The VAR Guy

For the second time in recent weeks, hosted unified communications is earning some headlines. But this time, the news involves an open source initiative between Open-Xchange (an open source email company) and 4PSA (a VoIP and cloud unified communications specialist). Here are the implications for VARs and managed services providers.

During a keynote speech at  VoiceCon Orlando 2009, Microsoft proclaimed unified communications and soft phones will ultimately kill traditional desktop business phones. Here are The VAR Guy’s top 10 highlights from the keynote, delivered by Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate VP for Microsoft Unified Communications Group.

During the Avnet Analyst Day in New York, Avnet Technology Solutions described its fastest growing business opportunities for VARs. But the more intriguing discussion occurred over lunch. That’s when John Paget, president of Avnet Technology Solutions, answered questions about possible hosting partnerships involving Cisco Systems Inc. Unified Communications and Microsoft Office Communications Server. Here’s the scoop.

Unison Technologies, which develops unified communications software for Linux servers, is gearing up to launch a partner program for solutions providers and managed service providers. Here’s the scoop, only from The VAR Guy.