Critical Capabilities for Corporate Telephony

Transcription

1 G Critical Capabilities for Corporate Telephony Published: 18 October 2011 Analyst(s): Jay Lassman, Steve Blood, Geoff Johnson This research will help managers who are responsible for planning and deploying telephony infrastructure and applications. We outline and evaluate 11 enterprise telephony systems by focusing on the capabilities that managers should assess when applying these systems in three use cases overall, centralized and distributed. Key Findings All solutions in this research have evolved into mature, reliable enterprise telephony offerings, making it increasingly difficult to differentiate among the solutions. For this 2011 research, the average overall product score is virtually the same as it was in our 2010 research. Eight of the 11 evaluated vendors were rated as having Good viability; two were rated Excellent and one Outstanding (the highest rating possible). Recommendations Use the criteria and vendor rating information in this research to evaluate your telephony migration partners, their directions and their plans. Match your telephony requirements to each vendor's product portfolio and strategic road map, and identify your strategic vendors. Any new investment in telephony should be in Internet Protocol (IP) technology. Use the telephony migration process to evaluate unified communications (UC) capabilities, solutions and road maps supported by your telephony vendors and other UC vendors in the market. Consider a UC deployment in conjunction with telephony projects in phased trials with targeted user groups. Include ease of use, total cost of ownership, availability of support, regional distribution differences, price, licensing policies, investment protection, availability of quality of network monitoring capabilities, vendor viability and customer satisfaction reports. Telephony and UC solutions must support important IP communication standards, protocols and applications, including Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), IM and presence, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services.

2 What You Need to Know This document was revised on 1 November The document you are viewing is the corrected version. For more information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com. This research complements Gartner's corporate telephony Magic Quadrant (see "Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony"), because it focuses on product capability and viability, rather than on the key aspects of the Magic Quadrant, which are the broader range of corporate criteria, vision and marketing. It is intended to help organizations define their telephony requirements and select specific products that match their needs. Analysis also focuses on products in North America, EMEA and the Asia/Pacific region. These regions have similar vendors and products, and enterprises in these locations have comparatively similar requirements, despite variations in regional deployment practices. The IP telephony communication market is mature in accordance with the criteria presented in this research, which is why there are many good to excellent solutions. Because there are few differences in capabilities, decision criteria should also include availability of technical support, regional distribution differences, price, investment protection, customer satisfaction reports and overall vendor viability, all of which we evaluate in the Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony." Ease of use and total cost of ownership are other factors to evaluate. To discern the differences, organizations should write RFPs that require descriptive responses, rather than simple yes or no answers; get at least minimal hands-on experience, especially regarding the user, system and administrative interfaces; and validate interoperability with UC clients and applications (see "How to Develop an RFP for Unified Communications"). Furthermore, require vendors to provide three- and five-year projections for total cost of ownership that include costs for maintenance, ensuring high reliability and upgrades (see "How to Choose a Corporate Telephony Vendor in a Turbulent Market" and "User Experiences Reveal Best Practices for Deploying Unified Communications"). While this research highlights the positives, anecdotal comments from clients often accentuate the negatives. It is highly recommended that Gartner clients use the Gartner inquiry process to speak with analysts who can provide their insights and advice about the best solutions for your organization's specific requirements. Finally, it's important to talk to users from organizations that have deployments similar to yours to best gauge actual customer experiences checking vendor references and using Gartner's Peer Connect service can play a key role in this step of the evaluation process. Analysis Introduction Many Gartner clients are considering the implementation of voice and IP telephony solutions to upgrade and enhance their communication portfolios. Potential benefits Gartner clients frequently cite include infrastructure consolidation, business continuity, centralized management, administration for local and remote locations, a platform for new applications and features, and entry into UC. Voice communication is a key component of a UC strategy, and may be sourced in Page 2 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

3 increasingly different ways (see "Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications" and "Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications"). This research provides an overview of the leading telephony systems and products, and evaluates their effectiveness in addressing organizational needs for a range of use cases overall, centralized enterprises and distributed enterprises. Product Class Definition The vendor solutions in this research basically fall into three classes: pure IP-PBX, hybrid IP-PBX and software-based IP telephony solutions. Other available approaches to voice and IP telephony include hosted and managed IP telephony solutions, but they are not covered in this research. In a pure IP-PBX system, call and application servers and gateways positioned strategically in the IP network (centrally or distributed) support system call processing, a wide range of telephony features, management and administration tools, redundancy options and interoperability with UC capabilities, such as IM and presence awareness. It is often used to replace end-of-life or end-ofsupport PBX systems. A hybrid IP-PBX system can handle IP telephony traffic, in addition to time division multiplexing (TDM) traffic. A hybrid configuration enables the TDM bus in the PBX to communicate with the IP network and supported IP phones. The system typically uses a standard Ethernet 10Base-T/ 100Base-T connection, provides audio processing for multiple voice channels, uses firmware to support downloadable feature updates and provides IP call control. IP trunk cards enable trunk-side connectivity among multiple systems, or between a system and a compatible gateway system, which is typically deployed when customers want to use their existing analog and digital telephones, in addition to new IP telephones. In the simplest terms, a software-based voice solution is an application that leverages software using standard servers and network components, with user capabilities resident in the desktop PC or laptop that are accessible using the graphical user interface (GUI), much the same as applications such as and document creation. One main benefit is that the IT organization can provision, administer and deploy these applications throughout the organization, regardless of a user's location. These systems are gaining popularity with organizations that want to integrate telephony services into a desktop client that also supports UC functions, such as IM, presence, unified messaging (UM) and conferencing (see "Key Issues for Unified Communications, 2011"). Critical Capabilities Definition IP telephony consists of a wide range of features and functions. This research examines eight critical telephony capabilities that enterprises should consider when looking to develop broad IP telephony and UC migration road maps, and when choosing strategic partners. Enterprises can build toward these goals by evaluating IP telephony solutions in one or more of the following specific capability areas: Critical Capability 1 Architecture: This refers to how the telephony system is designed, and how the components interconnect and interoperate. Terms such as "centralized" and Gartner, Inc. G Page 3 of 50

4 "distributed" (see the Use Cases section) are often used to describe the type of architecture supported by the system. Critical Capability 2 Scalability: This is the ability of the telephony system to grow seamlessly in size to cost-effectively accommodate thousands of end users in a single domain. Critical Capability 3 High Availability: This refers to the options and capabilities offered with the telephony solution for provisioning a high level of system reliability and uptime typically % (about five minutes of downtime per year) or better. Options offered can include redundant servers and core system components, local survivable gateways and processors, and public switched telephone network (PSTN) failover options. Critical Capability 4 Administration and Remote : This refers to the diagnostic tools and programs supported by the telephony system for main site locations, as well as remote site offices and locations. These tools and programs can include diagnostic software, as well as remote monitoring and diagnostic tools designed to help support and management personnel anticipate and correct system alarms and fault conditions within the telephony solution before, or soon after, they occur. Critical Capability 5 Mobility: This is the ability of a solution to provide mobile and wireless voice and telecommunications functionality. This includes support for extension-to-cellular features, fixed-mobile convergence, cordless handsets, Wi-Fi systems, softphones, cellular phones and smartphones. It includes in-building and remote access. Critical Capability 6 Open-Standards : Many traditional voice and data standards are supported by telephony systems. The ability for solutions to leverage voice over IP (VoIP) standards for IP telephony systems and UC components and applications is becoming more important as organizations look to integrate communications and business processes. Examples of standards include Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), H.323, SIP, SIP for IM and Presence Leveraging Extension (SIMPLE), SOA and Web services. Critical Capability 7 UC Integration: This is the ability to integrate the telephony system and applications with UC solutions (equipment, software and services) from a range of vendors that facilitates the use of multiple enterprise communication methods. This can include the control, management and integration of these methods. UC components integrate communication channels (media), networks and systems, as well as IT business applications and, in some cases, consumer applications and devices. Critical Capability 8 Midsize Enterprise : This reflects the suitability of the enterprise product or solution set to cost-effectively support up to 1,000 employees not only in centralized environments, but also in distributed deployments. Examples include branch office configurations, which typically require a smaller scale of investment and less-complexity. Key aspects include ease of installation, as well as simplified management and administration. Use Cases Enterprises develop their communication infrastructures at different rates in response to differing requirements and within the context of differing infrastructure investments. As a result, the Page 4 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

5 telephony market is driven by a wide range of user needs and environments. However, enterprises typically address one of three use cases: Overall: This means "in general" or baseline, and is intended for organizations that do not closely match one of the other use cases. This is not equivalent to the evaluation criteria used in the Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony," which includes factors such as service support, regional distribution differences, pricing and vendor road maps. Centralized Enterprises: This typically applies to large or very large organizations looking for telephony vendors and solutions that have concentrated support requirements. It involves the consolidation and provisioning of telephony and voice infrastructure at a main site or data center, where an organization can centrally manage and administer a single system image; or from a few experienced regional locations, for a large number of end users distributed across many sites. In contrast, a global telephony system uses a network that connects sites in multiple countries. Distributed Enterprises: In this case, a midsize or large enterprise is looking to provision its telephony and voice infrastructure in a geographically dispersed configuration. In this deployment, an organization has numerous sites and locations distributed across a wide geographic area. There are usually one or two main locations, along with a large number of smaller sites with small numbers of end users that may be managed and administered centrally or locally, and share common components, including directory databases and a network infrastructure. In these scenarios, there is little reliance on the WAN to provide either VoIP or real-time connectivity, because it is possible to have a backup link to the PSTN or IP networks via a remote, survivable gateway. Table 1 presents the ratings for the three typical use cases. Gartner, Inc. G Page 5 of 50

