1/19/2010 -- 2010 is shaping up to be a slugfest in the unified communications (UC) segment.

First, late last year, telephony specialist Avaya Inc. finalized its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions (NES), bolstering its UC bona-fides in the enterprise.

The upshot, experts report, is that Avaya and a handful of other players (including would-be juggernaut Alcatel-Lucent) are armoring themselves to take on 800-pound gorillas Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Inc. in a fractious UC segment.

"With its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions, Avaya has inarguably solidified its place as a top-two competitor in the enterprise telephony, contact center and voice messaging markets," wrote Rob Arnold, an analyst with consultancy Current Analysis, in a report published late last year. "This reinforces [Avaya's] resources to become a more formidable foe and sought-after partner in not only these sectors, but also in adjacent business segments."

The bad news for Avaya and other players is that UC kingpins Cisco, Microsoft, and AT&T aren't sitting still. For one thing, Arnold pointed out, Cisco along with networking giant Alcatel-Lucent can credibly claim that Avaya's enterprise UC line isn't completely integrated, at least with respect to its voice and data components.

Call it the gift that keeps on giving: Competitors reliably can generate integration-related fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) for years after a major acquisition. There are other concerns, as well. After all, existing (or prospective) NES customers undoubtedly had concerns about product development and roadmap execution -- to say nothing of strategic vision prior to Avaya's move. Throw in the uncertainty and doubt that reliably attend any acquisition, and you've got a situation ripe for FUD-mongering. Cisco, AT&T and other competitors should be able to attack on this account, too.

There's a lot at stake, according to market watcher Infonetics Research.

Right now, Cisco leads in both the UC solutions and VoIP hardware segments. Microsoft is No. 2 in UC solutions; AT&T No. 2 in VoIP hardware.

But UC-related spending should be a reliable cash cow in 2010 and beyond. UC revenues were off by just 4 percent in 2009, for example, a slippage that Infonetics characterizes as "mild" compared to the overall telephony segment. And even though Cisco sits athwart both the software/services and hardware segments of the UC marketscape, there's plenty of opportunity for other hungry vendors.

"Against the backdrop of significant enterprise spending reductions on all kinds of products, the unified communication market is holding up remarkably well. Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise, as these tools are designed to allow users to communicate and collaborate more effectively," said analyst Matthias Machowinski in a prepared release. "But the provider landscape is far from being set in stone; organizations are going beyond their traditional communication suppliers and considering offerings from the likes of Skype and Google, making this an interesting market to follow in coming years."

For example, Machowinski noted, there's Avaya, which -- even prior to its acquisition of NES -- claimed bragging rights in the UC communicator segment on the strength of its "aggressive" One X upgrade program.

And while both Cisco and Microsoft are today the most widely-deployed UC suppliers -- both companies enjoy high buyer awareness and receive high marks from buyers on important UC product criteria, according to Infonetics -- the UC rankings are by no means solidified.

There's Avaya's power move, Alcatel-Lucent's inescapable gigantism, and -- that sure-fire recipe for a market shake-up -- a looming UC transition, in this case, "to mobility, multimedia, and collaboration, with [buyers] looking to integrate cell phones, IM, video, and conferencing," Machowinski said. --Stephen Swoyer