Anticipating explosive growth in video communications, Cisco is readying product improvements designed to simplify the management of videoconferencing traffic and to streamline its use for employees.

The products, announced Tuesday, include new software for adjusting network resources based on video requirements, and a new cloud-based virtual meeting room service for its video-as-a-service hosting partners.

Atos CEO Thierry Breton caught a lot of flak last year when he announced he wanted his employees to give up email, but he may have been on to something.

Kids these days don't use email -- digital market research company comScore found that use of Web-based email dropped 31 percent among 12- to 17-year-olds and 34 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds in the period between December 2010 and December 2011.

Orange Business Services, Polycom et LifeSize ont profité de la première conférence Lync de Microsoft, du 19 au 21 février à San Diego, pour annoncer l’intégration de la dernière version de la solution de communication et collaboration unifiée (UCC) de Redmond dans leurs offres.

Following up on its purchase earlier this year of video optimization company Radvision, Avaya announced enhancements to its Aura and Flare unified communications (UC) platforms that could signal the company's move into next generation videoconferencing for the enterprise.

Avec sa solution éponyme de contrôle de bureaux distants et de réunions en ligne, TeamViewer veut renforcer sa présence sur le marché des entreprises.
Pour s’opposer plus tangiblement à LogMeIn, l’une des références en la matière, l’éditeur allemand s’ouvre aux nouveaux systèmes d’exploitation (Windows 8, Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Android « Jelly Bean », etc.) et enrichit son offre Premium.

Cisco has named a former Symantec executive to head its struggling collaboration group, which saw three different leaders in less than a year.

Cisco on Tuesday announced that it is increasing the number of collaboration software products that its hosting partners can offer via the cloud, hoping to make the bundles more attractive to the partners and their customers.

At an announcement at its Collaboration Summit in Los Angeles, Cisco also said that it will provide its cloud-based WebEx web conferencing product for the first time as packaged software that customers can deploy on-premise or in a private cloud.

Polycom plans to break down one more set of barriers to videoconferencing early next year with a cloud-based software platform that can set up sessions with anyone who uses Facebook, Skype, or certain other online services.

Skype selected MACH to enable direct billing. With the new billing platform, which gives mobile operators the option to provide users a consolidated bill that includes Skype credits paid via their mobile phone bill or pre-paid account, Skype users will also be able to purchase Skype credits from desktop PCs and mobile devices. Direct operator billing will maintain the same price points as current payment methods used for Skype credits, ensuring a consistent user experience.

Mitel, VMware, and Vidyo have joined forces to integrate Mitel's virtualized Unified Communicator (UC) Advanced client software and the VidyoConferencing collaboration solution with VMware View to deliver a single solution. The joint solution is designed to deliver videoconferencing, voice, presence, secure instant messaging, audio and Web conferencing, document sharing, voice messaging and email.