Companies in the news this week are Polycom, McAfee, Damaka, 3CX, TDS, Cisco, Maron Structure Technologies, Enabling Technologies Corp., ShoreTel, Alinean, IBBS, AudioCodes, InnoMedia and Clearcable.
ShoreTel is not the biggest of the VoIP/unified communications system vendors. It is a player, however. The company, which introduced a major platform revision last week, is working to increase its profile. Site Editor Carl Weinschenk with ShorTel Vice President of Marketing Kevin Gavin about a wide range of issues, including ShoreTel 11, the company's recent partners' conference, perhaps most significantly, the success it is having when it competes with other vendors for deals. 
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a great platform for emergency communications. Avaya's John Gaffney tells Unified Communications Edge that SIP and UC are perfectly positioned to add great value to the ability to interactively communicate when the need is the greatest. 
Many enterprises are transitioning from asset-heavy platforms to environments in which minimal gear is located on the premises. The challenge is moving to these lighter cloud-based environments seamlessly, efficiently and cost-effectively. Unified communications-as-a-service platforms (UCaaS) offer hybrid options that service provider CSC says may be the answer.
It is easy to over-simplify and make no distinction between UC activities in Europe and the United States. That would be a mistake, despite the deep similarities between businesses in the two areas -- and the fact that many companies are active in both.
IntelePeer and WorkSpace Communications used Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 to announce a unified communications and SIP trunking arrangement that the companies say will make it easier for service providers to offer Office Communications Server-based services. 
Many observers think the introduction of the Cius tablet means Cisco has Apple and its iPad in its cross hairs. It's far more likely that the company's goal is to solidify and extend its position in the rapidly expanding unified communications market. Carl Weinschenk
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