Unified comms interoperability alliance launches – minus Cisco

An alliance to manage interoperability between unified communications (UC) hardware and software systems vendors launched today.

But network giant Cisco was notable by its absence from the new organisation, called the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF).

Quocirca analyst Rob Bamforth said he would have expected Cisco to be part of it, "if the alliance is to really drive value to customers".

UCIF spokeswoman Susan Lowe, said, "We have invited Cisco, Avaya, and others to join, however large companies often take time to work through their own internal approval processes."

UCIF's founding members are HP, Juniper Networks, Logitech, Microsoft and Polycom.
Rob Scott, worldwide general manager at HP of the HP Halo videoconferencing products, said: "Customers want UC deployments providing a consistent user experience across multiple devices and platforms which can bring new productivity to their teams.”

UCIF says it would be a non-profit alliance of communications technology leaders working together to decrease implementation costs and improve interoperability for customers.

Market researcher Infonetics recently predicted that the UC market will top $1bn (£701m) by 2013, with Microsoft, Cisco and AT&T named top vendors in its market survey.

Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics Research’s directing analyst for enterprise voice and data, pointed out that, "the provider landscape is far from being set in stone; organisations are going beyond their traditional communication suppliers and considering offerings from the likes of Skype and Google."

Whichever route customers select, UC has a significant future. "One way or another interoperability for UC is an absolute must, and it would be interesting to hear what other prominent players such as Avaya and Shoretel have to say," said Quocirca's Bamforth.

Other members joining UCIF are Acme Packet, Aspect, AudioCodes, Broadcom, BroadSoft, Brocade, ClearOne, Jabra, Plantronics, Radvision, Siemens Enterprise Communications and Teliris.