The new communications environment of the twenty-first century is based on the virtual company concept and a mindset that requires individuals, communication systems and business processes to be instantaneously accessible and functional from anywhere and at anytime. The broad-based demand for mobility, the growing anywhere availability of high bandwidth internet access and the recent explosion in multi-mode communications networks has forever changed the expectations of businesses and their workers. This new environment demands a communications technology that facilitates, unifies and manages real-time, and near real-time interactions between humans, networks and devices with a common feel and interface experience. Unified communications, described as “the combination of products (hardware, software) and services that enhance individual, workgroup and organizational productivity by enabling management, integration and use of multiple enterprise communication methods (desktop phone, PC, IM, mobile device, etc.),” will be a critical building block of this new business environment.

Synergy Research Group’s Unified Communications (UC) service offers the most up-to-date quantitative and qualitative research data on this nascent and rapidly changing and expanding market comprised of traditional enterprise communications companies and a host of newer entrants. Synergy’s UC service clients will have hands-on access to current and relevant information about the UC market via Synergy’s Interactive Analysis (iAnalysis) research tool. Through iAnalysis clients can access detailed information about the global market, such as vendor shares of revenues and shipments by region and forecasts of total UC activity, as well as more granular sub-segments.

The Unified Communications Research Service

Data captured in the Synergy Research Group’s UC reports will represent unified communications products and services across a broad spectrum of application areas and subgroups including:

These UC applications are targeted at serving a multitude of UC user groups and business processes including:

Because the UC market is new and evolving at such a rapid pace the plan for the Synergy unified communications offering is to introduce the service in a phased and segmented approach. Initial quantification will focus on “UC Core” elements that are fundamental requirements of a UC implementation such as presence servers, call controllers and session management equipment. The second phase will add counts of “UC Applications” to include shipments and revenues for applications such as mobility, messaging and video. Finally, the third phase will add “UC Devices” including mobile phones, SIP phones, conferencing equipment and other devices used in UC implementations.

A Synergy SIA subscription gives clients access to the most up-to-date worldwide and geographic market share information for unified communications transactions. Geographic areas covered are North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. Although UC is a rather new industry access to available historical data is included where available. Synergy plans to introduce global country-level unified communications market share and geographic forecasts later in 2009 or in early 2010.

An iAnalysis subscription provides the client with an all-in-one repository for the UC quantitative information. With just a few clicks, clients can create reports and charts, using any unit of measure of the market for any vendor included in the UC market database.

Vendors included in the UC research service will include, but are not limited to the following:

The first report of the Synergy UC research service will be released in Q1 2009 to include statistical and qualitative market overview information for 2008 and will be available through the SIA tool. Quarterly reports will be issued thereafter beginning with information for Q1 2009.