Current Analysis analyst Brad Shimmin was among the first in a batch of experts trying out DiVitas’ newly released web client. While our web client runs on all of the popular smartphones, Brad’s device of choice is the iPhone. And all he had to do to get started was fire up his browser and punch in his password.
Among the things Brad liked about the DiVitas web client is its quick response time – after all, apps that don’t live up to their promise are among the chief complaints among iPhone users and DiVitas claims to offer real-time mobile communications.
“I have used a lot of interfaces and this is really quick and responsive,” says Brad, explaining that he was impressed by the fact that he was able to easily switch from an IM chat session to a voice call without the delay of changing modes. “I found the switchover to be really slick because it didn’t force me to jump around and leave my address book and look you up.”
Brad also liked the way the app takes advantage of familiar iPhone features and functions already familiar to iPhone users because “it utilizes the UI … not the symbols, but the contrivances that we understand very clearly.”
Although Brad communicated back and forth with the DiVitas team during his trial, he saw how an enterprise social networking application and integrated business number could help workgroups communicate more efficiently.
“I have a common work scenario in which I work with a team people and it is very important to be able to pull them together to solve a problem in real-time,” he said. “Unlike just a chat program with Presence, such as Yahoo messenger, this actually ties that chat to additional forms of communication – such as a business number – that are real-time communication tools.”
He explains that tying the application with a business number is a unique approach that gets around a lot of the problems that you see with web-based apps on mobile devices. “Normally whenever you do that with today’s smartphones you are breaking that UI and forcing users to jump between apps on their mobile devices.”
Brad described the exhaustive steps he goes through to contact team members, highlighting the problem DiVitas solves. “Typically if I’m sitting at my desk, I would look people up on Skype to see if they are available to chat, and if they don’t answer me I would go to my phone book would call, and if didn’t get them that way I would email them and ask for a shout back, and then I would try their mobile,” he says. “What DiVitas gives you is the escalation opportunities within one source.”
In contrast, with DiVitas, Brad could simply pick up his iPhone, scroll through his list of contacts, read the individual Presence and status updates … and then use the touch-dial pad to chat or call his colleague.
“That’s exactly the point of Presence. You want to be able to unify communications.”
Posted Friday, November 13, 2009 by
Richard Watson
“After all these years, even for those who haven't been paying attention, mobility is finally getting interesting!
Craig Mathias’ words, not mine, but I couldn’t agree more. These 113 characters sum up Craig’s final thoughts in his NetworkWorld blog, Redefining Unified Communications - DiVitas Changes the Game.
Covering DiVitas’ recent launch in which our enterprise social networking software now runs as a web-client on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones, Craig writes,
“I noted a while ago that the future of enterprise communications is in social networking. It's easy to see why this should be: e-mail has become a vast wasteland of spam and other irritations, IM is increasingly in popularity among essentially all classes of enterprise users, and there's a fundamental requirement for file (and many other forms of) sharing within the closed-user-group paradigm. Closing the user base keeps the riff-raff and especially spam and other distractions out, and also enhances integrity and expands the r
ange of possible functions while maintaining security and enhancing ease-of-use and productivity.
And that's where convergence/mobile unified communications pioneer is DiVitas Networks is going with their recent announcement, which also pursues one of my favorite directions (and a natural fit and requirement for social networking of any form regardless) - Web services. There's no software to load here, and instant support of a broad range of key handsets. Client behavior is uniform across handsets, minimizing the training and support load and maximizing flexibility. No new apps need to be developed. And a single LDAP directory can be used for all enterprise communications functions, meaning everything works the same whether at one's desk or out and about. This is a great addition to the overall power of mobility, and builds upon DiVitas' previous convergence and mobile unified communications capabilities.”
I love it when experts like Craig get what we do, but of course he’s not alone. A few other examples of digested analysis of our Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) web-client launch:
Craig Mathias’ words, not mine, but I couldn’t agree more. These 113 characters sum up Craig’s final thoughts in his NetworkWorld blog, Redefining Unified Communications - DiVitas Changes the Game.
Covering DiVitas’ recent launch in which our enterprise social networking software now runs as a web-client on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones, Craig writes,
“I noted a while ago that the future of enterprise communications is in social networking. It's easy to see why this should be: e-mail has become a vast wasteland of spam and other irritations, IM is increasingly in popularity among essentially all classes of enterprise users, and there's a fundamental requirement for file (and many other forms of) sharing within the closed-user-group paradigm. Closing the user base keeps the riff-raff and especially spam and other distractions out, and also enhances integrity and expands the r
ange of possible functions while maintaining security and enhancing ease-of-use and productivity.And that's where convergence/mobile unified communications pioneer is DiVitas Networks is going with their recent announcement, which also pursues one of my favorite directions (and a natural fit and requirement for social networking of any form regardless) - Web services. There's no software to load here, and instant support of a broad range of key handsets. Client behavior is uniform across handsets, minimizing the training and support load and maximizing flexibility. No new apps need to be developed. And a single LDAP directory can be used for all enterprise communications functions, meaning everything works the same whether at one's desk or out and about. This is a great addition to the overall power of mobility, and builds upon DiVitas' previous convergence and mobile unified communications capabilities.”
