the new licensing costs top be introduced this year. This is not a nice to have for the MS Lync team, if they want to sell Lync in large numbers they have to provide a hardware and OS agnostic choice for the Enterprise.
Perhaps the recent accouncment of a MAC Office Communicator client and the shock news that MS have chosen WordPress as their Live blogging platform is highlighting a change of direction by MS, allowing greater diversity to support their individual product lines.
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Shackleford Hurtmore: Thanks Simon; that is a very timely list - I'm tr...
Michael Elling (@Infostack): The above list needs to be rated/ranked along supp...
anne rogers: Hi Simon,
Great post. Of course, evaluating UC ...
Kevin Kieller: Whether you have missed anything from the potentia...
John Porter: Simon you make good points, I think though that ma...
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