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Unified communications (UC) is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, IP telephony, video conferencing, call control and speech control with non real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). UC is not a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types. UC also refers to a trend to offer Business process integration, i.e. to simplify and integrate all forms of communications in view to optimize business processes and reduce the response time, manage flows and eliminate device and media dependencies.
UC allows an individual to send a message on one medium and receive on another. It should be possible to easily transfer any activity or message to another medium. For example, one can receive a voice mail message and choose to access it through email or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.

Communication Latency
One of the main focuses of Unified Communications is to reduce communication response time, or in other words perceived speed, which often is essential in decision making and acting upon instructions. For example, an important action that takes two days to complete but is received a day late, takes three days to complete. Unified communications technology aims to reduce that delay as much as possible.
History
The history of Unified Communications is tied to the evolution of the supporting technology. Originally, business telephone systems were a private branch exchange (PBX) or Key Telephone System provided and managed by the local phone company. These systems utilized analog or digital circuits provided by the phone company in order to deliver phone calls from the Central Office (CO) to the customer. The system, be it a PBX or Key Telephone System, would then accept the call and handle routing the call to the appropriate extension or line appearance on the phones at the customer's office.
The major drawback to this service was the reliance on the phone company to manage (in most cases) the PBX or Key Telephone System. This resulted in a residual and recurring cost to customers. Over time, the PBX became more privatized and internal staff members were hired to manage these systems. This was typically done by companies that could afford to bring this skill in-house and thereby reduce the requirement to notify the phone company or their local PBX vendor each time a change was required in the system. The privatization of managing the PBX ultimately triggered the development of more powerful software that increased the usability and manageability of the system.
As companies began to deploy IP networks in their environment, companies began to use these networks to transmit voice instead of relying on traditional telephone network circuits. Some vendors such as Avaya and Nortel created circuit packs or cards for their PBX systems that could interconnect their communications systems to the IP network. Other vendors such as Cisco created equipment that could be placed in routers to transport voice calls across a company network from site to site. The termination of PBX circuits to be transported across a network and delivered to another phone system is traditionally referred to as Voice over IP (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP). This design required special hardware on both ends of the network equipment to provide the termination and delivery at each site. As time went by, Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, Altigen, Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and Mitel realized the potential for eliminating the traditional PBX or Key System and replacing it with a solution based on IP. This IP solution would be driven by software only and thereby do away with the requirement for "switching" equipment at a customer site (save the equipment necessary to connect to the outside world). This created a new technology which is now referred to as IP Telephony. When referring to a system that does not utilize any legacy PBX or Key System but rather IP-based telephony services only, it qualifies as an IP Telephony solution.
With the advent of IP Telephony the handset was no longer a digital device hanging off a copper loop from a PBX. Instead, the handset lived on the network as another computer device. The transport of audio was therefore no longer a variation in voltages or modulation of frequency such as with the handsets from before, but rather encoding the conversation using a CODEC (G.711 originally) and transporting it with a protocol such as the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). Because the handset was just another computer, applications could be pushed out to the endpoint to enable the end-user with advanced features enabled by web services such as XML, ASP or JAVA.
When considering the efforts of Unified Communications solutions providers, the overall goal is to no longer focus strictly on the telephony portion of daily communications. The unification of all communication devices inside a single platform provides the mobility, presence, and contact capabilities that extend beyond the phone to all devices a person may use or have at their disposal. Given the wide scope of Unified Communications, there has been a lack of community definition as most solutions are from proprietary vendors. Since Mar 2008, there are several open source projects with a Unified Communications focus such as Druid and elastix, which are based on Asterisk, a leading open source telephony project. The aim of these open source Unified Communications projects is to allow the open source community of developers and users to have a say in Unified Communications and what it means. In October 2007, Microsoft entered the Unified Communications market with the launch of Office Communications Server, a software-based solution running on Windows. In March 2008, Unison Technologies launched Unison, a software-based unified communications solution that runs on Linux and Windows.