I love it when experts like Craig get what we do, but of course he’s not alone. A few other examples of digested analysis of our Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) web-client launch:
- 100,000 iPhone Apps. Congrats. Now Add Things Businesses Care About (Ted Schadler, Forrester)
- DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices (Ted Stevenson,VoIPPlanet)
- DiVitas Ups the Mobile UC Ante (Bob Emmerson, TMCnet)
- DiVitas extends mobile collaboration to iPhone, Android, RIM (Stephen Lawson, InfoWorld)
- DiVitas Offers Handset-Agnostic Collaboration (Marin Perez, InformationWeek)
Posted Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
A BYO (bring your own) phone strategy is a win-win for companies and their employees. By letting people use their personal smartphones at work instead of corporate-owned devices, companies save thousands of dollars on overhead (device purchases) while letting individuals enjoy their mobile handset of choice.
The reason why this works is simple: Because we all use mobile phones so heavily in our every day lives, handsets (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, Samsung, etc.) have become a very personal choice – more personal than any other business device in history. As a result, “prosumer” mobile phone users have gained an unusually strong voice in certain hardware choices. And they have been overwhelmingly voting with their dollars – for example, last quarter Apple sold its highest volume of iPhone sales.
Combined with web-based apps such as DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), a BYO strategy makes for an affordable and secure approach to arming the workforce with devices that are business by day and personal by night. Enterprise Social Networking capabilities that keep them in contact with business colleagues are available from a single phone to become part of the mobile workforce.
“Over time, an increasing number of companies have shifted desktop applications targeting HR, sales, governance, and data entry back to Web-based centralized services that don't require a client…” according to analyst Rob Enderle in his article, Bring-Your-Own-PC an Option for Cash-Strapped Enterprises.
Adding to that, Enderle writes, “Employees, particularly executives and younger employees, when they needed a new PC simply bought one (generally a laptop). They used existing polices that provided for system access from a home PC to enable them for work. For those
working from home, many have used their own PCs for years.
In addition, with the massive number of layoffs people have increasingly had to buy their own PCs while looking for a job — and when rehired, appear willing to go on using it for business. Web applications make this possible because IT does not have to load client applications on the individual’s laptop.
The cost savings is about $300 per employee per month that flows right to the bottom line at a time when profits are elusive for many companies. You can understand why neither the IT organization nor the line organizations that would have to fund a replacement program are eager to fix this.”
There are nothing but parallels between the BYO phone and PC stories. Companies save money by relying on employee-owned devices, and they maintain security and continuity by providing access to web-based clients (i.e. secure collaboration software). Employees get to use their device of choice – most often smartphones such as iPhone – which allows continuity in their communication and ensures they are connected to their colleagues when they are mobile. They reduce miss calls, which increases productivity and further improves the company's bottom line.
The reason why this works is simple: Because we all use mobile phones so heavily in our every day lives, handsets (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, Samsung, etc.) have become a very personal choice – more personal than any other business device in history. As a result, “prosumer” mobile phone users have gained an unusually strong voice in certain hardware choices. And they have been overwhelmingly voting with their dollars – for example, last quarter Apple sold its highest volume of iPhone sales.
Combined with web-based apps such as DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), a BYO strategy makes for an affordable and secure approach to arming the workforce with devices that are business by day and personal by night. Enterprise Social Networking capabilities that keep them in contact with business colleagues are available from a single phone to become part of the mobile workforce.
“Over time, an increasing number of companies have shifted desktop applications targeting HR, sales, governance, and data entry back to Web-based centralized services that don't require a client…” according to analyst Rob Enderle in his article, Bring-Your-Own-PC an Option for Cash-Strapped Enterprises.
Adding to that, Enderle writes, “Employees, particularly executives and younger employees, when they needed a new PC simply bought one (generally a laptop). They used existing polices that provided for system access from a home PC to enable them for work. For those
working from home, many have used their own PCs for years.In addition, with the massive number of layoffs people have increasingly had to buy their own PCs while looking for a job — and when rehired, appear willing to go on using it for business. Web applications make this possible because IT does not have to load client applications on the individual’s laptop.
The cost savings is about $300 per employee per month that flows right to the bottom line at a time when profits are elusive for many companies. You can understand why neither the IT organization nor the line organizations that would have to fund a replacement program are eager to fix this.”
There are nothing but parallels between the BYO phone and PC stories. Companies save money by relying on employee-owned devices, and they maintain security and continuity by providing access to web-based clients (i.e. secure collaboration software). Employees get to use their device of choice – most often smartphones such as iPhone – which allows continuity in their communication and ensures they are connected to their colleagues when they are mobile. They reduce miss calls, which increases productivity and further improves the company's bottom line.
Posted Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
DiVitas’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is now available as a nimble web-client that can run on any browser-enabled smartphone, such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android. This move by DiVitas enables companies to implement a BYO phone (bring your own phone) policy in which an employee’s personal smartphone doubles as their business phone.
What does this mean to organizations that are looking for an affordable way to mobilize more of their workforce without over-taxing their busy IT staff? A BYO policy means the as-yet un-mobilized workforce (such as corridor warriors) can use their personal smartphones – such as iPhone, Blackberry or Android – to double as a mobile work phone. And this enterprise mobility magic happens with little-to-no overhead because companies need not purchase a phone for every mobile worker (they are using their own devices). Also, there is no additional burden on the IT department to support individual devices (everything is managed as software at the server level).
