2016-48 The Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and …...Hangouts and Chromebox for Meetings. Fuze,...

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Digital Workplace Service

RESEARCH NOTE Number: 2016-48 December 15, 2016

Authors: Jim Lundy

Topic: Collaboration

Issue: Who are the collaboration vendors and how are they evolving?

The Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and Video Conferencing, 2016: Video Powers the Digital Enterprise

Summary: The 2016 Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and Video Conferencing examines 23 major providers in the market. Emerging use cases make Video Collaboration a strategic imperative that can provide an enterprise with a competitive advantage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 2 New Standards Enforced for Collaboration Capabilities .......................................................... 2Cloud and Real-Time Collaboration Platforms ......................................................................... 3Live Broadcast Collides with Webcasting ................................................................................. 3Mobility and IoT Drive New Use Cases ..................................................................................... 4Video Rooms: The Battleground Grows ................................................................................... 4 Digitizing Work Spaces ............................................................................................................. 5 HD Video: 4K Ultra HD Looming ............................................................................................... 5 Digital Transformation: Collaboration Drives Outcomes ........................................................... 5 The Market is Consolidating ..................................................................................................... 5 How to Use This Globe ............................................................................................................. 6

Aragon Research Globe Overview ................................................................................................ 8Dimensions of Analysis ............................................................................................................. 8The Four Corners of the Globe ................................................................................................. 9Inclusion Criteria ....................................................................................................................... 9

The Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and Video Conferencing, 2016 ........................................... 11Leaders ................................................................................................................................... 12Contenders ............................................................................................................................. 19Innovators ............................................................................................................................... 23 Specialists ............................................................................................................................... 28

Aragon Advisory ......................................................................................................................... 29Bottom Line ................................................................................................................................ 29

© 2016 Aragon Research Inc. and or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Digital Workplace Service RESEARCH NOTE Number: 2016-48 December 15, 2016

Introduction The race to add more visual collaboration inside and outside of the enterprise is being driven by the need to work faster and compete in the global market. Today’s Web and Video Conferencing providers are evolving to meet this demand. In this Research Note, which is the fourth edition of the Aragon Research Globe for Web and Video Conferencing, we overview 23 major providers in the market and the major use cases they support. New Standards Enforced for Collaboration Capabilities

The integration of web and video conferencing has entered a new era. Today, leading providers are challenging standard conferencing capabilities, pushing the envelope on multiple fronts. This stems from the user demand to have live video conferencing capabilities on mobile, desktop, and in conference rooms. As a result, we are seeing newer providers emerge who will readily compete with the incumbents. Simplicity and ease of use is what users expect, no matter the device or the environment. Providers who are not optimized for mobile will need to act quickly; as the need for immediate collaboration rises, so will user expectations in the enterprise. This also is true of the Conference and Huddle room. One-click connectivity is now the standard expectation. Gone are the days of IT staff standing outside of the conference room in case of a problem. One of the current challenges that enterprises face is reconciling their different Collaboration and Communications options. Aragon views Web and Video Conferencing and their associated use cases as part of the larger Unified Communications and Collaboration landscape (see Figure 1). The important thing to realize is that today, many of the Web and Video Conferencing and/or UCC capabilities may be integrated with other business applications, such as CRM. This is where the shift to platforms comes into play.



Figure 1: Web and Video Conferencing is part of an overall approach to Unified Communications and Collaboration. Cloud and Real-time Collaboration Platforms

If there is any one thing that is driving change in this market, it is the impact of Real-time Cloud Computing, which has given smaller providers the ability to challenge established ones. Additionally, the continued synergy between Web and Video Conferencing cannot be ignored. No longer can companies look at these capabilities separately. All of the providers in this Globe offer both Web and Video Conferencing. Traditional Web Conferencing vendors now combine desktop and mobile web conferences with video; similarly, traditional room-based Video Conferencing providers now also offer Web Conferencing, with screen and application sharing. VoIP is also included as part and parcel of these offerings.

The ability to integrate into other applications is now a must-have capability, as the need to collaborate in real-time is becoming part of the new Digital Work Hub experience. From a platform perspective, more providers are allowing their Web and Video Conferencing capabilities to be integrated with third party applications. They might integrate with Skype for Business; or Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud, like Cisco and Microsoft do; they might even license their technology to be included in a platform, the way Polycom licenses its Voice technology as an IaaS offering.

Live Broadcast Collides with Webcasting

Video broadcasting to large numbers of people is a growing use case popularized by Facebook and Periscope. The ability to do this in a consumer setting has become a target use case for events - marketers are drawn to live broadcast because it can increase demand and brand awareness.



Traditionally, high volume video has been referred to as webcasting. In this year’s report, we have included a number of providers that offer webcasting support.

