Hosted Unified Communications via Microsoft

The evolution from on-premise solution to Cloud services affects all aspects of IT infrastructures, including unified communications. A relevant example in this regard is a new hosted unified communications service aimed at small business customers available via a partnership involving Microsoft, LightEdge and BroadSoft. The Redmond company emphasized the importance for solution providers to ensure that customers are able to choose between either on-premise products or hosted services in correlation with their needs, especially considering the economical downturn.
 
“In today’s economy, it’s important to offer SMBs the flexibility to choose whether to deploy a UC solution in a hosted environment or on-premises, depending on their individual needs,” explained John Zanni, general manager of Worldwide Software + Services Industry for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “Hosted Unified Communications utilizes the BroadSoft platform and Microsoft software to deliver a protected, fully hosted unified messaging and communications solution that allows SMBs to focus on their core business, without spending their time, money and resources managing a complex VoIP infrastructure.”
 
The new Hosted Unified Communications service offered by LightEdge is based on a combination of solutions from BroadSoft and Microsoft, namely the BroadWorks Voice-over-IP (VoIP) application platform and the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration. Jeff Springborn, president and COO of LightEdge, emphasized that the service was meant to allow SMBs to cut down on the costs associated with their communications needs. The service is designed to allow users to work independent of location, and offers a single platform that centralizes voice, e-mail, instant messaging and calendaring.
 
David Bukovsky, vice president of products at BroadSoft, praised the new service for its capability to deliver UC in an innovative way. “There’s a growing demand among SMBs for UC to be delivered in a software as a service model as it enables them to reap all the productivity benefits of UC without the burden of deploying and maintaining UC solutions on their own. The LightEdge deployment validates the delivery model for integrated BroadSoft-Microsoft applications and represents a milestone for bringing hosted UC to the underserved SMB market,” he stated.