This BYO strategy simply takes advantage of a major mobile-communications trend already under way. As much as 90 percent of mobile devices used in the workforce today are already personally owned, with only monthly cell bills expensed to the company. Furthermore, as browser-enabled devices such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android continue to gain in popularity, these mini/mobile-computers are predicted to become the de facto phone for business users.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on a personal iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
A BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
What does this mean to organizations that are looking for an affordable way to mobilize more of their workforce without over-taxing their busy IT staff? A BYO policy means the as-yet un-mobilized workforce (such as corridor warriors) can use their personal smartphones – such as iPhone, Blackberry or Android – to double as a mobile work phone. And this enterprise mobility magic happens with little-to-no overhead because companies need not purchase a phone for every mobile worker (they are using their own devices). Also, there is no additional burden on the IT department to support individual devices (everything is managed as software at the server level).
This BYO strategy simply takes advantage of a major mobile-communications trend already under way. As much as 90 percent of mobile devices used in the workforce today are already personally owned, with only monthly cell bills expensed to the company. Furthermore, as browser-enabled devices such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android continue to gain in popularity, these mini/mobile-computers are predicted to become the de facto phone for business users.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on a personal iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
- Personal devices become a mobilized business deskphone – the smartphone carries the business number, eliminating the confusion caused when colleagues are reachable by two numbers (deskphone and cellular).
- There is nothing to download, upgrade or delete (the DiVitas app is accessed strictly via smartphone’s web browser) – there is no additional tax on the device or IT department because the application resides on the DiVitas Server.
- The web client can be accessed by a desktop browser.
- Companies still subsidize individual cellular costs, but they eliminate hardware overhead (additional device-purchase costs) in mobilizing the entire workforce, including traditionally un-mobilized corridor warriors.
- Even though devices are personally owned, they are as secure as deskphones and corporate-liable phones because the Mobile UC server is web-based and under IT control – should a phone become lost or an individual change employers, IT staff simply updates the server to disallow server access by that client.
- Individuals have access to smartphone-friendly Enterprise Social Networking capabilities (Mobile Presence and Status) to make them aware of one another's reachability. The ability to scroll through an interface-based directory to see who is available and where they are located is a powerful tool for ensuring colleagues connect on the first try.
A BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
Posted Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by
Richard Watson
For guests of a casino, the name of the game is getting the most out of your stay. So imagine a scene where a casino’s amenities are directly accessible from a guest’s personal iPhone, Blackberry, Android … or any other web-enabled mobile phone. One tap to the directory displayed on their smartphone and a guest has reached, say, the concierge or the reservation desk at one of the casino’s restaurants.
Next imagine a guest being able to use that same device to see where their friends or family members are located and what they are doing at any given moment. A quick glance at the smartphone interface and guests instantly know which of their party-members are poolside or, say, at the poker table testing their luck.
As futuristic as these on-the-fly conveniences sound, they are available today from casinos that have deployed DiVitas Mobile UC with a goal toward differentiating themselves in the very competitive hospitality market.
Casino guests can simply point their smartphone browser at the Casino’s DiVitas server to gain access to a temporary client – meaning their personal phone is transformed into a hotel guest phone.
The client authorization can be issued by the casino, lasting only for the duration of the guest’s casino stay. Once the guest leaves, the session is terminated. Of course when the guest returns to the casino another day, the client can be reinstated again (on a temporary basis). There is nothing to download, and casino IT is not involved beyond configuration of the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) server.
Guests gain several conveniences with a temporary DiVitas client:
Casino's also gain a more mobile workforce because staff similarly benefits from the mobile social networking software advantages offered by the DiVitas client. Casinos can use DiVitas to increase staff efficiency by making them continuously reachable. Casino Staff:
Next imagine a guest being able to use that same device to see where their friends or family members are located and what they are doing at any given moment. A quick glance at the smartphone interface and guests instantly know which of their party-members are poolside or, say, at the poker table testing their luck.
As futuristic as these on-the-fly conveniences sound, they are available today from casinos that have deployed DiVitas Mobile UC with a goal toward differentiating themselves in the very competitive hospitality market.
Casino guests can simply point their smartphone browser at the Casino’s DiVitas server to gain access to a temporary client – meaning their personal phone is transformed into a hotel guest phone.
The client authorization can be issued by the casino, lasting only for the duration of the guest’s casino stay. Once the guest leaves, the session is terminated. Of course when the guest returns to the casino another day, the client can be reinstated again (on a temporary basis). There is nothing to download, and casino IT is not involved beyond configuration of the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) server.
Guests gain several conveniences with a temporary DiVitas client:
- They are able to use their personal smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.) to gain a mobilized hotel room phone – they can place and/or receive calls from their hotel room number without being tethered to the hardwired phone.
- DiVitas provides one-click access to all resort services from the guest’s personal mobile phone – using the hotel directory that is accessible from their personal phone interface, they can simply touch-dial the iPhone, Blackberry or Android screen to reach the concierge, book tickets for a show or make a dinner or spa reservation.
- Guests’ party members stay connected and engaged via voice or IM. Meanwhile, the DiVitas Mobile UC solution's enterprise social networking capabilities let party members tell one another what they are doing and where they are doing it by updating their Mobile Presence (i.e. icon indicating available by IM only) and status (i.e. text reading “at the poker table”).
