I have been quoted at trade shows for a statement I have been making for some time, that is, “Telephony by itself has no perceived value any longer.” It is therefore uncanny, but end points, a.k.a. desktop phones, can be used as leverage to deploy a fully loaded UC environment, including Telephony, Contact Center, and the full UC suite of IM/chat, presence, audio conferencing, video conferencing, Unified Messaging, LDAP corporate directory, document sharing, and Web collaboration. Here’s why (and how).

 

Key End Point Trends

Key end point trends taking place and themes include:

• IP phone sales remain very active – hardphones can be used at the traditional desk or at home, remote office, hotel, etc.

• Feature/functionality continues to increase at the desktop – features and functions not available just five years ago now include Bluetooth, G.722 HD CODEC, GB ports, Active Directory integration

• UC client elements are now included at the desktop – including IM/chat, presence, some with video, other UC apps

• Desktop/mobility integration is now a common request – users want to have a “one number reach” and have the ability to have anyone reach them anywhere, to any device.  In addition, desktop mobility provides the ability to work at a second site and bringing your direct DID number with you. You can now share an office part time and reduce real estate costs. We are currently working with a client who will reduce their annual real estate costs by over $2M annually leveraging this feature.

• Some End Points “No Longer Necessary” – some end points are being considered “no longer necessary” based on discussions with our clients. They may include low usage areas, areas where a mobile device would make more sense using wireless access points, removal of end points in dorms in the University space, replacing a hard phone with a softphone client for particular users who may not require a five 9s model to the desktop.

• Soft clients – from basic softphone to a fully integrated UC softphone, soft clients can be used as an end point. Mobile UC clients can add feature and functionality to a basic softphone client, including softphone, adhoc audio conferencing, adhoc video conferencing, IM/chat, presence, doc sharing, collaboration.

• Non traditional vendors now “Play” in the UC space - Non traditional vendors now “play” in the UC space, i.e., Microsoft, Google, Oracle (Acme Packet), Logitech, and even cellular carriers.

• An End Point Is No Longer Just An End Point – An end point is no longer just an end point it is now an “integrated real-time communications, applications device” which resides on the data network.

• End points now have components of UC built right into them, providing a “starting point” for leveraging UC throughout the enterprise.

 

When Is An End Point An End Point?

An end point can be any one of the following:

• Hard phone / hard end point (on site or remote)

• Softphone client

• Soft UC client

• Tablet

• Smartphone

Any of these devices can now be used either as a main telephony or UC client or a secondary device. Note that, for any of the above end points, to achieve best audio and video connectivity, QoS policies on routers/switches need to be in place, and QoS prioritized bandwidth is also necessary. Also note that redundancy and resiliency are necessary to achieve a five 9s model expected in a commercial organization environment.

 

Evolving Desktop Features

Desktop pricing has remained flat, however, feature/functionality has been increasing. The chart below shows the differences between desk end points just 60 months ago and those today: