Unify GmbH & Co. KG

Unify GmbH & Co. KG, formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications is a joint venture of the U.S. equity firm, The Gores Group and the German industrial group Siemens AG. Unify is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and has offices in over 100 countries .. The company markets software- based unified communications (UC ) solutions for enterprises. These include voice communication, web collaboration, video conferencing, contact center etc. And network solutions and services worldwide.

The joint venture was announced on 19 July 2008 and entered into force on 1 October 2008. The Gores Group acquired while 51 % of the company, Siemens AG 49%. (CEO) of Unify is Dean Douglas. Hamid Akhavan, the former CEO of Unify is now active in the board of the company. An overview of the entire leadership team provides the Unify website.

• 2.1 products
• 2.2 Services
• 2.3 Market Strategy
• 2.4 Project ansible

History

Background: Origin (1847-2006)

Unify has its roots in the Telegraph Construction of Siemens & Halske, who founded Werner von Siemens on 12 October 1847. Werner von Siemens ' first invention was the pointer telegraph .. In the second half of the 19th century, the company expanded in the context of large projects long-distance telegraph lines in Germany and Russia, and the significant Indo- European telegraph line which extends over 11,000 km from London to Calcutta extended. In 1897 the conversion of Siemens & Halske in a corporation.

In the first half of the 20th century emerged from a series of mergers and spin-offs, three separate companies. The original company Siemens & Halske focused henceforth on communication technologies. The Siemens Schuckert GmbH, which was founded in 1903, put the focus on the field of power engineering. And founded in 1932 Siemens -Reiniger-Werke eventually specialized in medical technology. 1966, these three companies were combined for a comprehensive restructuring of Siemens AG.

In the later 70s of the 20th century, the Siemens AG set the goal to become one of the most important actors in the field of information and communication technology. 1978 ' Siemens Communication Systems ' founder, the 1985 is divided into two sections: ' Siemens Communication Systems ' for public network products and ' Siemens Information Systems ' for telephone systems and computer - based products. In the course of globalization of the 1990s, these two divisions took over several large companies. In 1989 the telephone systems division with the gradual takeover of the company ROLM from IBM and renamed it ROLM system. The buying process was completed in 1992 and the resulting company was called from this time Siemens ROLM Communications. In the same year, the company acquired 40 % stake in GEC- Plessey Telecommunications (GPT ). From this, the UK business of the current company was formed. 1991 bought the operator's network division Stromberg- Carlson The Plessey Company plc. In 1996 the company acquired also the PBX division of Mercury Communications Ltd, a subsidiary of UK-based company Cable & Wireless. The end of 1998, Siemens AG again underwent a comprehensive restructuring, emerged from the four main sectors: energy, industry, rail systems and information and communication (ICN ). Siemens Information and Communication Networks ( SICN ) - part of the ICN division and later commonly known as Siemens Communications (Siemens COM) - became the largest business unit of Siemens AG. Your strategic orientation was focused on the consolidation and expansion of Internet-based networking technologies, as was already clear that the volume of global data traffic would exceed that of the voice at the beginning of the 21st century. In addition, the U.S. market played a major role for Siemens COM, which was ruled at that time by Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies and the emerging company Cisco Systems. For this reason, the company took over in 1999, the two U.S. companies, Castle Networks Inc. and Argon Networks Inc.

In March 2002, Siemens Communications has been divided into two major business units - one for public mobile networks and fixed networks, the other for corporate networks.

Siemens Enterprise Communications (2006-2013)

The genesis of today's company began in June 2006 when the Siemens AG the Siemens COM division was subdivided into two sections to allow for better strategic alignment. On 19 June 2006, the operator's network division merged with the Nokia Network Business Group to form a new joint venture - Nokia Siemens Networks (today Nokia Solutions and Networks). On 1 October 2006 when Siemens Enterprise Communications was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens AG. Since that day, the company's focus is on unified communications solutions and related services. End of July 2008 were Siemens, a joint venture with the US-based private equity firm The Gores Group ( headed by Alec Gores ) is known, under which two divisions of the Gores Group, Enterasys and SER Solutions, should be integrated .. From this point operated Enterasys as a subsidiary of Siemens Enterprise Communications. On September 12, 2013 gave Extreme Networks, Inc. ( NASDAQ: EXTR ) announced the conclusion of a binding contract for the sale of the shares issued Enterasys for a total price of approximately $ 180 million. The transaction was announced on November 1, 2013 ..