Casino's also gain a more mobile workforce because staff similarly benefits from the mobile social networking software advantages offered by the DiVitas client. Casinos can use DiVitas to increase staff efficiency by making them continuously reachable. Casino Staff:
- Leverages Mobile Presence and Status to maintain awareness of colleague availability – managers can, for example, quickly find the most available staff member to attend to a guest’s need by scanning Presence and status updates from the mobile phone interface.
- Gains a mobilized business number and IM – the mobile user can decide which method of communication (voice or IM) is optimal depending on what is indicated by the colleague they are trying to reach (available by voice, text or Do Not Disturb).
- Are made available by a single business number – there is no need to know individual cell phone numbers because all casino workers are reachable by their mobilized casino-business number, and their extensions can be accessed via a directory on the smartphone interface.
Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Want to know how to affordably mobilize your workforce? Implement a BYO phone (bring your own phone) policy in which an employee’s personal smartphone doubles as their business phone. This works for iPhone, Blackberry, Android or any other web-enabled mobile devices.
Let's face it. Popular devices such as iPhone are quickly making their way into the workplace. And a BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
In keeping with this strategy, I read an interesting FierceWireless blog posted by IDC analyst Stephen Drake about what companies can do to best take advantage of this “individual-liable” trend in enterprise mobility.
[Note: Drake defines "Individual-Liable" devices as either: 1) Purchased by the user and expensed back, but not reimbursed formally by a company-established policy, or 2) Purchased outright by the individual user, brought into the workplace, and used for either corporate or standalone business applications.]
Says Drake in his article How businesses can embrace individual-liable smartphones, “With the smartphone market expected to outshine the overall mobile phone market for the foreseeable future, the growing influence of new devices and platforms, including Apple, RIM [Blackberry], Android, Palm, etc. … the critical nature of the individual-liable business device is evident.”
In fact, IDC’s Drake predicts the individual-liable business-use mobile phone will experience more growth than corporate-liable devices. Also, the researcher says it’s seeing a trend in which large companies begin to move towards the individual-liable business use device model.
The benefit, he says, is “a slowdown on costs and provides better choice, user control and delivers an image that IT is being progressive in enabling such choice to its worker base.”
“Add that to the growing number of smartphones coming on the market. Certainly the strong popularity of the iPhone, continued consumer push from RIM and the large Windows Mobile OEM base drives much of the individual-liable business use in the U.S. In addition, devices such as the Palm Pre, Nokia's E Series (in particular the E71) and the new Android tide rolling in all speak to the importance of this individual-liable business use case.”
In his blog, Drake lays out a list of advice-points to be heeded by any company following the BYO phone strategy for enterprise mobility.
As for DiVitas, we recommend pairing the BYO phone strategy with Mobile Unified Communications Mobile UC) web client, which is under IT control and which enables the smartphone to carry the deskphone number. At the same time the device and business number tie in with voice, IM and social networking (Mobile Presence and Status) to help employees connect on the first try – and eliminate missed calls to further reduce cellular costs.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on an individual-liable iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
Let's face it. Popular devices such as iPhone are quickly making their way into the workplace. And a BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
In keeping with this strategy, I read an interesting FierceWireless blog posted by IDC analyst Stephen Drake about what companies can do to best take advantage of this “individual-liable” trend in enterprise mobility.
[Note: Drake defines "Individual-Liable" devices as either: 1) Purchased by the user and expensed back, but not reimbursed formally by a company-established policy, or 2) Purchased outright by the individual user, brought into the workplace, and used for either corporate or standalone business applications.]
Says Drake in his article How businesses can embrace individual-liable smartphones, “With the smartphone market expected to outshine the overall mobile phone market for the foreseeable future, the growing influence of new devices and platforms, including Apple, RIM [Blackberry], Android, Palm, etc. … the critical nature of the individual-liable business device is evident.”
In fact, IDC’s Drake predicts the individual-liable business-use mobile phone will experience more growth than corporate-liable devices. Also, the researcher says it’s seeing a trend in which large companies begin to move towards the individual-liable business use device model.
The benefit, he says, is “a slowdown on costs and provides better choice, user control and delivers an image that IT is being progressive in enabling such choice to its worker base.”
“Add that to the growing number of smartphones coming on the market. Certainly the strong popularity of the iPhone, continued consumer push from RIM and the large Windows Mobile OEM base drives much of the individual-liable business use in the U.S. In addition, devices such as the Palm Pre, Nokia's E Series (in particular the E71) and the new Android tide rolling in all speak to the importance of this individual-liable business use case.”
In his blog, Drake lays out a list of advice-points to be heeded by any company following the BYO phone strategy for enterprise mobility.
As for DiVitas, we recommend pairing the BYO phone strategy with Mobile Unified Communications Mobile UC) web client, which is under IT control and which enables the smartphone to carry the deskphone number. At the same time the device and business number tie in with voice, IM and social networking (Mobile Presence and Status) to help employees connect on the first try – and eliminate missed calls to further reduce cellular costs.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on an individual-liable iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
- There is nothing to download, upgrade or delete (app is accessed strictly via smartphone’s web browser.)
- The web client can be accessed by any device (handsets or desktops.)
- Companies still subsidize individual cellular costs, but they eliminate hardware overhead (additional device-purchase costs) in mobilizing the entire workforce, including traditionally unmobilized corridor warriors.
- Individual-liable devices are as secure as deskphones and corporate-liable phones because the Mobile UC is web-based and under IT control.
- Individuals have access to Enterprise Social Networking capabilities to make individuals aware of one another's reachability.
Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Siliconindia’s July 2009 issue focuses on the “emerging enterprise wireless” space, and includes an article contributed by DiVitas on this topic.
In this article we describe the ongoing trend among universities to use Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), a mobile social networking solution (Mobile Presence and Status) that integrates voice and mobile Instant Messaging (IM), to tighten the campus community. Mobile UC runs on any web-enabled smartphone i.e. iPhone, Blackberry and Android to mak faculty, staff and students more accessible to one another, leading to a deeper level of collaboration.
Following is an excerpt from Silconindia’s Universities Deploying Mobile Unified Communications to Keep Campus Connected:
“…In bygone days, students relied on dorm phones and university-supplied email addresses to contact one another. Today, however, students are primarily reachable by using a hodgepodge of private, unpublished cell phone numbers and email addresses. They also blast their whereabouts, and read about what their fellow campus dwellers are doing, using one of the many social networking applications like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
Given this variety of communication mediums, it can be difficult to find contact information for a fellow student in, say, your math class. Individual, private contact information simply isn’t managed and published by universities. And this lack of a standard platform for phone and or text-based communication has contributed to undermine the social structure at a university, which by nature is a collaborative environment.
Secure social networking running on iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices (via Mobile UC) is changing all this. It is helping universities overcome the digital divide to recreate a sense of campus community.”
Read more about how the DiVitas's Mobile UC running on a iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices supports a full range of communications by combining mobile social networking applications (Mobile Presence and Status) with IM, voice and a university phone number, university directory contacts and Visual Voicemail.
In this article we describe the ongoing trend among universities to use Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), a mobile social networking solution (Mobile Presence and Status) that integrates voice and mobile Instant Messaging (IM), to tighten the campus community. Mobile UC runs on any web-enabled smartphone i.e. iPhone, Blackberry and Android to mak faculty, staff and students more accessible to one another, leading to a deeper level of collaboration.
Following is an excerpt from Silconindia’s Universities Deploying Mobile Unified Communications to Keep Campus Connected:
“…In bygone days, students relied on dorm phones and university-supplied email addresses to contact one another. Today, however, students are primarily reachable by using a hodgepodge of private, unpublished cell phone numbers and email addresses. They also blast their whereabouts, and read about what their fellow campus dwellers are doing, using one of the many social networking applications like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
Given this variety of communication mediums, it can be difficult to find contact information for a fellow student in, say, your math class. Individual, private contact information simply isn’t managed and published by universities. And this lack of a standard platform for phone and or text-based communication has contributed to undermine the social structure at a university, which by nature is a collaborative environment.
Secure social networking running on iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices (via Mobile UC) is changing all this. It is helping universities overcome the digital divide to recreate a sense of campus community.”
Read more about how the DiVitas's Mobile UC running on a iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices supports a full range of communications by combining mobile social networking applications (Mobile Presence and Status) with IM, voice and a university phone number, university directory contacts and Visual Voicemail.
Posted Friday, June 19, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Known for their love of the iPhone, universities have begun rolling out mobile applications to give students on-the-go access to campus information such as current and next-quarter course listings, interactive campus maps and homework alerts. The next wave in this iPhone/university love fest is to unify the now-fragmented communication among students and faculty using secure collaboration software.
Gone are the days of the traditional student directory with its tidy, reliable list of university-supplied phone numbers and email addresses. Instead, students today are reachable by using a hodgepodge of private cell phones and email addresses. Or they blast their whereabouts, and read about their fellow campus dwellers, using one of many social networking applications (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.).
Given this variety of communication mediums, it can be difficult to find contact information for a fellow student in, say, your math class. Individual, private contact information simply isn’t published by universities.
The Enterprsie Social Networking capabilities of Mobile UC (Mobile Unified Communications) running on the iPhone is changing all this. It is helping universities overcome the digital divide to recreate a sense of campus community.
By deploying mobile Enterprise 2.0 (Mobile Presence and Status) on an iPhone, campus dwellers are reachable by a single phone number (a university number), by a single email address (university email) and on a single device that they are familiar with (iPhone). What does this mean? Students can call, email or IM each other by using contact information they find in the student directory – and which is accessible directly from their iPhone. And they are using a university phone to communicate – just like they did back in the day.
Adding to this communications story, campus members can also use Mobile UC on their iPhone to broadcast their Mobile Presence and Status message (available by voice and/or text, or unavailable). Or they can customize their Mobile Presence and Status by editing their Status message to state what they are doing and where they are doing it (i.e. studying at the library 4th floor).
By making this information available, it transforms communication and reachability into real-time, and it eliminates expensive telephone tag – no more wasted minutes on missed calls, which results in reduced cellular costs.
With Enterprise Social Networking, students can also be notified via iPhone of any changes in class schedules, campus events, or campus emergencies because that info is pushed out to students via Status Update Message, or a custom-built bulletin board application.
The iPhone has become known for many wonderful features. The spotlight is now on its ability to be a key secure collaboration software platform for enhancing the university experience.
Gone are the days of the traditional student directory with its tidy, reliable list of university-supplied phone numbers and email addresses. Instead, students today are reachable by using a hodgepodge of private cell phones and email addresses. Or they blast their whereabouts, and read about their fellow campus dwellers, using one of many social networking applications (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.).
Given this variety of communication mediums, it can be difficult to find contact information for a fellow student in, say, your math class. Individual, private contact information simply isn’t published by universities.