6 Table 1. Weighting of Critical Capabilities in Use Cases Critical Product Capabilities Overall Centralized Enterprises Distributed Enterprises Architecture 20.0% 20.0% 20.0% Scalability 1% 1% 12.0% High Availability 1% 1% 12.0% Administration and Remote 10.0% 10.0% 10.0% Mobility 10.0% 10.0% 10.0% Open-Standards 10.0% 10.0% 8.0% UC Integration 1% 1% 13.0% Midsize Enterprise % % 1% Total 100% 100% 100% Source: Gartner (October 2011) Inclusion Criteria We have included telephony solutions based on the following criteria: Significant global market presence must occur in four or more of the eight critical capabilities outlined in this research. Global market presence can be demonstrated in one of two ways by significant market share across two or more geographic regions worldwide, consistent with Gartner market share research, or by differentiating innovation. Sufficient sales, revenue and operational presence must support global market objectives. Providers must demonstrate an enterprise-premises telephony portfolio and products with substantial and noteworthy customer references. Vendor solutions must enable a full IP telephony product portfolio, even if components are offered via partnerships. Vendors Added There were no vendors added to the Critical Capabilities research this year. Page 6 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

7 Vendors Dropped HP was dropped this year because it no longer sells new VCX systems (which HP had acquired from 3Com), and thus does not meet the inclusion criteria. Critical Capabilities Rating Each of the telephony systems that meets our inclusion criteria has been evaluated on several critical capabilities (see Table 2 and Figure 1), on a scale from 1.0 (lowest ranking) to (highest ranking). The following vendors/products are included in this review: Aastra MX-One Alcatel-Lucent OpenTouch Avaya Avaya Aura Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) Digium Asterisk and Switchvox Microsoft Lync Server Mitel Mitel Communications Director NEC Univerge SV8500 and Sphericall ShoreTel ShoreTel 12 Siemens Enterprise Communications OpenScape Voice Toshiba IPedge and Strata CIX Gartner, Inc. G Page 7 of 50

8 Table 2. Product Rating on Critical Capabilities Product Rating Aastra Alcatel-Lucent Avaya Cisco Digium Microsoft Mitel NEC ShoreTel Siemens Enterprise Communications Toshiba Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration Midsize Enterprise Source: Gartner (October 2011) Page 8 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

9 Figure 1. Overall Score for Each Vendor's Product Based on the Nonweighted Score for Each Critical Capability Product Rating Chart Avaya Cisco Siemens Enterprise Communications Alcatel-Lucent Aastra NEC ShoreTel Mitel Microsoft Toshiba Digium Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration Midsize Enterprise Source: Gartner (October 2011) To determine an overall score for each product in the use cases, the ratings in Table 2 are multiplied by the weightings shown in Table 1. These scores are shown in Table 3. Gartner, Inc. G Page 9 of 50

10 Table 3. Overall Score in Use Cases Use Cases Aastra Alcatel-Lucent Avaya Cisco Digium Microsoft Mitel NEC ShoreTel Siemens Enterprise Communications Toshiba Overall Centralized Enterprises Distributed Enterprises Source: Gartner (October 2011) Page 10 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

11 Product viability is distinct from the critical capability scores for each product. It is our assessment of the vendor's strategy and the vendor's ability to enhance and support a product throughout its expected life cycle; it is not an evaluation of the vendor as a whole. Four major areas are considered: strategy, support, execution and investment. Strategy includes how a vendor's strategy for a particular product fits in relation to the vendor's other product lines, its market direction and its business overall. includes the quality of technical and account support, as well as customer experiences with that product. Execution considers a vendor's structure and processes for sales, marketing, pricing and deal management. Investment considers the vendor's financial health and the likelihood of the individual business unit responsible for a product to continue investing in it. Each product is rated on a five-point scale from poor to outstanding for each of these four areas, and it is then assigned an overall product viability rating. Table 4 shows the product viability assessment. Gartner, Inc. G Page 11 of 50

12 Table 4. Product Viability Assessment Vendor/Product Name Aastra Alcatel-Lucent Avaya Cisco Digium Microsoft Mitel NEC ShoreTel Siemens Enterprise Communications Toshiba Product Viability Good Good Excellent Outstanding Good Excellent Good Good Excellent Good Good Source: Gartner (October 2011) Page 12 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

13 The weighted capabilities scores for all use cases are displayed as components of the overall score. Figures 2, 3 and 4 show the three uses cases: overall, centralized enterprise and distributed enterprise. Figure 2. Overall Use Case Overall Use Case Avaya Cisco Siemens Enterprise Communications Alcatel-Lucent Aastra NEC ShoreTel Mitel Microsoft Toshiba Digium 0.00 Worst Fit to Use Case Best Fit to Use Case Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration Midsize Enterprise Source: Gartner (October 2011) Gartner, Inc. G Page 13 of 50

