Having being involved with the introduction of digital switching and packet data networks, I guess that I qualify as the graybeard in the Objectworld team. Upstart, Objectworld set out in 2004 to be, somewhat immodestly perhaps, The IT Telephony Company™. The vision was to offer software that put the management of telephony into the IT info-structure of an enterprise. This concept has intrigued me since voice communications went digital.

The Objectworld objective is, working within the Microsoft ecosystem, to dramatically change the manner in which communications services are deployed by incorporating voice services alongside other IT services in the computing systems that support an enterprise. In 2007 this concept was given a big boost by the Microsoft introduction of OCS, and the large number of hardware vendors that collaborated in the venture. So today unified communications is the thing: every major PBX vendor trumpets the concept, and lots of other communications equipment vendors feature the values that they bring to the “UC” market. The result of this frenetic activity is a good deal of confusion: there is, however, conviction that there is a pony in there somewhere.

All the entrenched PBX vendors have been struggling with how to be profitable as they market IP based systems and the hardware becomes more of a commodity. The values of these newer systems lie in the merging of voice into the Internet and data world where the values of software based services dominate: so the established PBX guys are now setting their sights on being software vendors. The latest such move is on the part of the venerable Siemens corporation and the announcement of a unified communications software package. Interestingly, for Objectworld, the Siemens Web site highlights IT Telephony, and outlines the vision that Objectworld has implemented. See: http://enterprise.siemens.com/open/us/oucs/ittelephony/default.aspx

As Chairman of Objectworld’s Board of Directors, I am excited about what Objectworld is doing. Yes, Objectworld anticipated unified communications and aptly named its offering Objectworld Unified communication Server. But however good the product, getting the message out there in such a crowded space as UC has become is tough and I am encouraged that now one big guy has come out and actively supported the IT Telephony approach. I believe that Objectworld has a great chance to be the next Mitel (or, perhaps more correctly Cognos, since Objectworld is a software company) to emerge from the communications rich Ottawa community.

More on my reasons for that later.

Colin Beaumont

With the holidays now well behind us, and the New Year underway, it’s an opportunity to assess the state of the UC market generally, and to look at what’s likely to happen in 2008.

Being on the leading edge of an emerging market is a great place to be, but creating visibility as a market and thought leader is a challenge. This is especially true in a rapidly emerging field like unified communications (UC) and communications-enabled business process (CEBP) where the noise floor created by the 800 lb gorillas is absolutely deafening.

Gartner Group is a firm that has built a huge amount of credibility and cachet over the years, largely on the back of the “Magic Quadrant” and its “Technology Hype Curve”, both of which are approaches that I find very useful, and which I have used on many occasions. Unfortunately, a relationship with Gartner requires deep pockets and discretionary funds, and for a growing company, like Objectworld, most of its cash flow goes back into R&D and in growing a support organization. But as I was reviewing the Microsoft UC presentations from the OCS launch, I was excited most by two analyst quotes. First, from Gartner Group:

“Through 2010, 80% of businesses that have deployed communications enabled business processes will obtain significant competitive and revenue differentiation because of it.” (Gartner 2007)

Reading on, IDC is quoted as suggesting that:

“It (UC) will define the next decade of the entire IT and communications industry” (IDC 2007)

Wow.

Objectworld has been proselytizing the business value inherent in the automation of processes, in the value of placing synchronous communications in context, in order to increase workforce effectiveness while lowering operational costs. Objectworld has known for years that UC is revolutionizing the way that people communicate and the way companies do business. Objectworld’s customers know this and for many, is their best kept secret, their competitive advantage.

To start the year knowing that you are at the intersection of a major market shift is exhilarating, but getting heard above the noise floor is our biggest challenge. You can help by telling two friends about this ISV that has delivered a software-only, out-of-the-box CEBP solution for years now, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on…

Happy New Year – and be careful out there!

Martin Suter

Hi! I’m Jeff Wissing, Director of Product Management and Systems Engineering at Objectworld. In this role, one of the key success factors for me is to have my feet firmly planted between two paradigms, communications and applications, a position with which I’m very comfortable. Over the years, these have been branded many different things, but it’s called something different now – “Unified Communications”.

The announcement of ‘Big Blue’-squared forming an alliance (see IBM, Nortel Join Forces on Unified Communications) to deliver SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) clearly shows a market in transition. It’s about the applications and I couldn’t agree more. The communications element is considered table stakes, but the real gains in productivity and ROI reside up the stack in the applications that are built on top of a communications infrastructure.

But let’s face it; SOA comes with a big price tag, typically with a multi-tier architecture (i.e. multiple servers) requiring loads of professional services by specialized organizations that cater primarily to the Fortune 1000.

This is not to marginalize SOA, rather the opposite. The concept of SOA as it applies to Communications Enabled Business Process (CEBP) is very powerful. But I think it falls short because of the heavy lifting that is associated with SOA and that it fails to enable the average IT department to leverage its potential. Companies that wish to do the work themselves must have development personnel on staff in addition to IT staff, which really means that, for most companies, it ends up being a custom SI engagement.

Let me give you an example of how IT departments leverage Objectworld UC Server’s application environment to provide value added services today. I’ll start with a very simple example so as not to disclose too much of its capabilities out of the gate. But I promise that I’ll build on this in the next coming weeks.

Let’s take a simple example of a personalized “find-me/follow-me” type of service that allows end-users to automatically route selected incoming calls from callers they deem important (customers, partners, family members, boss, etc.) based on a caller’s telephone number (Outlook contact matching) and give non-matching callers the opportunity to press one to transfer to the user’s cellular telephone number. Naturally, if a caller leaves a message, the unified inbox will deliver the message to Microsoft Exchange and accompanying smart phones (Outlook Mobile or RIM’s BlackBerry devices).

Here is how you build it. Create a new service. Drag elements onto the canvas and arrange them in a particular way that adds value to an incoming caller. The elements are simple to understand with all the information, decision points and options presented in a simple and easy-to-understand user interface. The following elements will be used to build the service:

• Flow control – The ability to choose someone from your personal contacts and route the call based on a callers calling line ID (business phone, cell phone, home phone) accordingly. Assisted Transfer – the enabler for find me-follow me – an element that manages a supervised transfer (keeps hold of the call). If the transfer recipient does not answer the call, the call will be pulled back and will allow the caller to leave a message.
• Voicemail element – a typically answering behavior when a caller does not answer their telephone. The voicemail element allows the DTMF tones to be captured.

• If a user presses 1 on their key pad the element will be looped back to the assisted transfer element.

• Play Announcement – plays audio to the caller
• Take message – allow the caller to leave a message

Here is the final product.

It’s just that easy! Now try that with your existing phone system and SOA.

Stay tuned for more over the next coming weeks.