How does it work?
UC integrates real-time and non real-time communications with business processes and requirements based on presence capabilities, presenting a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types. UC supports the enterprise to manage various types of communications across multiple devices and applications, and across geographies, with personalized rules and policies, while integrating with back-office applications, systems and business processes. UC enables people to connect, communicate and collaborate seamlessly to improve business agility and results. These results include better user and group productivity, dynamic collaboration and simplified business processes, with the goal of increasing revenues, decreasing costs and improving customer service.
Now let's talk about what UC is not. UC is not a single product but rather a solution made up of a variety of communication tools and components. Some people use the terms "unified messaging" and "unified communications" interchangeably, but -- as you'll see -- unified messaging is simply one element of a UC solution. Similarly, the term UC is sometimes expanded to encompass the next generation of IP communications. Again, call control or IP communications is one element of a UC solution, but it is not UC in and of itself. UC is a comprehensive solution that ties several components together with user experience. UC components include:

• Call control and multimodal communications
• Presence
• Instant messaging
• Unified messaging
• Speech access and personal assistant
• Conferencing -- audio, Web and video
• Collaboration tools
• Mobility
• Business process integration (BPI)
• Software to enable business process integration
For the highest ROI results, these UC tools are tied into business processes and applications, making the integrated solution exponentially more useful to businesses and workers. One key part of UC is called presence. Presence enables you (or software applications) to determine whether someone is available to communicate- either by telephone, instant message, Web sharing or even mobile phone. This makes communications much more efficient and greatly reduces "telephone tag." A typical UC session might start with an instant message between two parties that escalates to a phone call or Web conference through a click of a button on the PC screen. That click connects the parties via audio, and another turns the call into video, if desired. If other people need to be added to the conversation, a look at the presence status of people on your buddy list lets you simply click-to-conference to bring them into the call. In addition, the more advanced presence tools can find a person based on role, skill or knowledge and can also present differing "presence" indications to different audiences (available to team or client, but busy to others)-simple and efficient.

Elements and Components
Unified communications is not a single product-it is a solution made up of various components, including (but not limited to) the following:
Call control/IP PBXs
While several vendors consider the switch or IP PBX to be the main element of a UC solution, and some consider UC to be merely an extension of Internet telephony, we view the IP PBX as a UC enabler -- no more, no less. The PBX/IP PBX provides the plumbing needed for a UC solution. The IP PBX market is in a state of change, as vendors move toward software approaches and away from hardware-centric products. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services are playing an important role in UC solutions, and most switch vendors have announced plans to provide call control capabilities via software rather than hardware.

Presence
Presence is the cornerstone of a UC solution. As the fundamental enabler for UC, presence will be "the dial tone of the future." Presence provides real-time notification of users' current availability and ability to communicate. Presence servers gather presence information from various sources and provide unified presence information to end users or applications. In a UC world, when we discuss presence, we are going beyond simple instant message presence (i.e., knowing if a buddy is online and available for an instant messaging session) to presence enabling all communications, including telephony. Most switch vendors today either offer their own presence server and capabilities or integrate with presence capabilities from IBM and/or Microsoft. The biggest challenge today is the lack of federation, or the ability of these presence systems to work together to allow users on one presence system to see the presence status of a partner or customer on another system.

Instant Messaging
Instant messaging (IM) is another critical component of a UC solution. In business environments, IM generally requires an enterprise-grade IM system, rather than a public IM service such as AOL or Yahoo. Enterprise IM systems offer security and privacy that public IM services cannot. As with presence servers, however, most enterprise IM systems do not interoperate with others.

Unified messaging
Unified messaging (UM) is the integration of voice, fax and email messages and message notification. UM allows users to access any of these messages, anywhere, anytime, from any terminal. Building on UM's store-and-forward capabilities, most UM products add a variety of advanced call and message management functions, including desktop call screening of inbound calls, find me/follow me, live reply or call return, and cross-media messaging. New presence capabilities mean that the need for UM systems to act as answering machines is being reduced, and the value of UM is moving toward enhanced, real-time connectivity with individuals.