14 Figure 3. Centralized Enterprise Use Case Centralized Enterprise Use Case Avaya Cisco Siemens Enterprise Communications Alcatel-Lucent Aastra NEC ShoreTel Mitel Microsoft Toshiba Digium 0.00 Worst Fit to Use Case Best Fit to Use Case Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration Midsize Enterprise Source: Gartner (October 2011) Page 14 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

15 Figure 4. Distributed Enterprise Use Case Distributed Enterprise Use Case Avaya Siemens Enterprise Communications Cisco Aastra Alcatel-Lucent NEC ShoreTel Mitel Microsoft Toshiba Digium 0.00 Worst Fit to Use Case Best Fit to Use Case Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration Midsize Enterprise Source: Gartner (October 2011) Vendors Aastra See Table 5 for product details. Gartner, Inc. G Page 15 of 50

16 Table 5. MX-One Product/Service Name and Description Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Architecture MX-One Version 4 is a Linux-based application platform supporting standard Intel servers, as well as HP ProLiant and HP BladeSystem servers. It can be configured as a centralized high-capacity server, a distributed single-system over a large geographical area or a combination of both. MX-One supports a VMware-based virtualized environment with call manager and UC applications as virtual machines residing on a single host. Although not marketed as a separate function, Aastra MX-One offers session management through its built-in capabilities. Scalability Up to 15,000 SIP endpoints and 15 gateways per server, and up to 500,000 endpoints in a single logical system. High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration MX-One Version 4 comes with options like N+1 server redundancy, server and media gateway port "bonding," home location register redundancy (for IP/SIP extensions) with automated user data replication across servers. In a virtualized environment, MX-One supports VMware failover options. MX-One management is handled centrally in terms of operation and maintenance, and the solution is based on principles familiar to an IT operations center. Access to the management suite can be done centrally or remotely to all MX-One and Aastra UC application components in a single interface via the IT network. Secure remote access is provided via a TLS-based HTTPS protocol. There are different levels of authentication, so end users can log in to the Web portal, and manage their personal settings without affecting the rest of the system. Native integration of the mobile extension supports access to key features of the call manager. Aastra's mobile UC solution (Aastra Mobile Client) provides dynamic least coast routing seamless hand-over Wi-Fi/cellular network, directory search, IM, presence federation and security. Used in combination with the mobility extension, Aastra Mobile Client offers a seamless integration of mobile users in the corporate environment with the same services as a normal office extension when they are traveling. Smartphones supported are Symbian, BlackBerry, iphone and Android. Remote extension solutions, through softphones or SIP terminals deployed for teleworkers and "road warriors" also enable remote mobility. Aastra also offers Wi-Fi and SIP Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) for in-building mobility. Introduction of SIP in Release 4 has increased scalability of MX-One. This release also introduced integrated support for CSTA V3/XML. Web services, SOA and XML are supported for external integration. In addition to its own UC suite, MX-One Version 4 has formal certification for direct SIP integration with Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2, Lync and Exchange 2010 UM for voice mail and fax. All integrations include support for encryption between the systems Page 16 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

17 Product/Service Name and Description (SRTP/TLS). It also supports direct SIP integration with IBM's Sametime Unified Telephony (SUT) 1.0 product suite. Aastra has a range of Lync-compliant IP handsets. Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Midsize Enterprise The Aastra 700, a scaled down version of the MX-One with call control manager and a comprehensive range of UC applications preinstalled on a single virtualized server environment, is tailored for the small or midsize business (SMB) market for easy deployment and maintenance. An installation wizard takes the customer data input and automatically runs a script to set up the initial system so that it's up and running in a short time. It can also be a branch office solution in a larger MX-One network. Source: Gartner (October 2011) Gartner, Inc. G Page 17 of 50

18 Key Differentiators: Aastra's strategy has been to acquire companies in the enterprise communications market, which has helped the company expand its geographical presence in the global market and be consistently profitable. However, implications could include higher costs for supporting different acquired product lines. MX-One offers a low cost of ownership in terms of product life cycle, upgrade costs and energy consumption. It also has the MX-One-compatible Aastra 700 for 50 to 1,000 users as a branch office solution. Aastra has completed interoperability testing of all its call managers to support over 40 SIP requests for comments (RFCs). The MX-One and Aastra 700 platforms are available in EMEA, Central America/Latin America, North America and Asia/Pacific. However, distribution in North America is very limited, compared with enterprise platforms from competitors such as Cisco, Avaya and NEC. Alcatel-Lucent See Table 6 for product details. Page 18 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

