Technology Assessment
and Planning

Unified Communications

Unified Communications (UC) represents the integration of communications channels in accordance with user preferences. Conferencing, collaboration, presence, instant messaging, email, and unified messaging are components of UC.

UC describes a state in which user communication is automatically routed to the appropriate device in the appropriate format based on user preferences. For example, a user may want a Treo to ring in meetings if it is the boss but go to voicemail if it is not, in which case the voicemail is to be translated to email to be read on the user's laptop.

• Unified Communications: Understanding Unified Communications in Your Enterprise, Gartner Group white paper