Speech access and personal assistant
Using speech commands, personal assistants (or virtual assistants) allow users to access their inbox, calendar, directory and so on. Personal assistants provide intelligent screening and filtering of messages and let users navigate their schedule, calendar, contacts, outbound dialing and so on, in addition to their UM system.

Conferencing and collaboration
Conferencing and collaboration includes audio, video and Web conferencing, as well as collaborative capabilities such as shared workspaces, whiteboarding, file sharing and document sharing. The fastest-growing technology in the collaborative portfolio is Web conferencing, which brings collaboration to the desktop via a Web browser and an Internet connection, allowing participants to view presentations and other documents while participating in a real-time conference. Voice communications can take place over the Internet or through a separate audio conferencing bridge. Another collaboration component is shared workspaces, which enable participants to view, share, edit and save documents and files.

Mobility
In the UC world, more and more voice and video communications will be launched from -- and connected to -- mobile wireless devices. Integrating the mobile users' voice and real-time communications services with core enterprise communications lets them do their jobs regardless of location. Enabling UC features like click-to-conference and IM for mobile users allows them to participate in conferences and access some of the same capabilities they can access in the office, improving their productivity when mobile.

Business process integration
An important element of a UC solution is integration with business processes and workflow applications. One of the key goals of business process integration is to eliminate "human latency" -- a business process stalled by the need to wait for human input or communication. In many business processes today, work comes to a standstill until someone can provide information needed to proceed to the next step. UC can reduce this delay by contacting the next person in a sequence of steps, or by initiating an ad hoc meeting or conference call to settle an issue. By communication- or voice-enabling business processes and applications, communications can be initiated within the application, making it easier to notify and interact with others to resolve a problem.
The first applications to be communication-enabled are back-office applications such as CRM, ERP, sales force automation and supply-chain management. Order fulfillment and customer service readily lend themselves to simplification through presence and communications awareness.
An example of basic business process integration is a process that uses Microsoft Office applications. Someone who is reviewing a document or spreadsheet and needs additional information from the author can simply mouse-over the author's name, see his/her presence status, and click-to-call to initiate a real-time conversation. The same can be done within specialized applications. A manufacturing exception system, for example, can detect an issue and automatically notify the appropriate people (i.e., quality assurance specialist, engineer and supervisor) via any communications mode, be it mobile or desk phone, email or instant message. These people are brought into a conference call and can resolve the issue on the spot.
The difference between unified communications and unified messaging
UM platforms have been around for more than a decade and provide a common GUI or telephony user interface (TUI) to access voice mail, e-mail, and fax messages. When using a UM system GUI, for example, users can click on a common screen and listen to voice mail, access their e-mail, or view fax messages. Some UM platforms have incorporated speech engines that, for example, turn e-mail into text that can be "heard" using a telephone. These applications are considered to be non-real-time applications.