Mobility and IoT Drive New Use Cases

Video Mobility is about enabling meetings from anywhere and on any device; however, video experiences on mobile devices can vary, as does the ease of accessing the meeting. This has led lower-cost solutions to acquire substantial capabilities. Basic web conferencing features are now essentially table stakes.

At the same time, Aragon expects new use cases to arise in 2017 as video endpoints become fully mobile, with cars and drones playing a larger role. Today, most providers do not integrate with non-office access points, but we expect that to change, as buildings become fully digital and drones that have 4K video capabilities become integrated into office real estate and security applications.

Video Rooms – The Battleground Grows

Prices to equip a fully enabled conference room are getting lower. This is because equipment investments are falling as the overall user experience is improving. Google is gaining attention with Hangouts and Chromebox for Meetings. Fuze, Highfive, Lifesize, and Zoom also offer video room systems, which puts them on a collision path with others, such as Avaya, Cisco, and Polycom.

One important consideration when evaluating providers for room systems has to do with cabling. Some providers rely on USB-based cameras, which means a camera needs to be connected to a laptop and the large room display. This can often mean extensive use of cabling to the conference room table. Look for providers that have already streamlined this, so that room ergonomics are maintained.

Digitizing Workspaces

The increasing trend is to digitize not only conference rooms, but open workspaces and smaller huddle areas. What we are seeing is a fivefold growth in video-enabled conference rooms from 2015 to 2020.

Prediction: By YE 2020, 50% of conference rooms will be video-enabled.

This digitization is giving rise to more integrated workplace platforms and it demands more video collaboration. Real-time collaboration tools like video bring geographically dispersed teams together visually, which improves the collaboration experience and impacts work.

Even more noticeably, the people within these global enterprises find their teams expanding to include co-workers in many other organizations and in different geographies and time zones. The new worker has to be much more collaborative across groups, distances, and affiliations.



HD Video – 4K Ultra HD Looming

Today’s business users are demanding rich, immersive video. More providers can now deliver both 760 and 1080 P video reliably, with some requirement for MPLS connectivity between campuses. We expect to see more support for 4K video in 2017 and beyond, as many mobile devices can already capture 4K video and many video portals can playback 4K video. Consumer devices are pushing this as a trend. Today, there are bandwidth limitations to enable 4K (e.g. Ultra High Definition) for video conferencing rooms. However, more cameras now support 4K capture (list them). We expect to see more conferencing support for 4K, which will open up more immersive applications. Digital Transformation – Collaboration Drives Outcomes

The need to make the enterprise fully digital is also forcing enterprises to look at how work gets done. Enterprises are increasingly looking to focus collaboration investments on specific business outcomes. This has led to an ever-increasing emergence of lines of business buyers making collaboration investment decisions. These buyers are, in many cases, bypassing IT to make significant procurement decisions for Web and Video Conferencing amidst other collaboration capabilities. Whether the buyers are in sales, marketing, or HR, they are looking for support of real business use cases from sales communications, marketing webinars/webcasts, and virtual training. Sometimes buyers are also seeking out support for industry-specific use cases, such as telemedicine, for example, or video collaboration in industries such as manufacturing.

When it comes to investing in collaboration, the growing requirement is for video-enabled business applications. In addition, real-time collaboration is being integrated into existing business applications, and is also merging with social into the contextual fabric of business processes. Collaboration providers that fail to support business process and application integration will miss this wave and be left behind.

The Market Is Consolidating

Since collaboration providers have to support a wider range of use cases, we are seeing tremendous market consolidation occurring. Traditional providers are acquiring adjacent technologies and vendors to round out their portfolios and offerings. In 2015, we saw Cisco acquire Acano, Synata, and Worklife, while ThinkingPhones acquired Fuze. This year, there were two major moves. Polycom was nearly bought by Mitel, but instead was taken private. Logmein, makers of join.me, made the announcement on July 26th, 2016 that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement for LogMeIn to combine with Citrix’s GoTo business in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017. We expect others to make moves to buy faster growing Video and/or UCC providers to bolster their application portfolios.



How to Use this Globe From a buyer’s perspective, this Globe represents a wide assortment of vendors that have expertise in different parts of the Web and Video Conferencing spectrum. Within this converged market, there are different levels of convergence. At one level, web and video converge on desktops and mobile devices, as evidenced by many traditional web conferencing offerings, such as Adobe Connect and Citrix GoToMeeting. At another level, convergence has happened where traditional room-based video conferencing providers include the necessary content, application, and screen sharing capabilities in conjunction with HD quality video room systems and multiple different endpoints, including desktop and mobile. Still others are focusing on large scale Webcasting or the smaller and more engaging Webinars. Our advice to enterprise buyers is to first consider what your core requirements are in regards to Web and Video Conferencing. We encourage buyers to go beyond just the positions on the Globe graph: consider which capabilities and products best fit the required use cases that pertain to your enterprise or buying center. For example, if the requirements are for external audience sharing, then a provider that offers Webcasting or Webinars may be the best fit. The table below segments the providers in this report by the key use cases they support: Vendor Video Meetings Room-based Video

