Recommended reading: Pros of Premise-Based UC

	Microsoft pulls back from phone business, announces 7,800 layoffs | IDG Contributor Network: What not to include in your collaboration ecosystem
	Network World Convergence and VoIP
	Recommended reading: Pros of Premise-Based UC Today, we'd like to highlight some recent insights on unified communications (UC) from Gary Audin at Delphi Inc. as he discusses the pros and cons of cloud-based UC solutions. In a second piece, Daniel Teichman a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Sonus Networks, writes about the real-time service quality implications when deploying enterprise voice services using SD WAN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More WHITE PAPER: RSA Taking Control of the Mobile User Authentication Challenge Traditional password strategies aren't keeping pace with the evolving landscape, where identity is increasingly a critical threat vector. This asset examines the growing demands on authentication systems and the issues IT is struggling with to protect digital assets and retain control, while achieving the desired user experience. Learn More In this Issue Microsoft pulls back from phone business, announces 7,800 layoffs IDG Contributor Network: What not to include in your collaboration ecosystem Skype for Business arrives on Windows Phone, but lacking a key feature for Office 365 iPhone sales are about to explode Apple Watch's nose-dive predictions suggest Apple needs a new way to innovate WHITE PAPER: IBM IBM Value-based Archiving Solutions This solution brief highlights IBM Value-based Archiving Solutions, which help enable organizations to apply specific archiving logic—including content-based analytics and classification, records declarations, and metadata processing—to address the requirements of archiving projects. View Now>> Microsoft pulls back from phone business, announces 7,800 layoffs Microsoft is scaling down its mobile phone activities, writing off the entire value of the former Nokia smartphone business it bought last year and laying off almost one-third of that business’ staff.The company will no longer try to build a standalone phone business, but instead plans to build a Windows ecosystem that includes its own devices, CEO Satya Nadella told staff in an email announcing the changes.Up to 7,800 jobs will be cut, most of them in the phone business. The cuts come in addition to 18,000 layoffs announced last year: Those cuts included around half of the 25,000 staff who joined Microsoft from Nokia.Microsoft also announced plans to write down the value of its Nokia acquisition, recording an impairment charge of US$7.6 billion. It bought the Finnish company’s devices and services business only last year for $7.2 billion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More WHITE PAPER: Citrix Systems Consolidate your Secure Remote Access This white paper explores the evolution of secure remote access requirements, focusing on the impact of user mobility and the growing adoption of BYOD practices. Learn more about how you can unify your web, client/server, and cloud/SaaS applications into a single gateway solution for a better IT and end-user experience. Learn More IDG Contributor Network: What not to include in your collaboration ecosystem Unified Communications and Collaboration – a term we first started using in the late 1990s – is the only technology I know that has been "launching" for 17 years. While the explanations for that phenomenon are plentiful, the sad reality is that many manufacturers actually like the market confusion. Without a completely agreed and established framework for UC&C, vendors can still release products with the claim that they fit within it.I've explained many times before that the only way to implement a successful UC strategy is to look at and manage it from a holistic stance. As "technologists," we all have to put aside our tendency to become bogged down in the technology/features and instead focus on our people and their desired organizational outcomes. This bottom-up approach differs from technology "provide and pray" in that it establishes a specific blend of needs that is unique to every organization. This is then applied across the organization using whatever blend of technologies best match the now verified (not assumed) needs. The process also has the side benefit of driving adoption by engaging and "hearing" users and their needs, and creating end-user champions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More WHITE PAPER: IBM Information Governance Best Practices When should you implement integration governance? According to this Gartner research note, you should start now if you are an IT professional considering an initiative like master data management (MDM), e-discovery, information archiving or cloud migration. Learn More Skype for Business arrives on Windows Phone, but lacking a key feature for Office 365 Skype users have complained that conversations sometimes don't sync from the PC to the phone, and those issues haven't totally been fixed. Read More iPhone sales are about to explode It's a song and dance that's become somewhat of a routine: just as analysts believe iPhone sales are on the verge of peaking, new evidence suggests that the iPhone is about to become more popular than ever.According to a report published on Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, Apple recently asked its suppliers overseas to gear up for a production run of about 85-90 million iPhone units. By way of contrast, Apple during the build-up to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus release anticipated orders in the 70-75 million unit range. In other words, Apple's iPhone sales during the company's next refresh cycle could skyrocket by upwards of 28%.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More Apple Watch's nose-dive predictions suggest Apple needs a new way to innovate Slice Intelligence's Apple Watch estimates confirm that Apple needs a different narrative for innovation in new product categories. The company's Wizard of Oz –like assertion that it knows everything that consumers might ever want hamstrings its ability to introduce an Apple version of an evolving product category that's not perfect.Business Insider and MarketWatch have both announced the death of the Apple Watch, with data from Slice Intelligence pointing to a 90% decline in Apple Watch sales since the device's opening week on the market. It might just be a bad case of schadenfreude due to the ingestion of bad data. Literally translated from German, schadenfreude means damaging joy, but often is interpreted to mean evil glee. Apple, the most valuable brand, is under a microscope because of its success compounded by persuasive marketing. Now that a marketing survey may indicate a drop in Apple Watch sales, many observers are rejoicing with evil glee that the hugely successful company might fail. But the shipment data hasn't been verified by Apple, and no one knows the company's expectations for Apple Watch sales over the entirety of its debut year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
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