Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

Verizon Business Sets the Table Stakes for UC with Pan-European Product Launch
Competitive Intelligence Report| Business Telecom Services - Europe
6/18/2008 - Verizon Business has stunned the market being one of the first to launch a pan-European UC launch, the only to have an international Hosted IP Centrex product and native SIP trunking in ten countries. Customers should take notice.

	Current Perspective:	Positive/Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	High
	Market Impact:	Very Low

ShoreTel Improves Unified Communications Capabilities with Latest PBX Release
Competitive Update | Enterprise Communications
5/19/2008 - ShoreTel officially enters the unified communications race in version 8.0 of its IP PBX. With rivals off the starting line much earlier, ShoreTel has a large gap to close before it catches up.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	High
	Market Impact:	Low

Interactive Intelligence Keeps Pace in Unified Communications Development with OCS Support
Competitive Update| Contact Center Solutions
5/15/2008 - Interactive Intelligence creates a compelling unified communications solution by integrating Microsoft’s OCS with its Vonexus EIC and Customer Interaction Center. However, it is a single voice in a crowd and may be drowned out by louder voices.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Moderate

Siemens Enterprise Communications Adds Unified Communications to Contact Center
Competitive Intelligence Report | Contact Center Solutions
4/22/2008 - Siemens Enterprise Communications couples contact center, voice portal and unified communications into a single contact center solution, improving caller/agent interactions. But expert/agent collaboration improvements could still be a challenge.

Unified Communications: The Differing Needs of Large Enterprises and SMEs
Advisory Report | Business Telecom Services - Europe, Enterprise Communications
4/4/2008 - Unified communications hold real promise in improving contact center agents’ access to experts. However, it will require more than technology alone for businesses to benefit from unified communications in customer support settings.

Unified Communication in the Contact Center: New Technology and a New Culture
Advisory Report | Contact Center Solutions
4/4/2008 - Unified communications hold real promise in improving contact center agents’ access to experts. However, it will require more than technology alone for businesses to benefit from unified communications in customer support settings.

Disruption Reduction: Controlling the Impact of Communications Innovation
Advisory Report | Enterprise Communications
4/1/2008 - There are many disruptive technologies that can dramatically change the way communications solutions are implemented, deployed and managed within enterprises. Vendors should make sure customers and resellers are not overwhelmed by them.

Unified Communications: The Different Views from Large Enterprises and SMEs
Advisory Report | Business Telecom Services - Europe
3/28/2008 - UC promises many things to many people. Despite the emerging philosophies, there are major differences between large enterprises and SMEs in their views, challenges and dilemmas in terms of buying and deploying UC in the business environment.

	Current Perspective:	Positive/Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

VoiceCon Spring 2008: IBM Advances Unified Communications Strategy with ShoreTel, Video and Persistent World Integrations
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
3/20/2008 - IBM is thinking outside the box as it seeks to embed unified communications capabilities in healthcare apps and virtual worlds. But it’s likely such integrations will result in few new sales opportunities for Big Blue’s Lotus division.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	High
	Market Impact:	High

VoiceCon Spring 2008: Microsoft Allies with Aspect, Opening Opportunities for Both
Show Update | Enterprise Communications, Contact Center Solutions
3/20/2008 - Microsoft and Aspect ally to accelerate the development of UC for the contact center. Each partner offers significant strengths but the alliance will compete against large rivals who are also developing UC solution for contact centers.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	High
	Market Impact:	Moderate

VoiceCon Spring 2008: Avaya’s New Presence Offering Will Deliver a More Flexible UC Solution
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
3/19/2008 - A marked improvement over its existing presence solution, Avaya Intelligent Presence Server will become a federated, multivendor UC platform. However, with more mature UC offerings on the market, Avaya has its work cut out to differentiate itself.

	Current Perspective:	Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

Nortel and Microsoft’s Delivery of Jointly Developed UC Solutions Attests to Alliance’s Strength
Competitive Update | Enterprise Communications
3/13/2008 - Nortel is leveraging its Innovative Communications Alliance with Microsoft to deliver some unique unified communications solutions. But competitors aggressively integrating with OCS are likely to soon replicate some currently unique offerings.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Very High
	Market Impact:	Moderate

Aspect’s UC Strategy Could Leapfrog Competitors’ Presence-enabled Contact Center Solutions
Competitive Intelligence Report | Contact Center Solutions
3/11/2008 - Aspect’s unified communication initiative refocuses its products without having to rebuild its reputation, but the company must contend with competitors that have a significant head start in delivering a similar set of contact center solutions.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Moderate

