Prepare to UpgradePrepare to Upgrade

Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 migrations will drive the upgrades of most enterprise UC clients, applications, and infrastructure in the next year.

Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 migrations will drive the upgrades of most enterprise UC clients, applications, and infrastructure in the next year. Organizations should budget for the cost and effort for these upgrades. As a side benefit, these upgrades will add new UC features that will enable next generation business UC applications.As companies order Windows 7 computers for new employees, refresh old computers, and add some of the latest functionality, UC clients will also have to be upgraded since only the latest version of UC software is being supported on Windows 7. Most enterprises support soft phones and other real-time UC clients on desktops along with various types of conferencing solutions that are dependent on a Web browser. Upgrading the client requires upgrading the backend infrastructure and application release too.

Adding UC functionality can be difficult to justify. But if the new UC suite is required for the new computers being sent out, then the additional feature/functionality is a bonus. So upgrades are a good thing, but the effort and cost associated with these upgrades needs to be accounted for.

A lot of organizations did not migrate to Vista, so it may have been 5-7 years since the last major desktop upgrade.Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 migrations will drive the upgrades of most enterprise UC clients, applications, and infrastructure in the next year.