Conferencing Webcasting Webinars

Adobe* ✔ ✔ Avaya ✔ ✔ ✔ BlueJeans ✔ ✔ ✔

Cisco* ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Citrix* ✔ ✔ Fuze ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Google ✔ ✔ ✔ Huawei ✔ ✔ Highfive ✔ ✔ join.me ✔ ✔ Kollective ✔ ✔ Lifesize ✔ ✔ MediaPlatform ✔ ✔ Microsoft ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Pexip ✔ ✔ PGi ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Polycom ✔ ✔ ✔ ReadyTalk ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Saba* ✔ uStudio ✔ ✔ VBrick ✔ ✔ Vidyo ✔ ✔ Zoom ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔



*Also supports the Virtual Classroom use case. As market convergence continues with Web and Video Conferencing, we are seeing buyers increasingly look for solutions that encompass high quality video with content sharing capabilities. This will bode well for those providers who can offer a converged experience. While use cases such as webinars are still in the expertise and domain of specialist web conferencing and online meetings providers, we will see those capabilities increasingly become part of converged Web and Video Conferencing offerings.



Aragon Research Globe Overview

The Aragon Research Globe graphically represents our analysis of a specific market and its component vendors. We use a rigorous analysis of each vendor using three dimensions that enable comparative evaluation of the participants in a given market.

The Aragon Research Globe looks beyond size and market share, which often dominate this type of analysis, and instead uses those as comparative factors in evaluating providers’ product-oriented capabilities. Positioning in the Aragon Research Globe will reflect how complete a provider’s future strategy is, relative to their performance in fulfilling that strategy in the market.

A further differentiating factor is the global market reach of each vendor. This allows all vendors with similar strategy and performance to be compared regardless of their size and market share. It will improve recognition of providers with a comprehensive strategy and strong performance but limited or targeted global penetration, which will be compared more directly to others with similar perspectives.

Dimensions of Analysis The following parameters are tracked in this analysis:

Strategy reflects the degree to which a vendor has the market understanding and strategic intent that are at the forefront of market direction. That includes providing the capabilities that customers want in the current offering and recognizing where the market is headed. The strategy evaluation includes:

• Product

• Product strategy

• Market understanding and how well product roadmaps reflect that understanding • Marketing

• Management team, including time in the job and understanding of the market

Performance represents a vendor’s effectiveness in executing its defined strategy. This includes selling and supporting the defined product offering or service. The performance evaluation includes:

• Awareness: Market awareness of the firm and its product.

• Customer experience: Feedback on the product, installs, upgrades and overall satisfaction.

• Viability: Financial viability of the provider as measured by financial statements.

• Pricing and Packaging: Is the offering priced and packaged competitively?

• Product: The mix of features tied to the frequency and quality of releases and updates.

• R&D: Investment in research and development as evidenced by overall architecture.

Reach is a measure of the global capability that a vendor can deliver. Reach can have one of three values: national, international or global. Being able to offer products and services in one of the following three regions is the third dimension of the Globe analysis:



• Americas (North America and Latin America)

• EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

• APAC (Asia Pacific: including but not limited to Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore, etc.)

The market reach evaluation includes: • Sales and support offices worldwide

• Time zone and location of support centers

• Support for languages

• References in respective hemispheres

• Data center locations

The Four Corners of the Globe The Aragon Research Globe is segmented into four sectors, representing high and low on both the strategy and performance dimensions. When the analysis is complete, each vendor will be in one of four groups: leaders, contenders, innovators or specialists. We define these as follows:

• Leaders have comprehensive strategies that align with industry direction and market demand, and perform effectively against those strategies.

• Contenders have strong performance, but with more limited or less complete strategies. Their performance positions them well to challenge for leadership by expanding their strategic focus.

• Innovators have strong strategic understanding and objectives, but have yet to perform effectively across all elements of their strategy.

• Specialists fulfill their strategy well, but have a narrower or more targeted emphasis with regard to overall industry and user expectations. Specialists may excel in a certain market or vertical application.

Inclusion Criteria This Globe looks at the overlapping categories of web and video conferencing, and unified communications and collaboration. It will help clients navigate the intersection of web, video meetings and UCC to look at the overall set of capabilities that support critical business use cases. The inclusion criteria for this Aragon Research Globe are:

• Revenue: A minimum of $7 million in primary revenue for web and videoconferencing, or $15 million in revenue in a related market, such as collaboration or UCC.

• Shipping product: Product must be announced and available.

• Customer references: Vendors must provide customer references in each region where they do business.

• Support for web conferencing or video conferencing.

