Interop 2011 Trip Report

Interop still has some kick to it. As many of you know, this was quite a conference in the 90s. Of course, back then it was N+I (Networld Interop). Evidently, the Networld folks went somewhere else. Despite the conference's smaller size, it is still quite large and focused on networking technologies. However, there was a UC track, and some UC vendors and news at the event.

Marty Parker conducted a UC training workshop on Monday, then moderated a UC State of the Art panel on Tuesday. The panel included two from UCStrategies.com; David Yebwab, myself; and two from Current Analysis: Ken Landoline and Mike Spanbauer. Together we provided a broad state of the art picture of the space including vendors, infrastructure, apps, and interoperability (thus the conference name).

On Wednesday, I moderated the panel on CEBP with vendor representation from Microsoft, Avaya, and Cisco. The tools, successes, and excitement in this area is what truly gives UC legs and the vendors all offered up some impressive examples. Later, Eric Krapf moderated a UCIF discussion. This was one of the few Interop sessions with the word "interoperability" in the title, yet it was lightly attended. Interop was a big topic at Enterprise Connect and UC Summit, but not so much at Interop. Go figure.

A recap of some of the UC announcements at the show:

First off, Best of show Awards: nods to Alcatel-Lucent and Vidyo.

Alcatel-Lucent won the data center and storage category with their high speed network switching fabric. Announced just last month, the new solution provides a data center switching fabric that extends data center boundaries through network virtualization using a unique "mesh" and "pod" architecture design. Virtualization of servers receives a lot of attention, but dynamically moving around logical services creates problems for the network - at least it did. This ALU solution provides a way to make physical attributes logical and across a range of data center deployment models, including multi-site data centers, dedicated departmental or workgroup virtual data centers, and hybrid environments that can integrate service provider offerings.

Vidyo picked up the collaboration category award (their third Best of Interop award) by extending its rich video collaboration capabilities to the iPad via VidyoMobile. "VidyoMobile promises to extend high-quality video conferencing to mobile users who will increasingly demand it," said Eric Krapf, Editor of No Jitter and Best of Interop Judge. Video uses a new Adapative Video Layering architecture that addresses the inconsistent nature of mobile video quality. VidyoMobile can deliver high-definition 720p video with resolution up to VGA on smartphones and tablets.

ShoreTel, Siemens Enterprise, and Avaya made some noteworthy announcements at Interop. Of course the biggest news at Interop wasn't announced at Interop - the Microsoft acquisition of Skype came up in just about every conversation.

ShoreTel made two major announcements; the availability of ShoreTel 12 and Contact Center 7. ShoreTel 12 provides makes big strides with collaboration with web conferencing and instant messaging (IM). The new release gives users access to several collaborative and productivity-enhancing features: High Definition (HD) audio conferencing, zero-download desktop sharing, XMPP-based Instant Messaging, presence, Microsoft Outlook scheduling and multimedia recording are all integrated in the platform. ShoreTel Contact Center 7 introduces Personal Agent Queues, a simple way for customers to queue and route calls to specific agents based on custom criteria. Also included are an improved web-based interface, enhanced reporting and new diagnostic tools.

I was a bit surprised to see Cisco and Avaya equipment in the ShoreTel booth, it was there to demonstrate ShoreTel Mobility RoamAnywhere (acquired from Agito). The solution works with several major UC voice solutions, and simplifies wireless mobility hand-offs.

Also in the ShoreTel booth was the new CEO, Peter Blackmore. Evidently, no one told him he was supposed to wear orange.

Siemens Enterprise Communications introduced the OpenScape Session Border Controller (SBC) designed to address security and interoperability issues for SIP-based VoIP traffic. Most of these features were already available in their OpenScape branch solution, but SEN didn't have a stand-alone SBC solution. The new SBC is designed specifically to address security and interoperability issues of SIP-based VoIP traffic, supports multiple service providers, and makes teleworker and contact center home agent deployment scenarios easier. The new SBC runs on industry-standard Linux servers from IBM and Fujitsu. The booth crew were also demonstrating their previously announced OpenScape Collaboration suite which supports shared presentations and two way video to popular smartphones.

Avaya announced its Virtualization Provisioning Service (VPS) will now integrate with VMWare vCenter Server. This provides insight into Avaya networking devices. Steve Brandrowczak, GM over Data Solutions, delivered an Interop keynote. More announcements are expected at the upcoming International Avaya User Group conference where CEO Kevin Kennedy will be presenting.

In the booth, Avaya demonstrated VENA, its Flare experience, Aura, and web.alive. In addition to the Avaya Desktop Video Device, the company stated the iPad and other consumer devices will also soon support the Flare experience.

That about covers the UC angle of the show. There were many announcements around networking, and some great keynotes. A great conference overall.