19 Table 6. OpenTouch Product/Service Name and Description Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration The Alcatel-Lucent OpenTouch Communications Suite 1.0 integrates the OmniPCX Enterprise (OXE) Communication Server 10.0 as a key part of its architecture, either as a preintegrated element of a single server solution, or as the telephony foundation utilizing a large or complex OXE installed base. The platform provides centralized intelligence, unified management and user applications delivered across a distributed hardware configuration on a single site (campus) or across multiple sites. Premises-based and hosted versions are supported. Telephony users can scale seamlessly in any architectural deployment model to 15,000 IP endpoints per server, and up to 100,000 IP endpoints in a single-image network. Enterprises can have any mix of TDM, IP and multimedia users up to the relevant user limits. High-availability options for the telephony within the OpenTouch suite include SIP server, dual Ethernet connection to the communication servers, geographical redundancy, local and remote PSTN, and local survivable gateways and processors. Integrated OmniVista 8770 management suite, along with elements of VitalSuite performance management, provide unified management capability for the implementation and operation of a multimedia communication environment. A single management interface provides all configuration, management, alarm and monitoring, along with real-time network and application performance and service-level management for Alcatel-Lucent elements, as well as other vendors' applications and network elements. Unified user management simplifies the provisioning of UC services such as telephony, UM, IM, presence, video, mobility, audio and Web conferencing. The OpenTouch architectural design also simplifies the rollout of new software releases and patches. Mobility capabilities are native and include ability to seamlessly shift communications from mobile device to any other device associated with the user and vice versa; one-number solution to multiple devices including cellular; UC client on smartphones; cellular bypass with softphone. Extension to cellular capabilities includes software clients for Nokia E-Series, Windows Mobile, iphone, Google Android and Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry. Other capabilities include support for directory services, IM and voice mail to smartphones across cellular and wireless LAN. OpenTouch is SIP at the core and natively supports H.323, H.264, SIP, SIMPLE, SOA and Web services, all embedded within the communications application. The controller for SIP phones and softphones is embedded and also enables CSTA or CSTA over SIP to provide the CTI link. SIP device management is embedded. Integration with Lync, Lotus Sametime 8.5 and APIs for the integration of social networks. SIP federation services is a new addition to the portfolio. OpenTouch integrates within the same platform all the main UC capabilities, all with the same single management application and user experience, providing a multimedia communication collaboration solution with voice, data and video collaboration from a single softwarebased server Gartner, Inc. G Page 19 of 50

20 Product/Service Name and Description Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Midsize Enterprise OpenTouch Business Edition supports telephony, UC and management capabilities with a single, industry-standard server for up to 1,500 users or 3,000 devices. To optimize the costs, the platform is provided in two platform sizes: up to 500 users and up to 1,500 users. Preintegrating all the software within OpenTouch enables customers to access the UC elements they require, but simplifies deployment and management. 4.5 Source: Gartner (October 2011) Page 20 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

21 Key Differentiators: The combined R&D function of Alcatel-Lucent across enterprise, carrier and mobile offers opportunities for sharing intellectual property that may enable Alcatel-Lucent to offer enterprise customer stronger hybrid solutions such as OpenTouch. However, this differentiator is only relevant if the company doesn't sell the enterprise business (see "OpenTouch Strategy in Flux as Alcatel-Lucent May Sell Enterprise"). OpenTouch is a fully integrated communication platform supporting multimedia conversations and rapid session shift across media and devices within the same conversation. Alcatel-Lucent has a strong track record for deployment of scalable and highly available communication systems, and offers incentives for platform migrations. Alcatel-Lucent's historical market share and growth in Europe, strong position in the Middle East and Africa, Central America/Latin America, Southeast and Northeast Asia, China, Australia and New Zealand contribute to its ability to roll out global projects in North America. However, distribution in North America is very limited, compared with enterprise platforms from competitors such as Cisco, Avaya and NEC. Avaya See Table 7 for product details. Gartner, Inc. G Page 21 of 50

