If you're a business that's on the fence about adopting unified communications (UC), don't worry, says Verizon Business (NYSE:VZ), as you'll be able to test the service out when the service provider launches field trial of Cisco UC and collaboration applications in the cloud "as a service" next month.
Introduced at this week's Cisco (NasdaqGS: CSCO) Live! networking event in Las Vegas, Verizon Business' two-month trial will enable participants to evaluate how cloud-based UC&C capabilities can be used by multiple employees across an enterprise. By hosting the applications in the network, or cloud, an enterprise can simply turn on employee subscriptions to some or all of the available services and then pay for them on a per-user basis. Another element that may resonate with the cost conscious enterprise is that they don't have to buy new hardware or software to take advantage of the service.
Participants in the trial include a multinational auto manufacturer, a women's fashion retailer and a state government agency. Each of these customers will leverage Verizon Business products based on Cisco UC&C cloud capabilities it offers as part of its Unified Services solution.
For more:
- see the release here
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