UC systems are defined as  providing access to real-time applications like click to call, non-real-time applications (like those provided by UM), and near-real-time applications like instant messaging (IM). Note that we consider IM to be a near-real-time application because it typically includes a server-based "meet point" to facilitate both security and connectivity, as opposed to a phone conversation which is a point-to-point connection. Contemporary UC systems also typically offer SIP-based presence engines, collaboration, and support for multimedia applications including video, conferencing, and collaboration. UC platforms are now being bundled with most IP-PBXs, offering either a same-supplier UC platform or integration with another supplier's UC platform.
Components of unified communications
Unified communications represents a concept where multiple modes of business communications can be seamlessly integrated. Unified communications is not a single product but rather a solution which consists of various elements, including (but not limited to) the following: call control and multimodal communications, presence, instant messaging, unified messaging, speech access and personal assistant, conferencing, collaboration tools, mobility, business process integration (BPI) and a software solution to enable business process integration. The term of presence is also a factor - knowing where one's intended recipients are and if they are available, in real time - and is itself a key component of unified communications. To put it simply, unified communications integrates all the systems that a user might already be using and helps those systems work together in real time. For example, unified communications technology could allow a user to seamlessly collaborate with another person on a project, even if the two users are in separate locations. The user could quickly locate the necessary person by accessing an interactive directory, engage in a text messaging session, and then escalate the session to a voice call, or even a video call - all within minutes. In another example, an employee receives a call from a customer who wants answers. Unified communications could enable that worker to access a real-time list of available expert colleagues, then make a call that would reach the necessary person, enabling the employee to answer the customer faster, and eliminating rounds of back-and-forth emails and phone-tag.
The examples in the previous paragraph primarily describe "personal productivity" enhancements that tend to benefit the individual user. While such benefits can be important, enterprises are finding that they can achieve even greater impact by using unified communications capabilities to transform business processes. This is achieved by integrating UC functionality directly into the business applications using development tools provided by many of the suppliers. Instead of the individual user invoking the UC functionality to, say, find an appropriate resource, the workflow or process application automatically identifies the resource at the point in the business activity where one is needed.
When used in this manner, the concept of presence often changes. Most people associate presence with instant messaging (IM "buddy lists") -- the status of individuals is identified. But, in many business process applications, what is important is finding someone with a certain skill. In these environments, presence will identify available skills or capabilities. This "business process" approach to integrating UC functionality can result in bottom line benefits that are an order of magnitude greater than those achievable by personal productivity methods alone.
Given the sophistication of unified communications technology, its uses are myriad for businesses. It enables users to know where their colleagues are physically located (say, their car or home office). They also have the ability to see which mode of communication the recipient prefers to use at any given time (perhaps their cell phone, or email, or instant messaging). A user could seamlessly set up a real-time collaboration on a document they are producing with a co-worker, or, in a retail setting, a worker might do a price-check on a product using a hand-held device and need to consult with a co-worker based on a customer inquiry. With unified communications, instant messaging and presence could be built into the price check application, and the problem could be resolved in moments.