The Enterprsie Social Networking capabilities of Mobile UC (Mobile Unified Communications) running on the iPhone is changing all this. It is helping universities overcome the digital divide to recreate a sense of campus community.
By deploying mobile Enterprise 2.0 (Mobile Presence and Status) on an iPhone, campus dwellers are reachable by a single phone number (a university number), by a single email address (university email) and on a single device that they are familiar with (iPhone). What does this mean? Students can call, email or IM each other by using contact information they find in the student directory – and which is accessible directly from their iPhone. And they are using a university phone to communicate – just like they did back in the day.
Adding to this communications story, campus members can also use Mobile UC on their iPhone to broadcast their Mobile Presence and Status message (available by voice and/or text, or unavailable). Or they can customize their Mobile Presence and Status by editing their Status message to state what they are doing and where they are doing it (i.e. studying at the library 4th floor).
By making this information available, it transforms communication and reachability into real-time, and it eliminates expensive telephone tag – no more wasted minutes on missed calls, which results in reduced cellular costs.
With Enterprise Social Networking, students can also be notified via iPhone of any changes in class schedules, campus events, or campus emergencies because that info is pushed out to students via Status Update Message, or a custom-built bulletin board application.
The iPhone has become known for many wonderful features. The spotlight is now on its ability to be a key secure collaboration software platform for enhancing the university experience.
Posted Thursday, June 18, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Universities are big iPhone users – and it’s not because students can use it to watch YouTube while updating Facebook and downloading music. Universities love the iPhone’s ability to support social enterprise networking applications that vastly improve campus life.
In fact, I just read that UC San Diego became “the first public university in the nation to offer an iPhone application that provides mobile access to the latest information about its courses, faculty, athletics and even videos.”
In my book, UCSD’s forays into iPhone apps aren’t necessarily an iPhone “first.” I do, however, think the school’s actions are part of a larger trend where universities have discovered that the iPhone is the perfect platform for running many university-enhancing applications, among them mobile social networking enabled by Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC).
Last year Abilene Christian University, for example, became the first university to provide an iPhone to all incoming freshman with the goal of giving them a mobile means of receiving homework alerts, answering in-class surveys and quizzes, getting directions to their professors' offices, and checking their meal and account balances.
Meanwhile, the nation’s oldest journalism school – University of Missouri School of Journalism – recently began requiring that new students use devices such as iPhones to download classroom lectures or confirm facts on the Web while reporting their news stories.
As for UCSD, these students will start using their iPhones to check current and next-quarter course listings, view an interactive campus map that pinpoints the location of each course's classroom, and they’ll have the ability to telephone, email or send a text message to instructors teaching any course of interest.
Next blog: Mobile UC, iPhone combine forces to recreate campus community.
In fact, I just read that UC San Diego became “the first public university in the nation to offer an iPhone application that provides mobile access to the latest information about its courses, faculty, athletics and even videos.”
In my book, UCSD’s forays into iPhone apps aren’t necessarily an iPhone “first.” I do, however, think the school’s actions are part of a larger trend where universities have discovered that the iPhone is the perfect platform for running many university-enhancing applications, among them mobile social networking enabled by Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC).
Last year Abilene Christian University, for example, became the first university to provide an iPhone to all incoming freshman with the goal of giving them a mobile means of receiving homework alerts, answering in-class surveys and quizzes, getting directions to their professors' offices, and checking their meal and account balances.
Meanwhile, the nation’s oldest journalism school – University of Missouri School of Journalism – recently began requiring that new students use devices such as iPhones to download classroom lectures or confirm facts on the Web while reporting their news stories.
As for UCSD, these students will start using their iPhones to check current and next-quarter course listings, view an interactive campus map that pinpoints the location of each course's classroom, and they’ll have the ability to telephone, email or send a text message to instructors teaching any course of interest.
Next blog: Mobile UC, iPhone combine forces to recreate campus community.
Posted Friday, May 22, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Starting this month, $199 – the previous low for a much coveted iPhone – has become downright expensive for a smartphone. AT&T is now offering the Nokia E71x for one cent through Amazon, redefining the phrase, “world’s most affordable smartphone” and making it a hard-to-resist purchase for consumers and business users alike.
This news in turn makes DiVitas – the only Mobile Unified Communications vendor certified by AT&T to support the Nokia E71x – the world’s most affordable Mobile UC solution. DiVitas was recently named as an AT&T Fast Pitch award winner, and has also earned an elite placement in AT&T’s catalogue of certified partners.
News of the mind-blowing, one-penny price tag comes just weeks after the E71x wowed reviewers with its affordable $99.99 price tag. Even at around 100 bucks, the E71x was a lot of phone for the price.
Reviewers at CNET (where users gave the E71x four out of five stars) highlighted the phone’s slim design, full QWERTY keyboard, voice-guided GPS, digital camera and Web browser, saying, “AT&T made an attractive device even more attractive by giving the Nokia E71x a $99.99 (with two-year contract) price tag. It's a great value, especially compared to AT&T's other QWERTY smartphones, such as the Samsung Epix and RIM BlackBerry Bold, considering what you get and the quality of the phone's design.”
