BANGALORE, INDIA:  Verizon Business unveiled a new managed service today. Verizon Business UC service, which is based on the recently released Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 platform, would deliver unified communications functions to desktop, enabling workers to enhance communications through real-time instant messaging, "presence" (the status of an end-user's online or phone availability), Web conferencing and voice over IP (VoIP).

Now, enterprise customers need not deal with complexity of unified communications (UC). They could offload to Verizon Business UC application integration and management while benefitting from enhanced collaboration, better productivity, improved customer service and support while reducing carbon emissions by avoiding unnecessary travel.

Michael Marcellin, vice president, global managed solutions, Verizon, said: "Unified communications is a transformative technology that has the power to change the way people communicate and work together to be more effective, creative and productive in the office or on the go. By managing this leading software-based solution, Verizon Business can help customers take the complexity out of introducing unified communications across an enterprise while keeping their resources devoted to their core business activities."

According to industry experts, end-user interest in unified communications is strong and the market is growing. Market research firm In-Stat found that "the market for unified communications products in 2007 was $1.5 billion, growing to nearly $18 billion by the end of 2012." ("Unified Communications: A Clash of Titans," By David Lemelin, September 2008)