• Support for mobile devices.



Inclusion – Five new Vendors were added in 2016: • Kollective • MediaPlatform • ReadyTalk • uStudio • VBrick

Exclusion: Three Vendors were excluded for 2016:

• AT&T • IBM • Unify



The Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and Video Conferencing, 2016 (As of 12/15/2016)

Figure 2: The Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and Video Conferencing, 2016.



Leaders Avaya Avaya has been quietly building out a software-focused architecture and has consolidated its Video Conferencing (Avaya Aura and Scopia) offerings with an innovative and intuitive Avaya Equinox user experience. It has also been building its own solutions portfolio and has leveraged all of its acquisitions to build out a robust API-based UCC platform. To make this happen, Avaya leverages the Breeze Client SDK and harnesses the power of several Avaya offerings including Aura, IP Office, and Scopia, which, when combined together, offer one of the most robust collaboration and communications platform offerings. While Avaya has been primarily known in the Contact Center and Unified Communications, it now has a full set of Video-based offerings that work out of the box or can be integrated into existing client facing applications. All of Avaya’s recent acquisitions are complete, and with a software and solutions-based focus, this positions Avaya as one to watch.

Strengths Challenges • H.265 HD Video high quality content sharing with

room systems, desktop, and mobile clients • Video User experience • Extensive video inoperability (inherited from

Radvision) with Cisco, Polycom, Lifesize, Microsoft • Highly reliable telephony and UC • UCC Platform • Partner network and ecosystem

• Migrating large install base to new offerings



Cisco Cisco has doubled down on its investments in Cloud and its overall UCC Portfolio. It completed a complete rewrite of its Collaboration and messaging architecture with Cisco Spark at the Center. For Conferencing, Cisco WebEx and its high-definition Video Room systems have received strong user feedback, due to new capabilities, lower price points, and licensing flexibility. The integration of Acano with Cisco Meeting Server means it has some of the most robust video interoperability and scalability on the market. WebEx continues to be the most recognizable brand in web conferencing. Cisco has also enhanced Spark, which has the capabilities to serve as a meetings, messaging, and calling service, as well as the launch point for all team collaboration interactions. This means that Cisco can now put video anywhere – via flexible cloud, premise, and hybrid deployment models. Cisco Spark and WebEx are integrated with Cisco’s video conferencing and UC and Collaboration portfolio, which includes HD video for webRTC clients and endpoint options across phone (8800 series), desktop (DX solution), room (MX and SX systems), and immersive video systems (IX systems for on-premise deployments only). The integrated Cisco portfolio means that it can fit the needs of teams and large enterprises – including federal and public sector organizations, as WebEx is now a FedRAMP-authorized service.

Strengths Challenges • Cisco and WebEx brands • High quality Video across devices, including mobile • Video Rooms and Endpoints • Support for multiple use cases • Spark Mobile Platform • FedRAMP certification

• Multiple brands can make it complex for enterprises to understand full offerings



Citrix Citrix’s GoTo family of products is in the process of merging with LogMeIn for US $1.8 Billion. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2017. GoToMeeting remains a popular web conferencing product that is easy to use and that offers six video screens for meetings. Citrix has continued to maintain its product line and in 2016, saw improvements in Voice Integration on PCs and mobile devices. The Citrix collaboration team responsible for its GoTo line of products has undergone tremendous turnover during the past couple of years; we expect LogMeIn to double down on GoToMeeting once the acquisition is complete. GoToWebinar remains one of the most valuable assets in the GoTo Product family and as demand for Digital Marketing solutions grows, we expect to see GoToWebinar continue to be a top choice.

Strengths Challenges • Freemium to premium model • Ease of use • Phone bridge integration • Webinar Use Case

• Lacks integration with enterprise UCC offerings • Limited concurrent video sessions

Fuze ThinkingPhones acquired Fuze in 2015 and subsequently rebranded the combined companies as Fuze. With the combined power of both firms, Fuze is now positioned as a full UCC Provider that offers HD Video Conferencing, which excels in Mobile environments. Fuze has continued to push the envelope on ease of use and has also expanded its Meeting portfolio. It offers a full Room experience and in 2016, also added Web Casting as an option. As web and video conferencing converge, other collaboration capabilities will also join to add persistence, content, and context for distributed teams. Fuze has received a significant investment of US $112M and it has seen strong growth in 2016. The ability to launch a video meeting from any device and share high quality content are capabilities that make Fuze standout. Fuze has also expanded its management team with a number of additions to prepare for additional growth.