Knocking the price-of-E71x-ownership down further, users aren’t required to pay for a monthly data plan, which is unusual for a smartphone purchase. Eliminating the $40ish per/user monthly data plan is a key benefit for organizations such as universities where many employees only require a mobile phone during the business day. Administrative staffers, for example, have access to the campus WLAN while they are at work, allowing them to use the E71x in WiFi-mode to place calls, send email or IM, or update their Presence Status Message. They don’t need to be available after business hours, and with the E71x they now have an affordable single-mode option.
According to Amazon:
This news in turn makes DiVitas – the only Mobile Unified Communications vendor certified by AT&T to support the Nokia E71x – the world’s most affordable Mobile UC solution. DiVitas was recently named as an AT&T Fast Pitch award winner, and has also earned an elite placement in AT&T’s catalogue of certified partners.
News of the mind-blowing, one-penny price tag comes just weeks after the E71x wowed reviewers with its affordable $99.99 price tag. Even at around 100 bucks, the E71x was a lot of phone for the price.
Reviewers at CNET (where users gave the E71x four out of five stars) highlighted the phone’s slim design, full QWERTY keyboard, voice-guided GPS, digital camera and Web browser, saying, “AT&T made an attractive device even more attractive by giving the Nokia E71x a $99.99 (with two-year contract) price tag. It's a great value, especially compared to AT&T's other QWERTY smartphones, such as the Samsung Epix and RIM BlackBerry Bold, considering what you get and the quality of the phone's design.”
Knocking the price-of-E71x-ownership down further, users aren’t required to pay for a monthly data plan, which is unusual for a smartphone purchase. Eliminating the $40ish per/user monthly data plan is a key benefit for organizations such as universities where many employees only require a mobile phone during the business day. Administrative staffers, for example, have access to the campus WLAN while they are at work, allowing them to use the E71x in WiFi-mode to place calls, send email or IM, or update their Presence Status Message. They don’t need to be available after business hours, and with the E71x they now have an affordable single-mode option.
According to Amazon:
Nokia E71x Phone, Black (AT&T)
- List Price:$399.99
- Your Price:$0.01 (with new service plan)
- You Save:$399.98 (100%)
- More Options: Buy without a service plan
Posted Wednesday, March 25, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
To: Tim Cook, Interim Apple CEO
From: Nancy Colwell, DiVitas Networks
Dear Mr. Cook,
I’ve got a deal for you that is guaranteed to put a smile on Steve’s face.
Everybody knows Apple has had startling success in the consumer space, with iPhone more than tripling its smartphone market share last year. But we know that Steve will not be happy until you reach smartphone world domination. So your next move is likely to target enterprises. Isn’t this the logical growth path for iPhone, having dominated the consumer space so quickly?
Mr. Cook, the shortest distance between the two markets is to work closely with a partner who has a deep understanding of the market you are heading towards – which is of course, the enterprise mobility market.
DiVitas has a unique perspective on enterprise-class dual-mode smartphones and what organizations are demanding today – devices such as the iPhone play a critical role in the total DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications solution package. As such, we have first-hand knowledge of what enterprises seek in a mobile device and would be more than happy to share all of our knowledge with your team.
Enterprises want and need more than a standalone, company-paid smartphone that is doled out to only a select group of employees. They want a phone that can be ubiquitously deployed across the workforce while able to:
But this scenario can easily change. With a few modifications we expect that iPhone will also be an exceptional enterprise candidate.
So we are here to help you turn the iPhone into iWin. Call us anytime.
Sincerely,
Nancy Colwell
From: Nancy Colwell, DiVitas Networks
Dear Mr. Cook,
I’ve got a deal for you that is guaranteed to put a smile on Steve’s face.
Everybody knows Apple has had startling success in the consumer space, with iPhone more than tripling its smartphone market share last year. But we know that Steve will not be happy until you reach smartphone world domination. So your next move is likely to target enterprises. Isn’t this the logical growth path for iPhone, having dominated the consumer space so quickly?
Mr. Cook, the shortest distance between the two markets is to work closely with a partner who has a deep understanding of the market you are heading towards – which is of course, the enterprise mobility market.
DiVitas has a unique perspective on enterprise-class dual-mode smartphones and what organizations are demanding today – devices such as the iPhone play a critical role in the total DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications solution package. As such, we have first-hand knowledge of what enterprises seek in a mobile device and would be more than happy to share all of our knowledge with your team.
Enterprises want and need more than a standalone, company-paid smartphone that is doled out to only a select group of employees. They want a phone that can be ubiquitously deployed across the workforce while able to:
- Able to achieve an ROI in less than a year.
- Support Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) for seamless roaming between free WiFi and cellular networks (needed for hard cost-savings and speedy ROI on mobile phones).
- Behave like, and carry the same number as, an individual’s deskphone by integrating with the corporate PBX.
- Support networked applications such as mobile VoIP, mobile Presence, mobile Instant Messaging without dropping when a personal cell call comes in.
- Meet enterprise security requirements.
- Be managed under enterprise IT control.
But this scenario can easily change. With a few modifications we expect that iPhone will also be an exceptional enterprise candidate.
So we are here to help you turn the iPhone into iWin. Call us anytime.
Sincerely,
Nancy Colwell
Posted Wednesday, January 7, 2009 by
Richard Watson
This blog has been updated to reflect DiVitas' expanded smartphone support, which now includes Blackberry, iPhone and Android phones running DiVitas' enterprise social networking solution.
