unified communications

News

• Are CEOs getting the social media thing?

  IBM says a study it did of some 1700 Chief Executive Officers worldwide found that many indeed - or should be - grasping social media as a key enabler of collaboration and innovation.

• Avaya lays out roadmap for unified software management

  As Avaya continues its transition from a hardware company into a communications and collaboration software provider, it is going through some growing pains, including a shakeup of executives and uncertainty around a potential initial public offering that's been rumored for months.

• Medical firm avoids Exchange nightmare with outside help

  International medical vendor Mediq was expanding in a big way by acquisition and needed a standard email platform across its business, but the project's cost and the complexity of doing it alone was so daunting that the company called on outside help that costs it less in the long run.

• Open-source messaging at (nearly) the speed of light

  Felix Ehm, a member of CERN's beams control group, has always had a curious and scientific bent.

• Doctors warned not to use social media with patients

  Doctors are being cautioned by hospitals they work with to avoid interacting with patients on social media, and that they reject any overtures by patients to interact on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

• Social media bring business, but add security quagmire

  Social media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and so forth - has become a way of life for companies and their employees to interact with the public, but beating back the fraudsters that try to prey on customers, not to mention keeping employees from spilling sensitive data, is becoming a full-time job for many.

• 'Thelma & Louise,' 'Beetlejuice' star Geena Davis wins major telecom award

  Actress Geena Davis, President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Huawei Chairman Sun Yafang have been named winners of the 2012 ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society Award for their efforts promoting information and communications technology (ICT) to empower women and girls.

• Survey: BYOD sparks enterprise investment in Unified Communication and Collaboration

  The 2012 IDG Enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) survey was completed with the goal of gaining a better understanding of current and future UC&C investments. The survey highlights the uptick in UC&C adoption and investments in the coming three years — specifically in enterprise organizations — demonstrating the value organizations place on technologies that enable consistent and connected communications between employees, customers and partners. 

• SMS a killer app at 20; irrelevant at 25?

  The first SMS-capable mobile phones were approved for sale in Europe 20 years ago this month. By any measure, SMS has become a huge success, at least for the telephone companies, with more than 6 trillion SMS messages sent worldwide in 2010, generating more than $110 billion in revenue. But the future may not be anywhere near as bright because of increasing use of "free" Internet-based services such as Facebook, Apple's iMessage and WhatsApp.com.

• American moms love Facebook, Nielsen survey shows

  If you're looking for a last-minute gift for Mother's Day, don't bother sending her a Facebook invite - chances are, she's probably already on it.

• Bing will tap Facebook, Twitter in answering queries

  Microsoft is introducing a phone-a-friend feature into its Bing search engine, allowing searchers to ask their Facebook and Twitter contacts to supplement information gathered by the search engine itself.

• Cisco offers API to fight call fraud

  LAS VEGAS -- Cisco this week at Interop 2012 released an API for its branch routers designed to enable third-party developers to write applications to enhance the security of phone calls over the router network.

• Thwarting employers asking for Facebook access

  If your employer or a potential employer asked you to hand over the keys to your house so they could search your possessions looking for something unspecified, I suspect you would be a little surprised and not a little outraged. Well, over the last few months there has been a significant number of reports of employers and colleges doing the digital equivalent of asking for your house keys by requesting Facebook passwords from employees, applicants and students.

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  Gartner says half of enterprises are wasting money on social media

  Getting a positive return on investment from a social media campaign is about more than tracking the number of your Facebook fans and Twitter followers. It's about linking the social strategy to measurable business objectives, according to Gartner, which says most businesses aren't doing this.

• VMware ups its collaboration offering with Lithium integration

  VMware Thursday announced that its SocialCast sharing tool will now work with Lithium Technologies tools to capture and integrate external customer data.