Was 2009 a Tipping Point for Unified Communications and Video Conferencing?

Sure 2009 was a tough year for sales of most technologies to the enterprise. But enterprises and small businesses alike were looking to do more with less, and that meant less travel and a greater reliance on collaborative technologies such as unified communications and video conferencing. And in a year where many initiatives were cut back to the bare bones, these two are still considered as strategic and emerging.

With that in mind, here's a look back at a transformational year for UC and video conferencing, and the top 10 trends and milestones in the space.

The spread of non-enterprise-issue smart phones and their integration with the enterprise.
The enterprise was infiltrated by upstarts such as the Apple iPhone over the past year – often initially introduced to beleaguered IT staff members by C-level executives. And while this has posed challenges to solution providers, such heterogeneous environments have also created integration opportunities aplenty, and they won’t stop anytime soon.