7 Hot UC And Video Products Debuting At Enterprise Connect 2018

Next-Gen Communications

More than 120 vendors are out in full force at Enterprise Connect 2018 in Orlando, Fla., this week, exhibiting their latest unified communications, collaboration, video, and mobile and cloud-based products. Enterprise Connect, formerly known as VoiceCon, got its start 28 years ago as a conference focused on voice offerings. As the enterprise communications space evolved, so did the show, which now highlights a range of on-premise and cloud-based UC and collaboration products and services.

Here are seven new offerings unveiled at Enterprise Connect 2018 that solution providers need to know about.

Arkadin Rolls Out Managed Service To Move More Enterprises To The Cloud

Cloud communications provider Arkadin, an NTT Communications company, rolled out a brand-new managed service aimed at helping enterprises migrate to the cloud.

Arkadin's Cloud Transformation Services is a technology-agnostic service that includes an assessment of a company's UC needs, risk mitigation, migration planning, training, and help with change management, according to the provider. The service will also be backed by 24/7 help desk and service management support, a strength of NTT Communications' parent company, NTT Group, Arkadin said.

Avaya Unveils Mobile Cloud Service for Contact Centers

At Enterprise Connect, videoconferencing and collaboration vendor Avaya debuted Avaya Mobile Experience, an offering that can increase contextual information associated with mobile callers for contact centers.

The cloud-based cloud offering can identify when an incoming call originates from a mobile device and will transport contextual information on the caller onto the contact center. It can then send selected calls to the mobile web for an online interaction, thus cutting toll-free costs and operating expenses for contact centers. Website interactions can then be augmented with self-service solutions, including chatbots, video, and co-browsing, or even re-escalate the interaction back to a voice call. The Mobile Experience can also better route customers to the right contact center resource, since many mobile callers' area codes don't match their location, Avaya said.

BlueJeans Launches Redesigned Meetings Platform

Videoconferencing provider BlueJeans took to the conference to show off its redesigned meeting platform, which features new partnerships with Amazon, Dolby, Kaptivo, Polycom and Voicera, according to the company.

The meetings platform now includes Dolby Voice for spacial audio with better noise reduction, which has been integrated across the BlueJeans audio stack. The BlueJeans platform also includes integrations with virtual assistant technology, including Amazon's Alexa for Business.

IBM Unveils Watson Workspace Plus

IBM unleashed the latest version of its team collaboration application, Watson Workspace Plus, which now offers audio and video meetings powered by videoconferencing provider Zoom.

The offering gives teams the real-time collaborative capabilities they need, as well as real-time intelligence baked in to help users make decisions. IBM's Watson Workspace platform has been built with Watson’s artificial intelligence at its core. Now with its audio and video features, IBM plans to apply AI to these meetings to understand natural language, recognize actionable language, and even train its offeirng on industry-specific dialect, according to the company.

IntelePeer Showcases Multi-Channel Messaging Tool

Business communications provider IntelePeer this week launched a messaging offering for multi-channel business communications, Atmosphere Messaging.

Using Atmosphere Messaging as part of the Atmosphere Communications Platform, businesses will have a multi-channel communication platform that combines voice and messaging capabilities under one phone number. With full API support, businesses can configure their direct inward dialing and toll-free numbers into an engagement platform to send and receive text-based SMS messages from their end customers, the company said.

Masergy Releases Automation Tool For UCaaS User Management

Cloud-based communications provider Masergy revealed a new automation tool at Enterprise Connect. The tool, according to the provider, will make the UCaaS user provisioning and management process easier for end customers and channel partners.

The automation tool with RESTful API lets IT managers easily add, modify or delete UCaaS user accounts across all business applications. The tool can synchronize a company's Active Directory with its UCaaS platform so managers only have to make a change in one place.

8x8 Combines UC, Collaboration, Contact Center Products Into One Data-Aware Platform

Cloud communications provider 8x8 showed off its X Series, a platform that combines communication, collaboration and contact center products in one place, giving businesses better context in which to make decisions and improve customer experience, the provider said.

The X Series gives businesses one workflow and analytics engine inside one voice, meeting, team collaboration and contact center solution, rather than several siloed solutions that many businesses rely on today. 8x8 owns all the underlying technologies, so the provider has been able to design and secure the X Series platform from end to end.