Making Video Native to UC
Making Video Native to UC by Dave Michels
I recently covered several video announcements that took place in just one week. Video seems to be the new Snooki with daily updates. Just yesterday, the UCI Forum approved a set of recommended capabilities for SVC interoperability.
Certainly my own use of video communications has significantly increased, but on a recent flight it struck me how far video has come. I noticed a nearby passenger was in a video chat with her child and husband from her iPad. It seems like yesterday that just getting Internet access on a plane was a novelty (still is on UA), but live interactive airborne HD video communications on common consumer hardware tells me video arrived.
Yes, video has come a long way. A perfect storm of broadband ubiquity, lower cost devices, and new expectations fueled by consumer apps. Video is changing how we communicate. We are so used to voice and email that we pretend video won’t make a significant difference, even though we know radio and print media can’t compete with television and movies.
I wanted to circle back on Alcatel-Lucent’s recent OpenTouch (OT) video announcements. Adding new video features to a UC platform isn’t particularly newsworthy, but ALU did more than that. ALU describes the new OpenTouch as a “User Experience Transformation,” but I think it is more indicative of a UC industry transformation. Video is being treated less as a bolt-on. The UC vendors are rethinking their approach to video as it expands out of the conference rooms and on to desktops and mobile devices.
Vendors are realizing that merely supporting third-party video phones without integration is no longer sufficient. ALU’s announcements capture the shift in trends nicely. It hit upon visual collaboration, visual content generation and management, and visual content distribution.
- For visual collaboration, the improvements involved hard phones, soft phones (client), as well as third-party room systems. A broad perspective for integrating the visual experience.
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For visual content generation and management, ALU offers a new video-sharing portal. Similar to a private secure version of YouTube, the service offers video editing tools and enables video messaging.
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For video content distribution, the solution also supports HD streaming of video content to broaden the collaborative conversation, reach a wider audience, while maximizing the impact of communication. Steaming is supported to OT clients, iPads, and room systems.
ALU announced the Open Touch upgrade as a software-powered appliance. It includes a software-based MCU. The solution is aimed at both end users and service providers. The entry level upgrade starts at 1,000 Euros.
“Visual communication is taking an increasingly important role in the enterprise and going forward must move beyond the plain vanilla of video conferencing of many solutions today” said Brian Riggs, Research Director at Current Analysis. “Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is integrating visual communication more tightly with existing collaboration solutions in the enterprise, bringing the enterprise employee more tools to be productive.”
Conversations are now multi-party, multi-device, and yes multi-media. This is why unified communications requires a visual component. ALU took the correct approach - low cost, tightly integrated, and a broad scope that includes room systems and mobile devices. Its “Video Store” also allows the secure sharing of content with external collaborators.