Unison: Preparing a Unified Communications Encore?

Unison Communications made headlines in 2008 for launching a free, advertising-based unified communications system. The trade press cheered. Open source fans applauded because Unison supported Ubuntu Linux. But whatever happened to Unison? The VAR Guy thinks the company is preparing an encore. Here’s the speculation.

First, let’s rewind to the hype. When Unison launched a free, advertising-based UC system in 2008, quite a few folks were intrigued. The VAR Guy kept an eye on the company. By mid-2009, The VAR Guy heard Unison was preparing multiple channel partner and hosting moves. Still, Unison’s PR and marketing efforts have been mostly silent since October 2009.

Did the free, advertising-based UC system ever take off? Hmmm… The VAR Guy doesn’t know for sure. But he senses some new, paid efforts are nearing announcement. As of Feb. 2, 2010, Unison’s partner page says:

“Unison will be launching a partner program for SaaS providers with aggressive licensing and attractive margins.”

Already, Unison seems to be promoting its UC offerings to hosting providers… offering up the following graphic to show how hosting partners can make more profits with Unison rather than Microsoft Exchange.

Next Unison Moves

Looking ahead, our resident blogger senses some key Unison business moves are coming in 1Q 2010 or so…

One educated guess: Watch the relationship between Unison Communications and Intermedia, the fast-growing provider of hosted Exchange. Unison Chief Marketing Officer Rurik Bradbury is an Intermedia veteran. As is Unison’s CEO. And Intermedia has been beta testing Unison Hosting.

The VAR Guy has dropped a note to Unison seeking an update. Also, Unison’s Bradbury is scheduled to speak at the Parallels Summit 2010 conference, scheduled for Feb. 22-24 in Miami. Our resident blogger will try to track down Bradbury for an update.