Unify (2013 - Today )

In October 2013, Siemens Enterprise Communications renamed in Unify. The new name is to be reconciled to the company's vision, communication systems, business processes and people.

Products and Services

Unify is a global provider of integrated communications solutions of unified communications solutions, network infrastructure and security solutions, and comprehensive managed and professional services for large companies, but also for (SME ) offers. Sales are made directly or through partner companies. The major product brands Unify are OpenScape (UC ) applications and HiPath ( converged solutions for corporate communications ). The first version of OpenScape brought the company in 2003 with Microsoft on the market. This was from No Jitter, a site for news from the technology sector, as "the first full-featured UC solution " means, " which is ahead of its time ". Unify the use and support open interfaces and standards such as SIP and SOA has prescribed, and OpenScape UC was the first solution that was developed specifically for these protocols. OpenScape Fusion plug-ins enable the integration of communication functions into existing applications such as Google Apps, Microsoft Lync, Outlook, SharePoint, IBM Lotus Notes, etc. The world of the company's service portfolio covers managed services, professional services and maintenance and support services from. OpenScape has managed in the Magic Quadrant Gartner surveys for both voice communications as well as for UC in the Leaders Quadrant. OpenScape UC has received top ratings in the competitive tendering of Enterprise Connect in the years 2012 and 2013.

Products

• Unified Communications

Cloud based solutions for mobility, web collaboration, video, messaging and plug-in integrations voice solutions cloud and premise-based voice solutions and PBX networks of different providers

• Contact center

Cloud - based solutions for large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, including Outbound Campaign Management and Workforce Optimization

• Small and medium businesses

A comprehensive suite of UC, voice and contact center solutions for SMEs

• Devices and Clients

Services

• Managed Services

Tasking or full outsourcing

• Professional Services

Design and integration services, consulting and business services

Market Strategy

Unify delivers its solutions through a combination of direct sales and partner companies. In 2008 the company expand its market strategy from a pure direct sales to a model that uses both direct sales channels and partners began. Today, Unify has a partner channel with over 2,700 Registered Resellers, covering all major markets. Many countries are served exclusively through partners, while in others a combination of direct sales and partners is used. Global Alliance partners such as BT, AT & T, IBM, Verizon, Telefonica and German Telekom operate together with Unify different markets and thereby typically focused on large enterprises and global customers selected. The global reseller partner Unify the other hand put their focus on SME customers. The company pursues a progressive advertising strategy involving successive campaigns.

• Life Works ( 2001). Thus, the vision of the company, the fragmented communications landscape was to meet with a uniform, seamless user experience, this should be done through the integration of communication using various protocols, networks and devices, regardless of location. LifeWorks was honored in 2001 with the European Innovation Award from the Wall Street Journal Europe.
• Open Communications (2006). With the tagline " Communications for the Open Minded " put this strategy to focus on the added value of an open and standards-based software approach and integration with existing enterprise applications.
• AmplifyTEAMS (2012 ). "Teamwork intensify With the tagline. Maximize performance. " Unfiy presented the concept " amplifyTEAMS ". Thus, the focus of the industry should not be directed primarily to technology, but more on the performance and productivity of teams.
• Harmonize your Enterprise ( 2013). Following a name change to Unify the company launched the " Harmonize your Enterprise " initiative with the tagline " Centralizing and Simplifying communications in a hyper- connected world " ( centralization and simplification of communication in our highly networked world). This was developed as a response to change traditional ways of working. The " Harmonize your Enterprise " initiative aims to address this change with a simplified and centralized communication system, social media support and more flexibility.

Project ansible

A secure communication platform that brings together the daily flow of communication and managed, with any device, channel, and location. This platform, language, video, social communications, search, enterprise applications, and other channels brings together, was developed in collaboration with Frog Design Inc.. Ansible Project was officially launched on 16 July 2013 and a core component of the solution portfolio of Unify be.