To enhance communication and collaboration activities while reducing costs, leading enterprises around the world are implementing Unified Communications (UC) solutions from Avaya and HP ProCurve Networking. As Unified Communications (UC) moves increasingly from promise to implementation, questions arise about the best ways to establish UC solutions and how to measure the value of UC from a business perspective.

By its nature, UC brings together a number of moving parts and requires coordination among previously disparate technologies, product categories, and providers. Avaya and HP ProCurve share a common approach toward UC—as well as a range of solutions—that promotes effective UC implementations delivering tangible business benefits.

This paper describes:

• Effective approaches to unifying communications
• The importance of optimizing your network infrastructure
• How embracing converged communications can increase business productivity and spur competitiveness
• Ways to evaluate return on investment (ROI) for UC

Massachusetts has taken the lead in passing a new regulation -- 201 CMR 17:00 -- that requires companies to implement a comprehensive data security plan that includes encryption. This new regulation implements the provisions of an earlier data breach notification regulation.

This article discusses some aspects of the regulation and offers suggestions on how data security best practices can help with compliance. Companies should discuss the regulation in detail with their legal consul to examine how it affects their unique circumstances and the best course of action to be taken.