Verizon Business (NYSE: VZ) is taking charge of the cloud services opportunity that play into the enterprise and government customers global and mobile needs.
The service provider is introducing two new cloud-based capabilities for its customers: Unified Communications & Collaboration-as-a-Service and the Mobile UC Client.
Roberta Mackintosh, Director, Global UC&C for Verizon said in an interview with FierceTelecom that the new services are all about connecting the islands of communications and collaboration solutions, "but that's often not possible because many business customers have different components that are put together with different methodologies."
Mackintosh added that "moving into the cloud from our perspective, particularly around UC&C, is enabling a very different delivery model and a model for customers to consume the services so they are not having to buy equipment, hardware, licenses and find help either inside or externally in managing those elements, but rather be able to consume those applications off an environment in a consumption-based model."
With the UC&C service, Verizon said business and government agency customers will be able to adopt UC&C in either a wireline or wireless environment "with predictable per seat pricing." This means that customers will be able to seamlessly transfer calls from wireline to mobile phones and presence applications, including instant messaging, to initiate audio, web or intra-company video conference calls both in and out of the office.
Designed to extend business telephony to mobile handsets, including Nokia and iPhones, Verizon's Mobile UC Client is available with a docking station that enables workers to replace their traditional desk phone with a single mobile device that can access advanced UC&C features, whether workers are in or away the office.
"We've been looking at different personas for individual users within an enterprise, and we recognized that within the persona there are those that need a fixed and mobile persona," Mackintosh said. "There are many people within an enterprise that really need a fixed and mobile persona, but if the enterprise looks at the costs associated with that they are looking at reducing the cost of the multiple fixed and mobile personas."
Verizon's cloud capabilities aren't just white board promises, however. Already, the State of Virginia is testing the UC&C service before it becomes commercially available.
The telco's recent new cloud capabilities, one that comes at a time when competitive carriers like Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC) and XO (OTC BB: XOHO.OB) are also making a splash into the cloud services space, reflect a company-wide initiative to boost its wireline business.
For more:
- see the release
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