When we originally wrote this blog back in January, we had allowed analyst Michael Stanford to test drive the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution using a Nokia ESeries smartphone. However, his personal mobile device of choice is an Apple iPhone and he – like many of our customers – wanted to take advantage of DiVitas' mobile social networking capabilities on his favorite toy.
We came through on Michael's wish today with our enterprise mobility announcement that DiVitas Mobile UC now runs on all major platforms.
Building on the Nokia Eseries' established strength (one of the few handsets that support seamless roaming for free WiFi calls), DiVitas is now also providing an affordable, nimble and easy way for organizations to increase their mobile workforce.
Today mobile workers' personal phones frequently double as a business phone, but there are two phone numbers to juggle and there is no synergy with the PBX (business number and features such as extension dialing and call forward).
Now, with DiVitas' web client, a mobile worker's personal phone can become a mobilized deskphone that is under IT control - without having to download any software. An iPhone, Blackberry or Android user, for example, will have their deskphone (business number) moved onto their smartphone and those individuals will be able to place/receive calls from that business number or use IM and Social Networking (Mobile Presence and Status) from that single device.
For the individual, there is no longer a need to juggle two devices and phone numbers. For organizations, there is no need to purchase phones for every mobile worker. Meanwhile, Mobile Presence and Status are tied to the directory of contacts, which is accessible from the smartphone's interface, ensuring that individuals connect on the first try.
It's a new era for enterprise mobility and affordably creating a mobile workforce.
Posted Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by
Nancy Colwell
The debate about handset support in the Mobile UC space has officially been put to rest, according to a recent VoIPPlanet article covering DiVitas’ BYO (Bring Your Own) phone launch.
DiVitas’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is now available as a nimble web-client that can run on any browser-enabled smartphone, such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android
In his article DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices, VoIPPlanet’s Ted Stevenson writes:
“DiVitas Networks today made an announcement that pretty much sews up [the number of supported handsets] competition for good (or perhaps makes it irrelevant going forward).”
He explains, “the flashy way to state what they've done would be something along the lines of: 'DiVitas's technology now works with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phone—not to mention the desktop PC.' While those are the big attention-getters, in reality what they've done is to make their technology compatible with any device that runs a Web browser—a number that's growing every day.
He quotes DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller as saying, the market reality that set the company on the development path that ended with today's announcement was the overwhelming predominance of what they are calling "Bring Your Own" phones. "We [started with] the notion that the mobile devices would be bought by the enterprise and distributed to the employees," Khuller told EnterpriseVoIPplanet. "The reality is that people pick their own phones. People pick their own plans, their own carriers.”
According to Stevenson, DiVitas has answered the call for a new approach to enterprise mobility. “Rather than negotiating with owners of 'closed,' proprietary operating systems in order to gain the access necessary to write native applications for more devices, why not build a way to accomplish the same end using a piece of open technology that's already on the device?
According to Stevenson’s analysis of DiVitas’ BYO phone announcement: “Not only does this vastly enlarge the potential market universe that DiVitas can address (nice for them), it makes the benefits of mobile unified communications (cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency), available to many kinds of organizations that would be unable (or simply unwilling) to try to impose on their end users the kind device uniformity that would have been required heretofore.
Citing an example of the perfect BYO customer, Stevenson quotes Ron Hutchins, CTO of Georgia Institute of Technology, "Universities constitute one of the most diverse handset ecosystems, where IT has minimal control over selection of handsets or carriers by students," he said. "With support for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, DiVitas would be able to offer handset and carrier choice that would be very appealing in a college campus environment."
DiVitas’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is now available as a nimble web-client that can run on any browser-enabled smartphone, such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android
In his article DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices, VoIPPlanet’s Ted Stevenson writes:
“DiVitas Networks today made an announcement that pretty much sews up [the number of supported handsets] competition for good (or perhaps makes it irrelevant going forward).”
He explains, “the flashy way to state what they've done would be something along the lines of: 'DiVitas's technology now works with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phone—not to mention the desktop PC.' While those are the big attention-getters, in reality what they've done is to make their technology compatible with any device that runs a Web browser—a number that's growing every day.
He quotes DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller as saying, the market reality that set the company on the development path that ended with today's announcement was the overwhelming predominance of what they are calling "Bring Your Own" phones. "We [started with] the notion that the mobile devices would be bought by the enterprise and distributed to the employees," Khuller told EnterpriseVoIPplanet. "The reality is that people pick their own phones. People pick their own plans, their own carriers.”
According to Stevenson, DiVitas has answered the call for a new approach to enterprise mobility. “Rather than negotiating with owners of 'closed,' proprietary operating systems in order to gain the access necessary to write native applications for more devices, why not build a way to accomplish the same end using a piece of open technology that's already on the device?
According to Stevenson’s analysis of DiVitas’ BYO phone announcement: “Not only does this vastly enlarge the potential market universe that DiVitas can address (nice for them), it makes the benefits of mobile unified communications (cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency), available to many kinds of organizations that would be unable (or simply unwilling) to try to impose on their end users the kind device uniformity that would have been required heretofore.
Citing an example of the perfect BYO customer, Stevenson quotes Ron Hutchins, CTO of Georgia Institute of Technology, "Universities constitute one of the most diverse handset ecosystems, where IT has minimal control over selection of handsets or carriers by students," he said. "With support for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, DiVitas would be able to offer handset and carrier choice that would be very appealing in a college campus environment."
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