Frost & Sullivan, which has diligently served global 1000, emerging, and public sector entities, as well as the investment community for over five decades with advanced growth strategies, has released a new report detailing the growth outlook for the unified communications (UC) market. The report states unequivocally that strong growth in cloud computing, big data analytics, social media, internet of things, and mobility (CASIM) during 2015 will provide abundant tailwinds for the UC market.
The report acknowledges massive and unflagging demand from public and private sector entities for comprehensive UC suites, combined with a reluctance to make equally massive outlays, especially considering the complexities involved. The underlying drivers have led to a boom in the UC-as-a-Service (UCaaS) market, which is now seen by Frost & Sullivan as growing at an unprecedented rate in the coming years, as big enterprises move towards the hybrid UC model and the mid-market on down evolves into a green-field opportunity for vendors and service providers. The report also sees the Asia Pacific region as a leading growth target and emphasizes the significant transitional force of the UCaaS trend, arguing that UC as a defined category is now moving well beyond just traditional IP telephony, software phone clients, email and presence. The report argues that UC must now effectively be construed as being an interoperable, collaborative business communications suite, which brings total device convergence, along with security to the table.
Dependable collaborative suites are the name of the game moving forward and most top telecom service providers like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) or Telstra (OTC: TLSYY), have already pushed UCaaS solutions to the market. With the big system integrators in tow, this has made for a highly competitive arena as the rush is now on to meet the demands of chief experience officers, who are tasked with enhancing business outcomes through judicious UC implementations. The analysis late last year by Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI) on InformationWeek’s yearly State of Unified Communications Report, checks very well with the latest data from Frost & Sullivan, indicating that 2014 was a big growth year for UC, with an industry survey that showed 70% of respondents either had or planned to implement a comprehensive UC solution.
Even the U.S. Army is moving in this direction, but the service’s ambitious plan to replace legacy communications with a full IP-based infrastructure illustrates the complexities and challenges faced by enterprise, SME and other government agencies who are looking to execute a comprehensive UC solution. The Army had intended to get the ball rolling with an industry solicitation this year for a comprehensive UCaaS solution, but now says they do not even plan to release an RFP (request for proposal) until 2016, clearly showing how difficult it is to understand the rapidly changing landscape and make determinations about the best way to proceed, such that all needs are met effectively. The Army is still focused on consolidating data centers and moving apps to the cloud for the time being, omnipresently aware that a full-spectrum UC implementation isn’t just about replacing legacy communications systems, it is a sea-change that represents a true paradigm shift for the underlying Army culture, much like the decision to adopt email as an enterprise-wide initiative, but on a much grander scale.
This is a target-rich environment for an established UC provider like Cleartronic (OTCQB: CLRI), whose wholly-owned VoiceInterop subsidiary is on the cutting edge of applications development, systems integration, services, and interoperability-enabling OEM solution manufacturing. Cleartronic is a well-known provider of patented IP communication gateways, as well as communication software, and even recently entered into a key license agreement with ReadyOp developer Collabria that greatly extends their already impressive UC portfolio. ReadyOp is a next-gen secure software platform for planning, communications and coordination, which represents an ideal solution for local governments, as well as international agencies, when it comes to effectively executing command and control.
ReadyOp was instrumental during the 2012 Republican National Convention for instance and was used to by the Tampa Police Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (and other agencies) to coordinate their massive deployment, including 5k additional LEOs from over 60 other PDs, sheriff’s offices, and state agencies. This same platform is perfect for hospitals, school districts and even corporations, either for situational awareness during daily operations, or for immediate, coordinated presence during incident and emergency response scenarios.
VoiceInterop currently supports an extremely diverse customer base of over 200 clients, ranging from emergency service agencies, to airports and universities. VoiceInterop provides its customer base with interoperable UC solutions that easily bridge all relevant devices, from traditional conferencing and IP phones, to Motorola iDEN® (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) networks and two-way radios. VoiceInterop’s completely scalable AudioMate Unified Communications™ Software takes the device bridging to the maximum level, allowing authorized personnel to securely communicate over any radio, telephone or PC device, irrespective of the equipment’s manufacturer. With the AudioMate PC client and 3rd party mobile apps, or Blackberry app, and the AudioMate360 Series of RoIP (Radio over Internet Protocol) solutions, all the tools exist to easily expand traditional radio networks to new locations or modes of communication, all within a single, easy to use, unified management environment.
Cleartronic has a clear vision as a technology holding company focused on creating and acquiring operating subsidiaries in the thriving UC arena, and the company has a seasoned management team at the helm to boot, which will help guide their growth in a broad array of associated markets.
Learn more about the company by visiting www.Cleartronic.com
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