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According to Info-Tech Research Group, the global leader in tactical and practical technology research and analysis information, 35 percent of the workforce will be using personal devices to execute work-related tasks by mid-2013. Of the organizations surveyed by the company, 89 percent have already approved the use of personal devices to access email. This trend, commonly termed as Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program, and the rising trend of mobile devices usage, has driven Unified Communication vendors to include a variety of device support in their offerings. The top vendors that are evolving this market include Avaya, Siemens, Cisco, IBM (News - Alert) and Microsoft.

According to senior research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group, James McCloskey, the Unified Communications market has evolved to include rich communication tools that go beyond presence and messaging. According to McCloskey, the use of video, voice and document sharing all work seamlessly together. As these seams get fewer and fewer, Unified Communications (News - Alert) will “allow you to communicate in the right way at the right time, whether it’s through instant messaging on the desktop or video conferencing on a tablet.”

Avaya’s (News - Alert) Aura platform is one example of how multi-vendor IP telephony systems can be complimented with IPT-agnostic Unified Communications solutions by use of a feature-rich architecture. Cisco (News - Alert) also offers IP telephony, video conferencing, mobility and collaboration solutions for enterprises while supporting desktop virtualization. Microsoft has a well-rounded Unified Communications solution that integrates with other IP telephony systems from its rivals. Microsoft Lync is especially suited for cloud and on-premise mobile systems which come with great flexibility.

Siemens Enterprise Communications (News - Alert) has a feature-rich set of Unified Communications tool that also support mobile devices. Its tools have strong OpenScape Unified Communications interoperability. IBM’s offering, on the other hand, is not in telephony business, but rather, has a strong focus on collaboration aspects that also work with most IP telephony systems.