Who is it for?
Unified communications is very useful for knowledge workers, information workers, and service workers alike, many of whom may cross the lines between the three sectors on a daily or hourly basis, depending on the task and the client. With an increasingly mobile workforce, businesses are rarely centralized in one location. Unified communications facilitates this on-the-go, always-available style of communication. In addition, unified communications technology can be tailored to each person's specific job or to a particular section of a company.

• Department of Defense (DoD) Unified Communications
Unified Communications within the Department of Defense (DoD) requires passing strict security and reliability tests. The U.S. Joint Interoperability Test Command is responsible for this testing. These Unified Communications systems are tested to insure that they meet military-grade SIP or assured services SIP (ASSIP) requirements for establishing communication with resource priorities, ensuring system and network access and control, and providing precedence and pre-emption policies to assure connectivity for Command and Control (C2) users. These systems are part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Unified Capabilities Approved Products List (UCAPL). New products such as the Nortel AS5300 have been designed specifically to meet these rigorous requirements and are being deployed in the DoD to provide military grade Unified Communications.

Unified Communications Market
Unified Communications (UC) is all the rage. Companies of all sizes and in all vertical markets and geographies are exploring how they can take advantage of the many benefits that UC provides. Unified Communications is in fact Communications integrated to optimize business processes. It integrates real-time and non-real time communications with business processes and requirements based on presence capabilities, presenting a consistent unified user interface and experience across multiple devices and media types. UC is not a single product; it's a solution made up of a variety of components and elements, including: messaging (email, instant messaging, voice, video), calling (audio, video), conferencing (audio, web, video), presence (online and telephony), device awareness, and information sharing (web chat, file sharing, document sharing), tied together with a common user interface. By integrating UC with business processes and applications, communications is streamlined, human latency is reduced or eliminated, and workers can be more productive, efficient, and responsive. Communication both inside and outside of the enterprise is enhanced, resulting in shorter project times, quicker time-to-market, improved worker and workgroup productivity, and organizational efficiency, which in turn improves customer service, reduces costs, and increases revenues. Under the "UC Umbrella" are two types of UC solutions and benefits - those that focus on the user or user productivity (UC-U) and those that focus on the business or business processes (UC-B). There are significant benefits of each type, although it is more difficult to measure and quantify the benefits of UC based on user or personal productivity, because in many cases, these benefits are in soft dollars. The real ROI comes from when UC is tied to business processes, and communications becomes a part of the business reducing human latency and time lags, thus helping companies transform their businesses and changing the way work is completed, which can save thousands, or even millions of dollars.
While there are clearly many benefits to UC, there are also significant challenges that must be overcome in order for the market to reach its potential. For example, there is currently a general lack of understanding of UC, what it is, and what it can and cannot do; migration and evolution from existing platforms and infrastructures may be difficult; complex integration is needed to ensure interoperability between all of the various UC components and elements; and it may be difficult to prove a hard return on investment. UC can have a transformational impact, but, in order to do so, enterprises need to figure out how it can be used to optimize their business processes.

Business Benefits
Unified communications provides a technical solution that solves real business problems. Worker productivity is a sign of well-managed business, and companies need to look more closely at their internal communications to eliminate problems of lack of growth in employee productivity and customer attrition. Business benefits for unified communications include:
Improved accessibility of information and experts throughout the enterprise. The easier it is for workers and customers to access information and experts, the better they can resolve issues and complete tasks.
• Flexible workgroups, which enable faster problem resolution. Collaboration among workers accelerates decision-making and provides a faster remedy to issues that arise.
• Better value from existing internal applications. Employees use multiple forms of communication but often do not fully use the tools provided due to their complexity. As user interfaces becomes simpler, employees will better use tools provided to them.
• Faster response to customer requests. Customers feel that the company is looking out for their best interests with an immediate response to their problems.
• Avoidance of project delays due to communication silos. Companies find their workers often hampered by communication silos that are not connected to other applications and back-end systems, which often leads to projects slipping on their deadlines. By providing a fully integrated experience across all applications, workers can more readily respond to critical issues.
• Greater control over work schedules and timeline adherence. Business managers have now eliminated one major obstruction in the slowdown of work efforts with real-time connectivity among employees.

Recognizing the New Capabilities Produced By Unified Communications
Unified communications is more than just an emerging IP application - it represents a new generation of sophisticated applications and services not previously available. Unified communications based on SIP ties together multimedia and collaboration applications onto a single platform. This improves how business communicates and delivers new capabilities. Unified communications delivers:

• Greater flexibility enabled by media independence. Because SIP is neutral to type of media used, it unifies dissimilar applications onto the same platform and simplifies the user interface so that workers can easily communicate with others any time and any place with any device.

• Faster integration of new applications. Unified communications is standards based, which makes it less complex for integrating multiple applications on a single platform. Developers can connect to existing applications more easily resulting in low costs for integration.
• Improved coworker communication interfaces. Unified communications introduces new capabilities not found in previous applications. These include mixed media that seamlessly blend collaborative and communication applications, and advanced desktop capabilities for launching applications through intuitive PC interfaces with presence indicators.
Communication technology will continue to evolve and new features and benefits will be added. However, in a fast-paced market, companies need to take advantage of the tools available today and need to start deploying them within their work place or risk falling behind competitively. Knowledge workers will find that they are spending more time doing productive tasks than waiting for others to respond. This will accelerate the productivity of the individual, the work group, and ultimately the entire corporation. Unified communications helps firms make better use of existing application investments and at the same time provides the ability to tie the applications together to create a more effective collaborative work experience for its employees. Firms in highly competitive markets should evaluate how unified communications can accelerate a company's time to market and create a more productive workforce.

References
www.networkworld.com/
www.unifiedcomms.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_communications
www.cisco.com/en/US/.../prod_white_paper0900aecd80424544.pdf