Verizon’s New UC&C-as-a-Service Promises Mobility, Productivity and Cost Savings

| Mar 2, 2011 | Voice and Unified Communications Services
| Analyst: Cindy Whelan

Event Summary

February 28, 2011 -- Verizon launched its Unified Communications & Collaboration-as-a-Service (UCCaaS) offer, a cloud-based solution based on the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution platform. UCCaaS includes mobility options and presence technology and employs a per-seat pricing model. Customers can purchase the full cloud-based UC&C solution, or they can purchase individual applications to meet specific business needs. The service is currently in field trials with the state of West Virginia; the carrier anticipates making UCCaaS commercially available in mid-2011.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Moderate on Verizon’s launch of Unified Communications & Collaboration-as-a-Service (UCCaaS), because the carrier is announcing the first phase of its solution, but the service is still in trial and is expected to become generally available in mid-2011. UCCaaS promises enterprise customers cost-effective UC&C features that can reduce capital and operational expenses. However, it is early in the UC&C services evolution and the degree to which large enterprises will adopt cloud-based services remains to be seen. Enterprises have existing on-premises communications infrastructure, and Verizon’s UCCaaS service options can operate alongside this infrastructure, allowing enterprises to layer on new features and services.

• Vendor Importance: High to Verizon, because the carrier describes demand from enterprise customers that want to move to a solution that offers a predictable usage-based pricing model, mobility features, and the potential technology and cost advantages of a cloud-based service. Verizon has spent at least a year working to develop and test UCCaaS; now that the service is approaching commercial availability, the carrier will find out what actual enterprise uptake will be.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the hosted UC services market, because Verizon UCCaaS 1.0 is not yet commercially available, and it is based on a shared server architecture with dedicated enterprise application instances. The carrier’s next iteration of the service, planned for later in 2011, will add a hybrid solution targeting enterprises that require a dedicated solution with a mix of cloud- and premises-based services.

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