Inside DiVitas

No Blackberry-like outages for DiVitas users

By DiVitas Chief Blogger

One key benefit with the DiVitas solution is that the mobile-communications infrastructure is under enterprise control. This doesn’t just mean companies maintain their own control over phone usage (call costs) and policy compliance. It means DiVitas users need not worry about getting hit by a major outage caused by, and fixed by, a third-party. This was the case earlier this month when RIM’s Blackberry users lost service for three hours.

According to a NetworkWorld article, RIM blamed upgrades to its security infrastructure as the cause of a service outage for its BlackBerry devices. About a week later, Blackberry users were out of luck (and service) again when another outage occurred.

This type of outage happened because RIM has a single point of failure, and it failed. Enterprises have BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) resident in their networks and it hot-links back to the RIM Network Operations Center (NOC). When RIM’s NOC failed, Blackberry users found themselves without email service.

This kind of outage won’t happen to DiVitas users because the DiVitas architecture puts control in the hands of the enterprise. The risk of outage is on company-by-company basis, and therefore it is much lower.

Also, if there is an outage, it’s not an all-or-nothing scenario. Let’s say a DiVitas user’s network center goes down and the company loses DiVitas server functionality or WiFi access. Users still have the cellular component of their phones to rely on. Of course all of the DiVitas features, such as Caller ID, presence, and IM won’t be available. But then again users won’t be instantly and totally cut off from all communication. They can still make calls and use email via the cellular network. In such scenarios, inbound calls from the PBX will be routed to voicemail and can be picked up over the cellular network.

For a DiVitas user to lose email access, the company’s email server would have to go down. The email server is a second point of failure, and the chances that the network center and the email server will simultaneously fail are pretty low.

From a reliability standpoint, having control over your own communications infrastructure is a far better choice than depending on a third-party.

DiVitas weighs in on RIM/Blackberry comparison

I'm taking the opportunity to respond to a recent comment to our blog. (Thanks for your comment Gary, and for raising this comparison between RIM/BlackBerry and DiVitas)

We at DiVitas are great admirers of RIM’s business model for mobilizing business users with its BlackBerry devices. RIM is able to charge a premium for its technology because it solved the major productivity problem of letting road warriors access their email when away from their offices. You’ve gotta give credit where credit is due, and RIM with its BlackBerry success is definitely due some credit.

At DiVitas, our approach is more comprehensive than RIM’s with its BlackBerry. DiVitas brings the critical voice-and-messaging component of mobile communications into the equation. Specifically, DiVitas mobilizes “business voice” in a similar way that BlackBerry mobilizes “business email.”

This is where the similarities and differences break down:

* Business email vs. Business voice, email, IM and Presence:

RIM’s BlackBerry only mobilizes email and supports carrier wireless phone services. DiVitas mobilizes the business phone (including corporate deskphone functions i.e. 4-digit dialing,  caller ID, call transfer, etc.). DiVitas also mobilizes Unified Communications (UC) applications such  as Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence.

* Cellular only vs. dual mode (WiFi and cellular):

RIM’s Blackberry runs only on a cellular network. DiVitas runs on cellular, WiFi or both (dual-mode).

* Proprietary vs. Open standards:

RIM relies on a propriety model of using its own handsets (BlackBerrys). DiVitas works with commercially available Symbian and Windows Mobile smart phones. Since today’s smart phones offer email, DiVitas customers get mobile email and voice along with mobile business phone, IM and presence in a single wireless device.

The fact is that today, a mere 5 percent of the workforce uses mobile email (according to Yankee Group and other leading research firms). These are the road warriors whose jobs require continuous communications and availability.

Another 20 percent uses mobile voice (no email), which means that a whopping 75 percent of the workforce (corridor warriors) have yet to be mobilized. We see this as a major opportunity for businesses wanting to increase availability and productivity across the board.

DiVitas can mobilize these corridor warriors, and at the least amount of cost, because they can primarily use free WiFi vs. cellular when placing and receiving calls, or sending and receiving messages. Mobilized corridor warriors will also be more available, which relates directly to increased productivity. Some of our customers have experienced ROI in less than 30 days.

It pleases us to be compared to a successful pioneer in the mobile-communications space. We are even more pleased to have the opportunity to shed some light on the differences between our two companies’ business models and technology approaches.

Rich Watson Director of Technical Marketing DiVitas Networks

FMC, Mobile Unified Communications & DiVitas

By Vivek Khuller Founder and CEO, DiVitas Networks

During the two-plus years that DiVitas Networks has been in business, there has been a tremendous amount of congestion and confusion in the FMC market. Like fans swarming for NFL quarterback Eli Manning’s autograph, literally dozens of companies have flocked into the FMC space, driven by hopes of cashing in on what was once a hot trend. The trend evolved, but a lot of vendors haven’t caught on to this fact just yet.

While DiVitas has some common ground with FMC technology, we’ve comfortably pursued a much more dynamic market. One designated by analysts as a space especially appropriate for companies that possess a balance of mobility and unified communications components.

This market space is called Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC). It blends mobility with key communications-applications by unifying them on a dual-mode phone, which can run on any network (cellular or WiFi).

The DiVitas Mobile UC solution allows a mobile phone to behave like a deskphone. What does this mean to DiVitas end users? They are equipped with just one phone and business number, and they are just as reachable when roaming as when seated at a desk.

True to the Unified Communications (UC) mantra used by Microsoft and other UC players, DiVitas end users are reachable by more ways than just voice. In addition to voice, the DiVitas solution unifies Instant Messaging (IM), text messaging, Presence and PBX deskphone functions (such as 4-digit dialing, call-forward and call-waiting). And it delivers these applications on a dual-mode mobile phone that can be used anywhere in the world, on any type of network.

In short, DiVitas end users have all of these Unified Communications capabilities available to him, but with the added bonus of being mobile. They can roam from the office, to a car, to a WiFi hotspot and back to the office again, and this can all be done with confidence that the DiVitas end user is reachable by the entire bevy of UC tools. Most important, the way DiVitas delivers Mobile UC is automatic and totally transparent to end users (end users most challenging task is probably remembering to keep the phone charged).

Some companies offer mobile email via cellular. Other companies offer roaming over WiFi and cellular – but it’s not seamless because you have to push a button to make it happen. These are some examples of the incomplete band-aid fixes available today, which fall short of helping businesses make their workers more mobile, reachable and productive. These vendors buzzed in with hopes of cashing in on a popular trend, only to find out that mobilizing business voice & messaging applications requires a far more comprehensive strategy.

In contrast, FMC mobility combined with UC tools, like what DiVitas offers, lets companies reach their mobile-communications Nirvana.