Future of Engineering

IBM predicted five future trends that will increase demand for the fast-growing unified communications market and reshape the way businesses and workers communicate and collaborate worldwide.

The predictions, made in a keynote address by Mike Rhodin, General Manager of IBM Lotus software, at the VoiceCon conference here, include:

1) The Virtual Workplace will become the rule. No need to leave the office. Just bring it along.

2) Instant Messaging and other real-time collaboration tools will become the norm, bypassing e-mail.

3) Beyond Phone Calls to Collaborative Business Processes. Companies will go beyond the initial capabilities of IM to deep integration with business processes and line-of-business applications.

4) Interoperability and Open Standards will tear down proprietary walls across business and public domains.

5) New meeting models will emerge. Hang up on routine, calendared conference calls. 3-D virtual world and gaming technologies will significantly influence online corporate meeting experiences to deliver more life-like experiences.

IDC estimates the unified communications market will reach $17 billion in worldwide revenue in 2011, growing at 38 percent compounded annually from 2007. As such, IBM sees unified communications as the next significant frontier for technology growth. To meet these demands, IBM is investing significantly in a range of resources, including software, services and research.

Part of this investment also covers a significant expansion of IBM Lotus Sametime software products. Work has also begun on blending IBM's social software expertise into the real-time environment.

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IBM Predicts Five Future Trends That Will Drive Unified Communications

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