Nortel has unveiled a new educational program designed to provide a broader understanding of unified communications, saying it is the “most comprehensive, vendor-neutral training and certification curriculum available today”. The new program includes the certification self-study guide entitled “Unified Communications Solutions: A Practical Business and Technology Approach” from Nortel Press.

Unified
communications offers enterprises “the ability to increase the tempo of
their operations, drive capital and operational expenses lower while
increasing productivity and revenues with a return on investment within
as little as 12 months,” says Nortel.



“The
road to unified communications can be complex and daunting; in many
cases, it forces technology professionals beyond their traditional
knowledge base. Unified communications certifications give IT
professionals critical skills to achieve early wins and accelerate
long-term success,” said Nora Freedman, senior analyst, IDC.



“This is
the definitive program to deliver the power of unified communications
the right way,” said Joel Hackney, president, Enterprise Solutions,
Nortel. “The ‘why’ of unified communications is becoming readily
obvious, but ‘how’ to implement these solutions in the most effective
ways has proven to be the most challenging aspect of the equation.”



The Unified Communications Solutions guide is broken down into four areas:



• unified communications evolution and functionality

• solving business communications challenges

• implementing unified communications solutions

• securing VoIP, SIP and unified communications solutions



“The
book was written to fill a gap in knowledge within the industry on how
to best approach the unified communications deployment decision from a
practical business and technology perspective,” said Gayle Lanier,
vice-president, Nortel Knowledge Services. “Supporting mentoring
programs and other education initiatives have also been designed to
make it easy for IT professionals to earn their unified communications
professional certification.”



In
addition to traditional IT professional training venues, Nortel’s
unified communications courses and certification will be offered
through the Nortel Technology Solutions Academy. This program offers
education institutions around the world the opportunity to train and
certify students on the technologies that are shaping the future of
business communications. CLICK HERE for more information on the academy. Meantime, CLICK HERE to order a copy of Unified Communications Solutions.