22 Table 7. Avaya Aura Product/Service Name and Description Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration SIP-based architecture enables a centrally managed, enterprisewide UC architecture using physical or virtualized servers. A key feature is session management, which centralizes shared applications that can be deployed based on location-independent individual user profiles. Avaya Aura scales from 250 users with the single-server midsize solution to 100,000 SIP endpoints in a globally distributed Aura Session Manager-based configuration, plus analog, digital and H.323 endpoints, all using the same software. Avaya Aura supports high-availability configurations with many levels of redundancy, including active/active Aura Session Managers, multiple SIP registration paths, automatic application failover through Aura Session Manager, paired feature servers, survivable core server pools, survivable remote servers for branch locations, alternative media paths and alternative session border controllers (SBCs). Avaya Aura System Manager is a standard package with Avaya Aura that provides centralized, browser-accessible administration for Avaya Aura core and surrounding applications, allowing IT departments to incorporate new components and applications under a common management umbrella. In addition to previously included session management, presence services and Avaya Communication Manager, the company has expanded Aura System Manager 6.1 to cover Avaya Aura SBC, CS 1000, messaging, conferencing, media servers and Avaya one-x clients. Avaya Aura supports broad mobility capabilities across simple cell-phones, smartphones, tablets, in-building Wi-Fi and DECT devices, teleworker and office "hoteling" solutions, and UC soft clients. The Avaya Desktop Video Device, with Avaya Flare Experience, supports campus roaming, home and remote site use of voice, video, IM, and other communications. Avaya one-x Mobile 6.1 adds mobile presence, consolidated back-end services and expanded smartphone coverage to now cover newest release for Apple iphone, RIM BlackBerry, Google Android and Nokia Symbian. Any mobile phone can be used for simpler "extension to cellular" mobile functionality, and with Avaya one-x Speech interface. Avaya support for standards includes MGCP, H.323, SIP, SIMPLE, SOA and Web services. Avaya Aura Session Manager provides normalization to a consistent implementation of SIP. Avaya ACE open-standards-based APIs, coupled with prepackaged network adapters, allow simple application integration across a multivendor infrastructure. SIP-based architecture integrates telephony into UC solutions. Application sequencing permits telephony integration with UC capabilities. Avaya ACE extends Avaya Aura UC capabilities to Microsoft Lync, IBM Sametime, CRM software, IBM Business Process Manager toolsets and social business applications, while preserving existing user experiences and supporting device preferences. The Avaya Flare Experience supports multimodal collaboration through a touch-based "spotlight" with consistent presence, context and content for voice, 4.5 Page 22 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

23 Product/Service Name and Description video, IM, , Web and social media. Flare for ipad (available in late 2011) and for Windows (available in early 2012) will add similar functionality to mobile devices and desktop PCs. Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Midsize Enterprise Avaya Aura Solution for Midsize Enterprise 6.1 provides a complete Avaya Aura solution for up to 1,000 users in a single-server package, with a single point of management, which is video and presence/im ready, has built-in voice mail and six-party conferencing, and supports basic UC and mobility clients that can be further enhanced with additional application servers. Avaya B5800 Branch Gateways provide centralized, distributed or mixed-mode operation, supporting local phones, including SIP, IP and legacy digital phones, with local telephony, mobility and selected UC functionality, including "key system" features often required in branches, while simultaneously acting as a SIP survivable gateway for other users with SIP devices connected directly to Avaya Aura Session Manager and centralized applications. 4.5 Source: Gartner (October 2011) Gartner, Inc. G Page 23 of 50

24 Key Differentiators: Global experience and a large market share in telephony and contact centers enable Avaya to support midsize and large-scale deployments for organizations that are looking for a solesource solution, or need to address a heterogeneous environment. Avaya actively markets Aura Session Manager to provide the basis for centralizing applications, dial plan and trunking even across multivendor environments and the ability to assign applications to users based on need, rather than on location. Avaya Agile Communication Environment (ACE) is a SIP-based software platform that enables UC and communication-enabled business applications. Avaya Flare Experience, Avaya one-x Communicator and one-x Mobile clients strengthen Avaya's UC portfolio. Avaya Flare Experience leverages context and information to yield a unique user experience that simplifies collaboration across multiple modes of communication. Enterprisewide, core and remote survivability options can be provided in various combinations for backing up server failures or WAN outages. Cost reduction initiatives appear to have reduced the quality and availability of Avaya's technical support personnel, resulting in lengthened response times, which the company is working to correct. Cisco See Table 8 for product details. Page 24 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

25 Table 8. Unified CM Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Product/Service Name and Description Rating Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Whether Cisco IP telephony is deployed on-premises, via the cloud or via a combination thereof, the same underlying Cisco architecture is utilized, with the same applications supported and same release versions offered. Deploying Cisco Unified Communications applications on virtualized servers supports the same deployment models as when physical servers are used. Also, the integration of physical servers (such as Cisco MCS servers) and Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) virtual servers is supported in many cases. All the call processing deployment models described above are supported over Cisco UCS virtual server platforms, as well as Cisco-certified server options from IBM and HP. A session management version of Unified CM supports a centralized dial plan and call routing in a multivendor environment. Cisco Unified CM is a SIP-based telephony platform that can support up to 40,000 IP phones, with a megacluster capable of supporting a total of 80,000 IP phones. Multiple clusters can scale into the hundreds of thousands. Session Management Edition can be used to interconnect the clusters and third-party PBXs. All Unified CM IP phones get a list of Cisco Unified CMs to register to, and if the one they are registered to fails, they will move to the next one. All connections to TDM gateways can be set up as redundant, and if one fails, another one will be used. Backup servers can be used to avoid single points of failure. They support the Hot-Standby Router Protocol, and the redundancy options on the Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) include in-box redundancy with dual forwarding and control plans, as well as Layer 2 box-to-box redundancy with media preservation. Cisco Enhanced Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony (E-SRST) and Cisco Unified Survivable Remote Site Voice mail (SRSV) build on Cisco's Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) product to provide feature-rich survivability at the branch. Feature sets are embedded in the software running on Cisco Integrated Services Routers. For smaller and less complex implementations, Cisco Unified CM includes native tools for monitoring, managing, provisioning and troubleshooting IP telephony. For larger implementations with multiple UC applications and infrastructure components, Cisco's Unified CM Suite 8.6 offers four individually available tools that include the following. Unified Operations Manager provides continuous monitoring, fault management and troubleshooting. Unified Service Monitor provides real-time voice quality monitoring and alerting. Unified Provisioning Manager aids deployment and configuration. Unified Service Statistics Manager provides historical voice reporting, capacity planning and trending. Cisco Unified Mobility gives users the ability to redirect incoming IP calls from Cisco Unified CM to different designated phones, such as cellular phones. Users can also transition active calls between their Cisco desktop and mobile phone without interruption. Cisco Jabber is a UC client for PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones that provides a single interface for presence, IM, voice, video and voice messaging and conferencing. Not all capabilities are available on all devices. In addition to Cisco Mobile and Cisco Jabber, Cisco offers a variety of solutions for most popular smartphones that let you place, receive and manage calls over your corporate Wi-Fi network Gartner, Inc. G Page 25 of 50