CeBIT 2008: Siemens’ Combined Comms and UC Software Will Facilitate Cross-sell Opportunities
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
3/4/2008 - Combining a software-based PBX and UC software into a single platform, Siemens will be in a better position to sell HiPath 8000 to OpenScape customers and vice versa. More apps and more integrated management will improve the offering.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	High
	Market Impact:	Moderate

Alcatel-Lucent Integrates with HP to Secure
and Govern SOA Communications
Competitive Intelligence Report | Application Infrastructure
2/22/2008 - Alcatel-Lucent has moved to improve its ability to enforce security and compliance policies at runtime through a solution that combines HP’s Systinet governance platform with its recently network-embedded SOA appliance.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

Lotusphere 2008: NEC Strengthens Its UC Position with Sametime Integration
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
1/23/2008 - Support for IBM Sametime will open new sales and marketing opportunities for NEC. Since its tardiness has given competitors a healthy head start, NEC will need to prove strong differentiation to catch up from a marketing perspective.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Very High
	Market Impact:	Moderate

Nortel Unveils Strong SOA Solution for Business Communications
Competitive Intelligence Report | Application Infrastructure
11/16/2007 - Nortel has entered the SOA market for business communications with the introduction of a vendor-agnostic but still embryonic foundational software solution, a technology partnership with IBM, and the continued SOA-enablement of its portfolio.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

Fall VON 2007: NEC Philips Improves SV7000 Platform with Security, Mobility, and UC Enhancements
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
11/5/2007 - A steady round of enhancements for NEC Philips and NEC Unified Solutions’ SV7000 platform is contributing to the feature-richness of a still comparatively new platform.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

Siemens Targets New Audience with All-In-One UC for SMBs
Competitive Intelligence Report | Enterprise Communications
10/24/2007 - Siemens responds to pressure from rivals’ sophisticated SME PBXs with its applications-rich OpenOffice all-in-one appliance. It improves Siemens’ competitiveness in open SME markets, but benefits to existing HiPath customers are less obvious.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Very High
	Market Impact:	Very High

Microsoft UC Launch: Office Communications Server 2007 Hits the Market
Competitive Intelligence Report | Enterprise Communications
10/18/2007 - General availability of OCS means that Microsoft feels prepared to position its erstwhile IM server as a business-class call processor. But to date there is little indication customers are prepared to treat it as such.

	Current Perspective:	Positive/Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low/Moderate

NEC Looks to Increase Its Sphere of Influence in the UC Market
Competitive Intelligence Report | Enterprise Communications
8/14/2007 - NEC demonstrates its intent to remain competitive in the software applications arena by way of a corporate acquisition and a newly introduced solution. Despite its efforts, the company appears to continually be in catch-up mode.

	Current Perspective:	Positive/Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	Moderate/High
	Market Impact:	Moderate

Global Connect 2007: Nortel and IBM Produce “i”ntegrated Voice and UC Platform
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
7/2/2007 - Porting telephony software onto IBM servers will result in a tightly integrated voice-enabled UC platform. But Nortel could find it difficult positioning this very different product as part of an otherwise cohesive SMB product portfolio.

	Current Perspective:	Positive
	Vendor Importance:	Low/Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

Global Connect 2007: Nortel Extends 1-2-3 Program to Drive UC Adoption
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
6/14/2007 - Nortel extends its 1-2-3 programs, aiming to simplify and speed the sales and ordering processes for a broader set of its own multimedia apps. The benefits to Nortel and its resellers are clear, with benefits to customers less evident.

	Current Perspective:	Positive/Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	Low/Moderate
	Market Impact:	Low

VoiceCon Spring 2007: NEC Firms Up Its UC Stance
Show Update | Enterprise Communications
3/9/2007 - NEC shores up its UC portfolio with support for LCS and a mobility client. These catch-up moves may not put NEC’s portfolio squarely up front with development leaders, but they do put NEC in the pack of very capable UC solutions suppliers.

	Current Perspective:	Neutral
	Vendor Importance:	High
	Market Impact:	Low

Nortel, Microsoft Flesh Out UC Strategy
Competitive Update | Enterprise Communications
1/19/2007 - Nortel and Microsoft provided an update on their unified communications R&D efforts. While better than no information at all, the level of detail shared did not answer existing questions about the expected competitiveness of their joint solutions.

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