Australia's largest telco Telstra late last week confirmed it had started offering Cisco’s low-profile Cius Android tablet to customers as a complement to their corporate unified communications platforms.

The tablet shares a number of specifications with the current flock of consumer-focused Android tablets, shipping with a 7″ touchscreen running at a resolution of 1280×720 pixels, 802.11 b, g and n Wi-Fi support, mini-USB and HDMI ports and a camera than can record 720p HD video. Read more »

Mitel has announced that Landata, a business division of Systematic-Group and a leading IT/Telco distributor in Russia, has added Mitel's UC solutions to its portfolio. This will broaden Landata's commercial and technology offering to resellers as well as expand the availability of Mitel solutions in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe. Mitel believes its Freedom Architecture, an open model for UC based on a single, cloud-ready software stream, is well-suited for these markets as it delivers advanced communications functionality combined with the ability to leverage industry-standard servers alongside existing infrastructure. Read more »

According to a new study from International Data Corporation (IDC), the unified communications and collaboration (UCC) market in EMEA will be worth around $5.7 billion in 2010 and will grow to $16.6 billion by 2015.

"IDC predicts a compound annual growth rate of around 23.7% in the next five years and believes that the impact of the credit crunch and rumors of a double-dip recession make enterprises more cautious when deciding whether or not to invest in new IT equipment across the EMEA region," said Isabel Montero, senior research analyst, unified communications and collaboration, IDC EMEA. "Budgets in this region will continue to be more closely monitored and unemployment levels continue to increase across the region." Read more »

Today at VMworld 2011 Europe Mitel will demonstrate a significant technical advancement designed to considerably increase the already growing deployment of desktop virtualization for IT departments. Specifically, Mitel has integrated its virtualized Unified Communicator (UC) Advanced client software with VMware View 5, enabling Mitel and VMware to deliver soft phone and mobile device integration with a desktop virtualization environment. Read more »

Esna Technologies (Esnatech), a leader in cloud-based unified communications, and Onix Networking, a long standing Google enterprise partner, today announced a partnership to help enterprises across North America integrate robust unified communications capability with cloud-based applications. This agreement furthers expands Esnatech's global network of premier Google resellers and partners. Read more »

Optimus Technology and Telecommunications announced that it has inked a partnership agreement with GN Netcom to distribute its flagship brand, Jabra in the Middle East. According to the partnership deal, Optimus will promote and distribute Jabra’s extensive range of headset solutions and Bluetooth technologies for business customers through its strong channel network across the region. Read more »

Interoute, owner operator of Europe's largest cloud services platform, today announced it has been awarded the title of Unified Communications European Service Provider of the Year in the 2011 Frost & Sullivan European ICT awards. Interoute received the award at a London awards banquet, on 29 September, where Interoute was commended for leading the way in making enterprise services available from within the cloud. Read more »

Today from CTIA Enterprise and Applications 2011, Verizon Wireless introduces a breakthrough business tool, Mobile Unified Communications Client (Mobile UC), which combines the processing power of Android(TM) smartphones and the nation's most reliable wireless network with existing enterprise telephone systems to support employee mobility while maintaining corporate security and control. Read more »

Avaya today announced the acquisition of Sipera, a worldwide provider of Unified Communications (UC) solutions, including Session Border Control (SBC) functionality and a range of UC security applications. Sipera will become a fully integrated part of Avaya.

Sipera strengthens Avaya's UC portfolio with a set of fit-for-purpose, enterprise-class SBC capabilities for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking that offers customers and channel partners flexibility, security and value. The company's open, standards-based solutions work in both Avaya and non-Avaya networks. Combined with Avaya Aura(R), Sipera's solutions will provide customers with secure VoIP, SIP trunks, videoconferencing, cloud-based communications, instant messaging, and collaboration tools for workers in any location using any business or consumer device. Read more »

Polycom, today introduced the Polycom RealPresence Platform -- the most comprehensive software infrastructure for universal video collaboration. The Polycom RealPresence Platform (formerly referred to as the Polycom UC Intelligent Core) is the software infrastructure that powers Polycom's market-leading HD telepresence and video solutions. The unique open-standards approach of the Polycom RealPresence Platform ensures integration with hundreds of unified communications and social networking applications, such as Microsoft Lync 2010, IBM Sametime, and Jive's social business platform. Read more »