26 Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Product/Service Name and Description Rating Open- Standards UC Integration Midsize Enterprise ed standards include MGCP, H.323, SIP, SIMPLE, XMPP for IM/presence, SOA and Web services. Video transmission protocols are also supported. Unified CM Session Management Edition can be used to aggregate Unified CM clusters and third-party PBXs using SIP, H.323, Q.931, Primary Rate Interface (PRI), Basic Rate Interface (BRI) and QSIG. Cisco supports video calls between a Tandberg Movi client, a Cisco Telepresence EX90 and typical telepresence endpoints. Cisco UC 8.5 offers a full UC suite, as well as a broad range of additional communication functions. Key parts of the UC suite include, but are not limited to, Cisco Unified CM, Cisco Jabber (which includes the desktop client), Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Unified Presence, Cisco Unified Videoconferencing, Cisco Client Services Framework and a broad range of client and device options. Cisco offers significant portions of its software on VMware, which can now operate under Cisco UCS servers and other qualified servers. Cisco also offers additional communication and collaboration functionality, notably its contact center products, its Quad collaboration portal and the Cius tablet. Cisco partners offer communication-enabled business applications. Integration with Microsoft Lync/OCS and IBM Sametime are also supported. The Cisco Unified CM Business Edition 6000 contains voice, UM, mobility, IM/presence availability, contact center agent support and video capabilities. These features are integrated as an all-in-one system using VMware server virtualization technology, and support a capacity of 1,000 users and 100 contact center agents across up to 50 sites. The Cisco Unified CM Business Edition 3000 is a platform for businesses with up to 300 users across up to 10 sites, preloaded with features like messaging, mobility (single-number reach), conferencing, softphone and auto attendant, along with a management interface. Source: Gartner (October 2011) Page 26 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

27 Key Differentiators: Cisco leads in global market share shipments in enterprise telephony, with an effective presence in most countries. The company's large global distribution network includes dealers, system integrators, service providers and network outsourcers, all of which must comply with Cisco's technology specialization and certification programs. For organizations that prefer a single vendor to satisfy their UC requirements, Cisco UC 8.5 offers a full UC suite, as well as a broad range of additional communication functions. Key parts of the UC suite include, but are not limited to, Cisco Unified CM, Cisco Jabber (which includes the desktop client), Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Unified Presence, Cisco Unified Videoconferencing, Cisco Client Services Framework and a broad range of client and device options. Cisco emphasizes that a network composed of Cisco data gear is required to guarantee optimal Cisco Unified CM performance. Digium See Table 9 for product details. Gartner, Inc. G Page 27 of 50

28 Table 9. Asterisk and Switchvox Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Product/Service Name and Description Rating Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open-Standards UC Integration Asterisk can be deployed in either a centralized or a distributed environment. In Asterisk 1.8, virtualization is supported that can provide additional deployment options. Asterisk uses clustering to scale the telephony application to thousands of users. There is no specified limit, though a European carrier has scaled a cluster to support 100,000 subscribers. Through a clustered designed Asterisk can be implemented to provide high-reliability/high-availability services. This is inherently built into Asterisk today, and is restricted only by the customer's design and implementation. The command line interface (CLI) is accessible remotely via standard, secure tools, such as SSH and SNMP support for various internal data structures. The Asterisk Management Interface allows socket-based (clear or SSL-encrypted) interactions with the process for status and command interactions. Switchvox has a Web-based GUI that provides access to all configuration, monitoring and diagnostics capabilities of Switchvox. The Extend API integrated into Switchvox enables users to create a custom interface into Switchvox, or to integrate Switchvox directly with their daily business processes. Both Switchvox and Asterisk can be configured and maintained from anywhere an IP connection is available. Asterisk and Switchvox users have the ability to implement a variety of IP endpoints for call termination and delivery. These endpoints can be desk phones (SIP or analog), Wi-Fi IP phones, DECT IP phones or softphones (PC client). Asterisk and Switchvox support single-number reach, which allows the IP PBX to deliver calls to a user's desk phone, home phone or cellular phone. Digium also supports iphone and BlackBerry applications that integrate with Switchvox. Asterisk and Switchvox have been certified by multiple Tier 1 and 2 carriers for interconnection to their SIP trunking. The list of standards supported by Asterisk include SIP, IAX, H.323, MGCP, SNMP, H.263, H.264, Web Services, G.729, G.711, G.722 and the list goes on. Most of these standards are incorporated directly into Asterisk, and others are applications that integrate with Asterisk. Switchvox is Digium's UC solution with one-number reach, visual voice mail, voice mail to , chat, integrated fax server, fax to , presence and UM. Switchvox integrates with collaboration tools such as salesforce.com and SugarCRM. Switchvox Web 2.0 capabilities allow ease of integration of other Web-based business applications. Switchvox also integrates with desktop applications such as Outlook, Office and Firefox to support simple point-and-click dialing. These same capabilities are supported in Asterisk, and are available through a number of Asterisk partners Page 28 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

