Unified Access
It might sound ironic to even have to mention unified access in this supposed era of converged communications. However theory and the way products, from still incomplete portfolios come to market, mean the issue is real enough to cause end user frustration faced with multiple devices and points of access.
As modes of communication have grown, so too have the range of addresses. Directory management is due to become a major support overhead as workers end up with separate addresses for their landline, mobile, email and IM identities. However consolidation is on its way.
In the short term, one number telephony access is a reality as mobile phones can be bridged to desk telephone sets, and unified access is achieved through one number. This will work anywhere in the world providing continuous connection to the office while still being able to distinguish incoming calls as personal or professional calls.
PBX services are also made transparently available to the mobile user. From an IT provisioning perspective, no additional servers or dedicated facilities are required and ‘one number’ users can be centrally managed.
In the medium term, the collective effort of carriers to develop a common addressing standard in ENUM means workers will eventually be identified through a single address that relates to them as an individual rather than the devices they use. Presence management will then decide on the appropriate device to route the multi media communication to.
Speech commands via a telephone or web based clients provide further options for simple access. These connect users to services such as voice, fax, email messages, audio conferencing, corporate directory information and enterprise directories/databases for contacts and productivity tools.
Access to these advanced features is also available in unified access format. Communication services are organised as menus on a single GUI for desktops, laptops and mobile devices with an easy to use graphics interface such as visual access to a single voice mailbox for both landline and mobile messages. Mobile connections made under this type of interface can also benefit from least cost routing to reduce the cost of international mobile calling.
Finally, the WiFI networks and multi modal phones provide another point of convenience for users allowing them to seamlessly move between VoIP and GSM services according to connectivity options.
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Datapoint provides the following technologies and services for Unified Access.