Strengths Challenges • UCC Platform • Video Rooms offering • Webcast Support • Video conferencing integration options

• Awareness outside of US



join.me LogMeIn and its join.me offering continue to be popular options for basic meetings and conferences. join.me has had viral success in enterprises, partly due to its effortless way that users can join a meeting. join.me is also focusing more on being a Platform as a Service. Today, join.me integrates with a number of Sales Engagement Platforms, such as Highspot, DocSend, Yesware, and Octiv. It has also recently integrated with other offerings such as Slack and Trello.

join.me has had video capabilities for over a year and this has helped it grow share as well as enable it to compete with larger players. The join.me architecture offers a truly lightweight but still scalable option for starting meetings and its overall ease of use continues to attract buyers. One of the attractive features is no charge for international calling for meetings; many other providers charge significant amounts. Given that LogMeIn is in the final stages of merging with larger rival GoToMeeting, we expect there will be some product overlap once the deal is complete in 2017. join.me excels at external use cases for agencies, sales teams, and consulting organizations that need to demo products or hold regular meetings.

Strengths Challenges • Ease of use • Pricing • Broader collaboration capabilities • Advanced white boarding

• Messaging to strategic enterprises buyers



Microsoft Microsoft has tremendous traction in enterprises with its Office 365 franchise and has made a strong push with Skype for Business (SfB) with the E5 Bundle. Microsoft has enhanced Skype for Business in 2016 with additional meeting capabilities that are seamless and much easier to use than in the past. One of the benefits to enterprises is the familiar SfB experience across all platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Skype Room Systems). This leads to rapid adoption based on familiarity of people around the world with Skype for Business. Skype Room Systems are helping to create more demand for Skype for business. The pull that Microsoft created by bundling Skype for Business with Office 365 in both E3 and E5 configurations means that many enterprises now have the rights to use it. With E5, Microsoft can offer small meetings or full Skype Broadcast for webcasting and webinar use cases. The Skype for Business ecosystem is huge, with Microsoft enabling group video from nearly any device. Skype Room Systems features a growing set of partners with its own Video Endpoints. The one minor overlap we see in the Office 365 product family is with the launch of its mobile collaboration offering Microsoft Teams, which, while it leverages SfB voice and video capabilities, is a separate client interface. .

Strengths Challenges • Microsoft brand • Video Meetings • Webcasts • HD video quality on point-to-point calls • Enhanced Mac Client • Global PSTN Conferencing Coverage

• Separate client apps for SfB and Microsoft Teams



Polycom Polycom was taken private in 2016 and is now led by veteran CEO Mary McDowell. Polycom looks to leverage its strong position as a premiere provider of video solutions with a greater focus on Cloud integration and simpler licensing via RealPresence Clariti Collaboration Software. With its flagship endpoints, such as RealPresence Trio, RealPresence Centro, RealPresence Debut, RealPresence Medialign, and RealPresence Group Series, Polycom solidifies its new strategic focus on people-centric collaboration. Polycom has also been able to leverage its partnership with Microsoft - it powers Microsoft’s Video Interoperability service. In regards to Mobile, Polycom is solutions-focused, and this enables multiple verticals to be supported, from manufacturing to healthcare. Polycom’s renewed focus on user experience and new, innovative collaboration offerings are welcome changes and signal a redirection in strategy. With these new solutions, Polycom now has a more compelling story for enterprise collaboration.

Strengths Challenges • High-quality video and audio • Licensing simplicity • Video Interoperability • Microsoft Interoperability

• Migrating its large install endpoint base to new Polycom solutions

Vidyo Vidyo has been expanding its footprint by broadening its offerings both at the platform and Cloud Video Collaboration as a Service (VCaaS) level. Vidyo has been focused on Video Platform as a Service longer than most, a strategic focus that has helped it to grow. Its VideoIQ Platform is helping to power efforts in both the traditional Vidyo OEM Business (e.g. Mitel) and multiple verticals. The verticals that have seen the most success for Vidyo include government, healthcare, and banking, and these success stories, along with the addition of more European partners, are helping to power Vidyo’s customer acquisition. Vidyo’s new Vidyo Cloud is gaining traction in part because of the robust VCaaS capabilities that include 4K support for broadcast and for content sharing. In addition to Public Cloud, Vidyo can be deployed on premises, or configured for hybrid cloud.

Strengths Challenges • HD video quality with low multipoint latency • Flexible deployment options • APIs and SDKs • Scale

• Limited brand and market awareness due to infrastructure strategy



Zoom Zoom, whose Founder and CEO Eric Yuan spent years at WebEx, has seen significant growth in 2016 by leveraging its freemium and premium offerings that are powered by its high-quality Video and Web Conferencing cloud platform. Zoom supports large numbers of attendees and can display over 500 video participants for audiences of up to 10,000 attendees. In 2016, Zoom added enhanced support for Zoom Rooms, which are software-defined video conferencing rooms that use off-the-shelf hardware. Zoom is leveraging its core meeting platform with Zoom Rooms, where the focus is on ease of use and ease of starting or joining a meeting from your conference or huddle room. These are becoming very popular in executive offices.

