思科统一通信的架构战略

Overview

With the myriad of approaches
available, selecting a unified
communications architecture
can prove overwhelming.
Enterprise organizations must
operate within the parameters
of limited IT budgets and unique
methodologies and goals. The best unified communications options are
open and extensible, enabling new, media-rich and Web-rich applications,
flexible implementation options, and integration into existing business
applications and processes.
Cisco® Unified Communications solutions with built-in network awareness
and optimization are considered "network-centric." Network-centric platforms
resolve issues that other types of unified communications solutions often
overlook including performance, scalability, reliability, security, and extensibility.
Intelligently architected, such solutions can be delivered in multiple ways: as
software only on third-party, off-the-shelf servers; as software only on Cisco
servers; as a combined software and hardware package; or in appliance
form with multiple applications combined onto a single platform.
This paper explains how your organization can easily adopt a unified
communications solution to the extent desired, and then expand the
system incrementally over time. You will learn how the open
environment of the Cisco Unified Communications platform:
• Integrates with existing enterprise resources

• Supports third-party devices, applications, and platforms

• Easily scales to synchronize with organizational growth

With versatile tools for both internal and industry developers, the platform also
facilitates the creation of Web 2.0 and rich media applications, allowing
partners, customers, and developers to easily and quickly create custom
applications using open APIs such as SIP/SIMPLE, XML, HTTP, and SOAP.
The Unified Communications Landscape

Identifying Key Advantages and Limitations

The most visible vendors in the unified communications environment today are
those that have already established a firm foothold in their respective markets
due to the recognized quality of their products, services and support. Most of
these vendors seek to give customers a cost-effective unified communications
option by leveraging their installed hardware and software systems and
building on successful technologies to produce new platforms, products, and
services. A few newer companies are also attempting to make inroads in
unified communications markets. Current offerings tend to fall into a few
distinct categories. By clearly understanding the advantages and limitations
of each of these approaches, organizations can make better decisions
regarding both short-term and long-term unified communications strategies.
Software-Only Options

Software-only solutions for integrated business communications tend to provide
affordable, easily implemented options with substantial short-term cost benefits
and valuable business improvements. However, for the most part they lack
long-term guarantees, fail to address the limitations of dated infrastructure
components, and take minimal advantage of the communications network. At
best these solutions ignore the network, and at worst leave organizations
vulnerable to serious network-related problems. Issues can range from
excessive network maintenance requirements to scalability limits and
performance degradation. Today's software-only business communications
solutions include:
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
The P2P approach minimizes capital outlay and offers a fast path to enhanced
unified communications capabilities. This approach generally relies on a
proprietary software client to perform basic unified communications functions
such as voice calling and voice conferencing. An attractive advantage to P2P
is that no additional hardware investment is required onsite. The drawback
is that the P2P approach presents extreme administrative difficulties. The IT
team can never hope to exert full control over network usage, security,
performance, and the availability of people and applications across the
network environment. In addition, the "black box" approach to establishing
connectivity constantly puts obstacles in the path of administrators when
new applications must be integrated into the system or when existing
applications require updates and upgrades.

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