Survey on Streaming

Cisco's unified communications offerings are of the most interest to respondents of SearchVoIP.com's recent VoIP and unified communications survey, completed earlier this month.

Almost 82% of survey respondents said Cisco has the strongest and most interesting story and product offerings when it comes to unified communications (UC). Cisco was followed by Avaya, 48%; Microsoft, 44%; and Nortel, 38%. Rounding out the top ten were Alcatel-Lucent, IMB/Lotus, Siemens, 3Com, Polycom and ShoreTel.

The survey queried nearly 500 respondents in various roles within their organizations -- including IT/network/systems operations staff, mid-level IT managers, network engineers, consultants, telecommunications managers and other IT staff members -- about their plans for UC and VoIP.

Despite Cisco's claiming the top spot among respondents, many indicated that they are confused about Cisco's and Microsoft's positions in the UC market. The largest group, 30%, said they don't know where each of the major UC vendors fits. Just over 27% noted that Cisco and Microsoft offer different approaches and compete with each other, while 21% said the two vendors offer different approaches but maintain a partnership. In addition, 16% said Cisco and Microsoft offer similar approaches but compete with each other, while 6% said they believe the pair offer similar approaches and are partners.

When asked where they procure UC solutions, 29% of respondents said they go directly to a single manufacturer or vendor. A similar number, 28%, buy one solution through VARs, resellers or integrators. And 19% buy directly from multiple manufacturers or vendors.