Zoom offers a full mobile-first video conferencing capability, which means that users can join from anywhere. Besides offering integrations with H.323 and SIP room systems, in 2016, Zoom announced native integration with Skype for Business. Zoom’s growth due to its innovative product means it is a provider to watch.

Strengths Challenges • Scalable HD Video Conferencing and Webinars • Software-defined video conference room system

with video, audio, wireless content sharing, and integrated calendaring

• Mobile enabled video conferencing • Webinars • Growing Partner network

• Market awareness outside of U.S.



Contenders

Adobe Adobe Connect was one of the pioneers in Web Conferencing, and it continues to be one of the lead choices for Webinars. As the market has evolved, Adobe has embraced HTML 5. While it still supports Flash, we believe this will eventually become obsolete. Corporate Learning and Webinars are two of the primary use cases for Adobe Connect. Adobe has also begun to leverage deeper integration between Adobe Connect and Adobe Experience Manager platform. There is some integration now with learning; however, multiple communications and collaboration use cases in sales and marketing abound from a customer experience perspective.

Strengths Challenges • Webinars • Hosting meetings with video from mobile devices • Support for multiple online meetings use cases • Security

• Support for broader UCC and Video Conferencing Rooms



Google Google has made Hangouts its lead video conferencing application in the G Suite bundle. Hangouts now supports meetings and has easy-to-use screen sharing. It scales well and runs on almost any device. Additionally, it offers full integration with other Google apps such as Email, Calendar, and Chat, which allows users to launch straight into a full video Hangout. Integration with Gmail ensures that Google enterprise users now have a full range of collaboration capabilities, from asynchronous to real-time. Google also offers software-based room video conferencing with Chromebox. Google Hangouts supports both voice and video calls and offers interoperability with legacy H.323, SIP-based videoconferencing room systems with Hangouts and Chromebox, and integrations via partnership with Vidyo. The ease of shifting from messaging to a full meeting is one of the advantages of Hangouts and fosters enhanced collaboration between users. Google also offers Duo, a simple, mobile video-calling app that has some overlap in functionality, but is targeted towards consumers.

Strengths Challenges • Enterprise penetration with G Suite • Partner ecosystem, including interoperability with

SIP and H.323 systems via partners • Video quality • Ease of use

• Minor Overlap with Google Duo



Huawei Huawei is a global brand in the communications and collaboration space and has been building out its portfolio of video conferencing solutions. In 2016, Huawei introduced a number of new cameras and Group Video offerings that are challenging existing providers. The offerings include the SMC2.0 Video Conferencing System and the MCU VP 9660 Video Conferencing Solution. Huawei also offers a variety of cameras, such as the TE10, TE20, and the TE30, which others now resell as a Private Label device. Huawei’s enterprise collaboration solutions encompass video conferencing, telepresence, and its eSpace UC platform. Huawei is known for its cross-vertical industry expertise and solutions. Its launch of its CloudMCU, which supports virtualization, cloud-based deployment, AVC, and SVC, is helping it win business in its launch of Telecom in countries such as China, Germany, and in the Middle East. Huawei has also leveraged its implementation of the WeChat mobile messaging solution to support video calls, group chat, and file sharing on Huawei mobile devices.

Strengths Challenges • Video Conferencing End Points • Full UCC platform • Ecosystem • Vertical solutions

• Market awareness in North America

Lifesize Lifesize has expanded its offerings in Collaboration and has been migrating its base to the cloud-based Lifesize software application, which it launched in 2014. While transitioning customers to the Cloud, Lifesize continues to market its own Lifesize branded HD camera and phone systems, which the company has been developing since 2005. With newly added flexibility, Lifesize can now offer a cloud delivery model for video that can be paired with any conference room hardware. Lifesize is also focusing efforts on video-enabling business applications in key verticals, such as healthcare and manufacturing. The pivot towards cloud will enable Lifesize to reach new audiences within the business.

Strengths Challenges • Ability to integrate disparate systems • Hybrid capabilities that pair a cloud-based service

with conference room hardware • Video quality

• Balancing hardware and software solutions



PGi PGi, which was acquired by Siris Capital Group, LLC in December 2015, is focusing more on Web and Video Conferencing than it ever has in the past. It offers GlobalMeet and iMeet as its primary conferencing services. iMeet has been enhanced with Dolby Voice for a high quality audio experience, as well as the ability to escalate from chat, voice, or video calling into a meeting. It also offers iMeetLive for webinars and webcasts for 10,000+ people. PGi is starting to offer vertical market focus solutions such as Sales, where it offers an audio narration app called iMeet Narrate, and a calendar solution called iMeet Agenday. Besides reselling conferencing and collaboration services from other providers, a challenge for PGi is that is has overlapping products.

