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Unified Group Communications

Unified Group Communications follows the concept of Unified Communications (UC) by considering the interaction between groups of users that share a common voice communications system. Push-to-talk radio is a group communications technology designed to allow one-to-one and one-to-many conversation between participants. Trading floor hoot and holler systems and paging systems can also be considered a group communications technology for many of the same reasons.

UC typically refers to the simplification and integration of all forms of communications such as VoIP, instant messaging, phones and videoconference, as well as status and presence, email, calendars and other productivity tools. Unified Group Communications focuses on voice and the ability for groups of users to interact irrespective of the technology in use.

Although UC is a major product strategy for many platform and application providers, most UC  solutions have all but ignored the need to include group communications and broadcast technologies such as push-to-talk radio, intercoms, group text, and trading floor hoot and holler systems.  Yet all of these communications technologies are established, widely deployed and form an integral part of the communications capability of most enterprises. 

WAVE is a Unified Group Communications technology because it allows individuals and groups of users with a common communications system to seamlessly interact and collaborate:

• Radio systems of all types can operate seamlessly together regardless of make, model and frequency
• Analog, IP and cellular telephones can be patched in to a radio network and used as push-to-talk devices to transmit and receive radio voice traffic
• Intercomm systems can be used to broadcast voice communications from multiple sources and locations
• Paging systems can be harnessed to facilitate rapid message or alert distribution from non-standard sources
• Group text chat associated with audio streams allows users to share additional information about an incident while providing contextual and historical data about the conversation.
• PCs and PDAs can be used as push-to-talk radios or as end-points for any other communications device.
• Existing group communications systems such as Hoot & Holler and airport crash phones can be expanded to include new groups and ad hoc participants.

Unified Group Communications brings all communications under a single, unifying umbrella where disparate technologies, user type and location are no longer a limiting factor.