Unified Communications

Unified communications has become a popular term in recent years as organization strives to lower costs with better use of technologies. But what does ‘unified communications’ actually mean and what aspects of it do IT manager need to consider before implementation? To provide some insights, we interviewed Walid Saffarini our Division Manager for Networks & Telecom at Alpha Data and Mohammed Areff, Managing Director, Avaya - GCC and Pakistan.

What exactly is unified communications, and why does it matter to a network manager?

Mohammed Areff: UC is the bringing together of all forms of communication so that an enterprise worker can communicate via voice, video, or text (IM, e-mail, SMS etc) in a single simple to use interface. It allows a user to mix communication modes in a single “session.” I.e. a user could receive an e-mail and with a single click of a mouse reply using voice or video. It aims to simplify complex communications and thus make a user more productive and speed business processes. True UC should also be device and location agnostic so that users can communicate using any medium on any device, anywhere.

What challenge is unified communications for the network?

Walid: Network readiness is the key challenging point for deploying unified communication in any network whether it is new or existing network. For which, we advise our clients to run a network audit to understand in details their network capability to run unified communications.

Is UC just VoIP dressed up in sheep’s clothing to get around the ban on the latter?

Mohammed Areff: Absolutely not! Whilst VoIP is important it is purely a technology play that adds little benefit to the end user. UC on the other hand really add benefits and  capabilities to the user. VoIP should be seen as a stepping stone to UC but situations where VoIP is not practical or possible it should not preclude a user from implementing some UC services to their users.

What new skills/abilities must the network manager and their team learns to manage the increase in network usage due to the introduction or increase in usage of UC?

Mohammed Areff: Security has to be one of the most important skills. As the network needs to extend beyond the physical boundaries of the organisation, network managers must learn how to open their network whilst maintaining a high degree of policy access. IT managers also need to consolidate directories so that users authenticate to a common access list and have access to a single contact database regardless of communications method.

How can network managers mitigate the issues with increase bandwidth usage, especially in situations where the company has multiple sites and have to rely on the network operators whose bandwidth fees are high?

Walid: It is absolutely key to build or rebuild the network in the right format using well known vendors and system integrators who will make sure to design the network in a cost effective way which takes into consideration the organization layout ,the operation style ,applications , bandwidth issues , reliability , availability and other factors . A well engineered network will utilise CAC (call admission control) so that users cannot flood a network with traffic. Intelligent networks will optimise and prioritise different data streams such as application data, voice data & video data making sure that critical services are maintained at peak times and lowering the priority of lesser services when necessary. Network managers should also investigate new SIP service providers that will often offer “all you can consume” voice and data tariffs to reduce the cost of voice and video traffic.