There’s a lot of unified communications (UC) news flying around this week, and the latest to hit the inbox is M5 Networks’ M5 Communicator, a multiplatform UC client designed to make it easy for all endpoints to connect, chat and collaborate. UC VARs should take a quick look at what M5 Networks could be bringing to your UC portfolio …

M5 Communicator is part of M5 Networks’ Unified Communications Suite, and it won’t cost a dime, as long as you’re already leveraging the aforementioned suite. So what’s in the suite? Everything from VoIP to audio-visual teleconferencing and self-service portals for users, in addition to recording and business intelligence capabilities. M5 calls the suite, when combined with the M5 Communicator, the “voice 2.0 value proposition,” thanks to Mac and PC compatibility and the long list of features, including video collaboration, screen-sharing, file-sharing and instant messaging.

But the secret sauce, so to speak, is the fact that it’s all cloud-based. Leveraging the cloud, M5 Networks wants to capture a larger size of the UC space, making it as easy as possible for VARs and customers to hit the ground running with UC solutions. Important to note: M5 Networks, now part of ShoreTel, isn’t the only game in town. Be sure to check out Polycom’s RealPresence UC moves, which are strikingly similar.