Strengths Challenges • Service provider expertise • Global Market reach • GlobalMeet brand • Global audio network • HD audio solutions • Complete offering • Large live support team

• Integration with enterprise UCC systems



Innovators

BlueJeans BlueJeans added new executives to its team in 2016, including President Mike Mansbach, CPO Mark Strassman, CRO Frank Vella, and CMO Lori Wright. This comes on the heels of a 75M Investment round in 2015. BlueJeans was one of the first to pioneer video interoperability via its Video as a Service Cloud offering. Earlier in 2016, it rebranded its video meetings service as BlueJeans onVideo, which joins BlueJeans Primetime video events as flagships of the company’s Enterprise Video Cloud portfolio. Complementary solutions include BlueJeans Relay for third party video conferencing system automation, and BlueJeans Command Center for central management and reporting. Integrations support public/private cloud deployment options, audio conferencing, and UC solutions such as Microsoft Skype for Business. More recently, the company added BlueJeans onSocial, which offers live broadcast capabilities that leverage the growing popularity of Facebook Live and BlueJeans Huddle, a software-based group video system. BlueJeans enables a broad range of third party solutions to be supported with good HD video and content sharing capabilities. Its Primetime and onSocial offerings now enable large-scale webcasting and webinars for larger audiences.

Strengths Challenges • HD video and content sharing • Broad range of third-party solutions and integrations

• Lower cost

• Deployment options, besides cloud



Highfive Highfive made a market splash with its launch in 2015 and today, it still offers an integrated video conferencing camera platform that is included with a built-in subscription. The ease of installation and setup makes it attractive for small businesses or remote offices that do not have IT staff. With a simple, compact design, Highfive Web and Video Conferencing mounts on top of any monitor or TV screen. Highfive changed its pricing for its hardware and now offers an integrated offering between U.S. $1,000 and U.S. $2,400 per room per year. Also new in 2016 was the addition of Dolby Voice for its high-end enterprise offering. We believe the ease of use and the all-in-one camera/microphone design make Highfive a good value that will continue to disrupt the current Web and Video Conferencing market.

Strengths Challenges

• Ease of use • Ease of Installation • Cost is relatively affordable for outfitting rooms

• Integration with other Video Platforms

Kollective Kollective, based in Bend, Oregon, offers ECDN and Webcasting capabilities with a focus on communications and training use cases. Its Kontiki Webcaster and Kontiki MediaCenter business applications are designed for these use cases and are supported by a Software-Defined Enterprise Content Delivery Network (SD ECDN), an overlay infrastructure that ensures high quality video delivery. Kollective also offers the Kollective Konnector, which allows UCC Platforms (voice and video) to leverage the Kollective SD ECDN. With the growing focus on SD ECDN and connectivity, Kollective becomes a supplier to enterprises and to other providers that do not offer an ECDN. When this is combined with its Services and Network testing to ensure reliable video delivery, Kollective becomes something highly appealing to under-resourced IT Departments. We see enterprises looking for complete end-to-end VCM capabilities that Kollective can support.

Strengths Challenges • SD ECDN • Strong Internal video management and delivery focus • UC Connectors • Good APIs for integration

• Ability to support video editing



MediaPlatform MediaPlatform offers a full Enterprise Video Platform. With U.S. $12 Million in new investment and new additions to its leadership team, MediaPlatform enables Video Content Management and live delivery. Its WebCaster solution for live video rounds out its platform and is gaining traction in the market. In addition, MediaPlatform’s recently announced integrations with both Microsoft Skype for Business and SmartBridge for extending the reach of Video Conferencing Systems will give enterprises choices for integrated live streaming.

MediaPlatform PrimeTime offers a full set of APIs. This will enable MediaPlatform to continue to expand its integrations, which already include SharePoint and Cisco WebEx. Its growing solutions focus allows it to offer video-enabled business applications (VEBAs) for Healthcare, Government, and Financial Services. MediaPlatform was one of the first to offer enterprises Cloud flexibility with its flexible SaaS and hybrid deployment models. Its advanced analytics provide the right level of understanding on usage to business leaders.

Strengths Challenges • Webcasting and “enterprise YouTube” capabilities • Web conferencing integrations • Videoconferencing gateway • Real-Time Analytics • Event management and archiving

• Awareness outside of North America



Pexip Pexip focuses on video-based communications between a variety of platforms through either gateway-ing between platforms such as Skype for Business, legacy video conferencing, and WebRTC, or by providing every member of an organization with personal Virtual Meeting Rooms. Its Infinity offering brings an open, virtualized, software-based approach to video conferencing. Infinity can run on any standard off-the-shelf server and in most cloud options. One of Infinity’s major promises is that it can scale to an unlimited number of users in any size organization, providing visual collaboration infrastructure for every employee.

