<p>Media releases are provided as is and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the company issuing the release.</p><p>The idea of unified communications has been around for years, but only now is it well-known font of wisdom on all things IT, Gartner, proclaiming it to be mainstream.</p><p>Gartner prefaces the latest edition of its unified communications vendor comparison, the 'Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications', by saying "The enterprise UC market continued to mature over the past 12 months and is now considered by Gartner to be entering the early mainstream adoption phase. Products and best practices both for deployment and increasing end-user adoption will continue to mature during the next several years."</p><p>Which means that the concept has taken only the best part of two decades to grow up! According to Wikipedia the term 'unified communications' first appeared in the mid-90s when messaging and real-time communications began to combine. However the Wikipedia entry on UC observes that: "by today's standards that would scarcely qualify as UC."</p><p><a href="http://www.cmo.com.au/mediareleases/17331/unified-communications-now-mainstream-but-only/">Keep reading...</a></p>