Major appliances

Cisco, Mirapoint simplify deployment of unified communications The promising world of unified communications holds a little more promise this week after Cisco Systems and Mirapoint delivered a joint, pay-as-you-grow solution for IP-based service providers.

Cisco aims to ease the capital pain and technical complexity of implementing unified communications platforms by using Mirapoint's more cost-effective Internet messaging server appliances in its uOne unified communications software platform.

Unified communications combines voice, fax and e-mail into a single mailbox using existing IP network infrastructure that is independent of location, time or device.

"We wanted to wring out some of the complexity generally associated with building messaging and messaging-based infrastructure, and I think Mirapoint does a great job there by complementing what Cisco is doing with unified communications and VoIP," said Bill Wolfe, director and general manager of Cisco's unified communications software business unit.

The joint solution will be delivered through standards-based IP, and Wolfe said it is expected to meet the four basic service provider requirements: lower infrastructure costs, new revenue streams, brand identity and lower churn rate.

While this solution maintains the core components of the Cisco uOne software platform - including its access server products, the AS5300 voice gateway and Gatekeeper - it is the addition of Mirapoint appliances that enable the partners to lower initial deployment costs and offer more services.

Three-year-old Mirapoint provides standards-based message delivery, storage and access through lightweight directory access protocol directories and a message server that supports SMTP, POP3 and IMAP4 protocols.

"We were conceived upon the premise of driving the complexity out of messaging and making the delivery of Internet-based messaging a lot simpler than it is today," said Larry Frank, vice president of business development for Mirapoint.

The appliance company also concentrates on security and protection. Through partnerships with VeriSign and Trend Micro, Mirapoint provides support for digital certificates and antivirus and anti-spam capabilities.

"Every time we [increase] accessibility, we make the guys who administer this more uncomfortable. In order to make them more comfortable, we have incorporated substantial levels of security," Frank said.

One industry expert said security in a unified communications environment is especially important, and having it done in the unified communications platform is the best option.

"You need protection, and it is a lot easier to do it in a network centralized place rather than leaving it up to me and what I have on my computer," said Art Rosenberg, principal at Unified View.

The volumes of messaging expected as unified communications is deployed more widely also makes managing security at the user level prohibitive.

"I may know what I want to be protected against, but with all the messages coming through, it would be much easier to handle at the source rather than have it ripple out to the end-points. That makes sense," Rosenberg said.

The companies claim that, by using the plug-and-play capabilities of Mirapoint appliances - which focus strictly on messaging - in Cisco's uOne platform, service providers can begin assigning mailboxes within minutes and be up and running within hours.

Charged with the task of implementing this solution for Canada's Cescom and Appiant Technologies - a Pleasanton, Calif.-based company that provides hosted unified communications services - Spanlink Communications CEO Mark Francis said Mirapoint appliances just "plug in, and the message store is pretty much ready to go."

However, Francis said unified communications is still a complex play.

"I don't want service providers to think they can just switch this thing on," he said. "They need to get someone involved who really knows what they are doing from architecting the solution, coming up with a road map and following through as the rollout goes forward to their customer base."

Still, the appliance approach, which brings unified communications closer to a plug-and-play model and lowers the cost of entry, could motivate service providers to begin moving toward the concept.

"Plug-and-play is very flexible in terms of scalability," Rosenberg said. "You don't have to plan so far ahead to determine how big the system should be. You can start with the minimum and as you roll out service you learn what capacity needs are built up to it."