UC Virtualization & Architecture Recommendations

Today, we’d like to spotlight two great reports that may interest our audience. The first report, written by Abner Germanow and Jonathan Edwards at IDC is titled “Virtualizing UC: Reaping the Benefits and Understanding the Issues for Real-Time Communications.” The second report is called “Accelerating UC Deployment with a SIP/XML Architecture” written by Zeus Kerravala, distinguished research fellow at Yankee Group. The reports are sponsored by Avaya and are hosted on Webtorials.

The first paper asks and answers the question: Can virtualization support real-time communications? Describing an increasingly common datacenter technique known as virtualization, the analysis points out that centralizing UC is also increasingly a parallel effort. According to the report, most workloads today run at low utilization rates on servers (10% is normal), so server consolidation has been a primary driver for virtualization because it can improve utilization rates to as high as 60-70%.

When virtualization and UC application migration happens side by side, it creates an interesting and challenging dilemma because virtualization is primarily applied to traditional server-based applications with flexible minimum response times, low utilization rates, and low input/output requirements. However, these requirements are the opposite for real-time communications where application delay can’t be tolerated.

The second report acknowledges that VoIP and unified communications raise the bar on worker productivity but it also points out that despite much industry hype, most UC applications revolve around basic conferencing services and unified messaging whereas strategic UC applications like presence and mobile integration are not as widely deployed.

The analysis suggests one reason the more advanced UC features aren’t further along is that a new underlying architecture is needed to support UC. The new architecture, according to the report, should be:

•Standard: Built on industry standards such as SIP and XML to allow for multivendor interoperability and long-term scalability.

•Loosely coupled: Designed as a set of loosely coupled application objects, similar to a company’s Web or IP application infrastructure.

•Three-tiered: Using an architecture that decouples users and their devices from systems and applications.

•Centralized: Deploying UC services and applications centrally to distribute them from the corporate data center over the company network to all remote workers and branch locations.

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Brian

Managing Partner at meshIP, LLC

Brian Byrne is the founder and Managing Partner of Dallas based meshIP, a technology services firm offering cloud computing strategies and services. He is an accomplished executive with senior management experience in all facets of the technology, telecom, cloud computing, and SaaS industries. He has proven success in developing, financing and executing strategic plans as well as launching new ventures. His background includes a record of significant achievement in international business development and his credentials include a MBA in Marketing and Management Strategy from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS from the School of Computer Science at DePaul University, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

He is also the inventor of the patented meshDETECT, Secure Prison Cell Phone Solutions.

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