FEATURE: UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
ultimately, perform. The deployment of unified communications is not something that can be taken lightly, but needs to be addressed at the highest levels within an organisation – and this does not always happen. Finlayson adds: “Unified communications technology can deliver an incredible level of service and radically enhance the operation of any size business. It is one of those applications that can be built and enhanced, to flex and adapt to almost any business requirement. However it is crucial that strategists plan the adoption of unified communications in consideration of the whole business philosophy and working methodology.” The planning process is a
three-stage one, although it is not always followed, he says: “Firstly look at the enterprise, how it operates now and how they would like it to operate in order to define expectations; secondly implement and train staff on the benefits and target strategic processes; and thirdly measure, monitor, review and modify so that it really meets the objectives.
Critical documents outlining the user interface experience aren’t produced; all too often the decision is taken at board level to adopt unified communications, the IT department is tasked with deploying it and that’s it. The role of IT is not to set user strategy but they are often blamed if a new technology is not adopted as enthusiastically as expected.” The three key operational
features of any unified communications system that need to be considered by potential purchasers are quality of service, interoperability and security. It is these elements that set systems apart and differentiate them from free services such as Skype. In terms of quality of service, common sign-in, perceived image and sound, and availability of in-session features directly affect the experience of the user. “Anyone who has used videoconferencing over the past 10 years will be able to testify that the quality has improved drastically in that time frame,” points out Ray McGroarty, director of enterprise UC solutions, EMEA
INDIANA UNIVERSITY EXPANDS REMOTE LEARNING OFFERING
Indiana University, a major public research institution in the US, is currently deploying Pexip Infinity to deliver expanded videoconferencing services to its eight campuses and 135,000 students, faculty and staff. Indiana already hosts one of
the largest videoconferencing installations in the country, with approximately 100,000 unique connections each year and 176 videoconferencing- delivered courses each semester.
“Pexip Infinity expands with our needs. As we add capacity, we simply bring up more virtual servers and nodes,” says James McGookey, manager of the university’s collaboration technologies. “This lets us offer distance education courses to even more students and make teaching easier. If, for example, a professor wants to have a presenter speak remotely to a class from overseas, Infinity provides easy connections for the user while outputting high-quality video.
It’s a win for everyone.” Pexip Infinity, with native support of Microsoft Lync, takes advantage of the new WebRTC (Web Real Time Communication) two-way videoconferencing capabilities that are native in Google Chrome and Firefox browsers. IU students, faculty and staff – and their guests – will need nothing more than a web browser to join a conference: it’s as simple as going to a URL, typing your name, and clicking ‘join’.
www.installation-international.com
April 2014 27
STUDY CASE
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