VoiceCon Spring 2008
IBM Advances Unified Communications Strategy with ShoreTel, Video and Persistent World Integrations
| Mar 20, 2008 | Enterprise Communications | Show Update
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Analyst: Brian Riggs
Current Perspective: Positive/Neutral
Vendor Importance: Moderate
Market Impact: Low |
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Event Summary
March 18, 2008 – ShoreTel, VBrick Systems, and Forterra Systems announced plug-ins that will integrate their respective IP PBX, streaming video solution and virtual world environment with IBM Lotus Sametime. Availability for the ShoreTel plug-in, which will require Sametime 8.0 to deliver telephony presence, has not been announced. The VBrick Video plug-in for Lotus Sametime supports Lotus Sametime Connect versions 7.5.1 and 8 and will be available in April 2008. The Forterra integration is expected to be complete by the second quarter of this year.
Analytical Summary
• Current Perspective: Slightly positive on the integration work IBM is conducting with ShoreTel, VBrick Systems and Forterra Systems because the work promises to increase the relevance of Sametime in a variety of market segments that either IBM tends not to play in or is only on the fringes of the overall corporate communications experience.
• Vendor Importance: Moderate to IBM because support for ShoreTel IP PBXs has the potential of opening doors in the SMB market, allowing IBM to continue efforts to sell Sametime to mid-market customers as well as the larger enterprises that are typically targeted. High to ShoreTel because, until now, the company has not delivered interoperability with third-party instant messaging servers. With most of its major telephony systems competitors announcing integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server, IBM Sametime or both, ShoreTel was becoming conspicuous for its lack of a similar capability.
• Market Impact: Low on the enterprise and SMB communications markets since integration with ShoreTel telephony systems, VBrick steaming video solutions and Forterra persistent worlds, while interesting and in some cases innovative advancements, will benefit a small subset of IBM customers rather than a broad swath of businesses.
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Current Perspective
Competitive Positives and Concerns
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