Pexip has browser-based support for joining virtual meetings with various endpoints and communications systems. Pexip has focused on being an expert at Video Conferencing integration for Skype for Business enterprises. It natively integrates video conferencing solutions from the likes of Cisco, Polycom, and Lifesize with any other software or hardware UC solution, such as Skype for Business (Lync), as well as web browsers and audio callers via its Virtual Meeting Rooms.

Strengths Challenges • Interoperability • Webcasting • Scale • Virtual Meeting Rooms

• Market awareness and messaging to enterprises

ReadyTalk Founded in 2000, Denver-based ReadyTalk develops and markets its audio, web, video conferencing, and UC products as an all-in-one cloud communications solution. In 2016, ReadyTalk enhanced its video conferencing offerings by incorporating in-room technology, mobility, and HD video capabilities. The conferencing solutions are well known for being easy to join, with no participant downloads and are suitable for meetings of up to 100 participants.

The addition of a unified communications solution at the end of 2016 rounds out ReadyTalk’s cloud communications solution with voice and collaboration tools. ReadyTalk also offers webinars and webcasts, which are ideal for marketing teams incorporating webinars into their strategy or for large town-hall meetings of up to 3,000 participants.

Strengths Challenges • Portfolio that serves webcast, webinar, collaboration, and UC

• Ease of Use • Customer support • Phone bridge integration with global reach • Integrations • HD Video

• Market awareness



uStudio Austin-based uStudio offers a leading Enterprise Video platform that includes Live Video Streaming, which can quickly be converted to OnDemand Viewing. The company bet on a cloud-based platform approach to video, enabling scalability, which is driven by a suite of interconnected applications and APIs for extension. uStudio Live is gaining traction in corporate communications, service, and support use cases. The uStudio Live capabilities are also optimized for delivery over Wans, eliminating some of the costs associated with MPLS. uStudio also excels at analytics for live and on-demand playback. The analytics are powered by its native HTML5 Interactive Player framework and SDK that allows it to wrap any open 3rd party player. The full platform play has allowed uStudio to replace competitors in accounts where scale and reliability are critical. As Live Broadcast becomes more popular, uStudio is one to watch.

Strengths Challenges • Live Broadcast from anywhere • Deliver video anywhere including competitive players • Video metrics from any site • Customizable video platform

• Awareness outside of the US

VBrick VBrick offers a complete Enterprise Video Platform with a heavy emphasis on high quality, live, and on-demand video streams. It supports a full Webcasting experience with full self-service capabilities. Its Webcasting capabilities, combined with its full Enterprise Video platform, positions VBrick for tight integration with Cisco. VBrick has one of the most complete integrations with Cisco UC products, including integration with Cisco Spark and Cisco WebEx. Additionally, VBrick’s partnership with Microsoft supports webcasting with Skype for Business. VBrick’s go-to-market approach of partnering with tech titans is helping it grow and win larger enterprise deals. Its recent announcement of virtualized support in Citrix environments will make it an attractive option for Citrix customers.

Strengths Challenges • Webcasting • CDN capabilities • Enterprise Video Platform • Highly secure video delivery • Cisco partnership and integration

• Awareness outside of US



Specialists Saba Saba continues to offer Saba Meeting, which is focused on both work meetings and the more popular Virtual Classroom use case that is tightly integrated with Saba’s Flagship LMS platform, as well as the rest of Saba’s Cloud based Talent Management suite. Saba Meeting supports high quality Voice over IP (VoIP) and video, which works very well in low-bandwidth environments due to its infrastructure. Unique in the Saba portfolio is its predictive analytics that work in conjunction with its collaboration and Talent capabilities. Saba Meeting is not sold standalone, so enterprises will need to license the Saba portfolio to leverage it.

Strengths Challenges • Virtual classroom • Predictive analytics • Real-time cloud and recording support with

playback on mobile

• Awareness outside of corporate learning



Aragon Advisory • Enterprises need to look holistically at Web and Video Conferencing for both ease of use and

integration with other critical business applications.

• Use case needs may dictate selecting more than one vendor for needs such as Webinars and Webcasts.

• Enterprises should ask for detailed roadmaps from providers to ensure that they mesh with the enterprise technology and business direction.

• When evaluating videoconferencing products, plan for the network impact and get guidance from providers on network requirements.

Bottom Line

The Web and Video Conferencing market is undergoing change and consolidation, as business leaders understand the transformational impact that video can have in the workplace and with partners and customers. Video conferencing is evolving away from traditional hardware systems as infrastructure costs prevent many organizations from making those investments. Video Collaboration as a Service that integrates with existing investments offers flexibility and potential cost savings. The most important buying criteria should be use case, ease of use, and the impact on business outcomes as enterprises shift to becoming fully digital.

2016-48 The Aragon Research Globe™ for Web and …...Hangouts and Chromebox for Meetings. Fuze,...

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