29 Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Product/Service Name and Description Rating Midsize Enterprise Switchvox is targeted at SMBs, with simplified configuration management through a Web-based user interface. Asterisk support for small to large customers is accomplished via customer-specific solutions. 4.0 Source: Gartner (October 2011) Gartner, Inc. G Page 29 of 50

30 Key Differentiators: While the development of Asterisk takes place in the community of open-source developers, Digium has created its own VoIP PBX solution. Digium is the owner, primary developer and maintainer of the Asterisk open-source project. Digium derives revenue through the sale of telephony interface cards that are installed in Asterisk deployments. Digium also delivers a software-based VoIP PBX, Switchvox SMB, which is deployed on Digium appliances and is sold through channel partners as a commercially supported solution. Since both Asterisk and Switchvox are designed to support open standards, customers are able to implement complementary solutions from other vendors for components such as Ethernet switches, IP terminals and gateways. Although most open-source telephony solutions now effectively embrace UC, the UC solutions typically have more limited functionality than leading commercial proprietary products. Microsoft See Table 10 for product details. Page 30 of 50 Gartner, Inc. G

31 Table 10. Lync Server Product/Service Name and Description Corporate Telephony Critical Capability Rating Architecture Scalability High Availability Administration and Remote Mobility Open- Standards Lync Server utilizes a client/server architecture comprising multiple servers grouped in "pools" for redundancy and scalability. Server virtualization using Hyper-V, VMware and other hypervisors is supported for all capabilities in Lync Server. Lync Server supports up to 10,000 users per Enterprise Edition server and 80,000 users per pool. An unlimited number of pools may be deployed in an enterprise. These numbers are based on a full UC traffic model, and include IM, presence, video, application and presentation sharing and conferencing traffic, in addition to voice and multiple endpoints registered per user. Lync Server can be architected for high availability, including options to deploy redundant servers within a pool to account for possible server failure; and redundant pools in single or multiple data centers to account for systemic data center failures. The servers can appear as a single system to registered clients, with transparent failover and essentially no loss of features, or in two data centers appearing as primary and backup systems with transparent failover, but a subset of features available immediately after failover. Local survivable gateways provide PSTN access in the event of a WAN failure, ensure high-quality communications on constrained WAN links, and provide an alternative path when constraint links are oversubscribed. Administrators use the same tools to manage Lync that they use to manage other Microsoft data center elements, including Active Directory, PowerShell, and System Center. Lync Server provides multiple levels of reporting and alerts via System Center Operations Manager to help administrators identify problems affecting organizational communications, including issues with equipment or services other than Lync Server. Alerts are provided for hardware and software components, including gateways, server pools and end-to-end service based on aggregate call statistics and mean opinion scores. The Lync client also visually indicates when network conditions are causing audio problems and when the user audio level is too low, either based on speaker volume or device placement. Lync also provides users with the ability to place test calls on demand to validate end-to-end configuration and quality from endpoint devices through the internal and external network. Lync Server supports remote access for all voice, conferencing, IM and presence functions from a PC. In addition, it includes access to many functions from a Windows mobile phone or some Web browsers. Lync Server includes the ability to configure simultaneous ringing of other devices, such as desk phone or mobiles. for UC and mobile clients will be available by the end of CY11, including Apple iphone, ipad, Android Phones, Nokia, Windows Phone 7 and RIM. Lync Server is based on SIP and conforms to RFC 3261, along with other industry standards, including ICE, STUN and TURN; standard codecs include G.711, G.722, and G The UC Open Interoperability Program enables any IP-PBX, gateway, or SIP trunking vendor to qualify its equipment for use with Lync Server. However, Lync Server supports most standard SIP devices only with the use of third Gartner, Inc. G Page 31 of 50