Briefing: Masergy UCaaS
On December 8, Masergy – a software defined networking services company – briefed Info-Tech on its UCaaS solution. Masergy UCaaS is built on the Cisco collaboration platform, providing a value-added service through Masergy’s SD-WAN solutions and Secure Edge Network. This value-add improves uptime reliability, global network coverage and high performance, and best-of-class security. It is no surprise, then, that some of Masergy’s key industry focuses are finance and healthcare.
An organization deciding to migrate to Masergy UCaaS with Cisco Webex can expect the following benefits:
- Scalable global coverage, with cloud-based PSTN in 25+ countries.
- VoIP and video available in 120+ countries via app.
- Hybrid deployments with UCaaS and SIP trunking.
- A single portal for an end-to-end view of network performance, WAN edge devices, and app performance, with real-time control of SIP, UCaaS, and SD-WAN. This portal also offers actionable insights to reduce time to resolution, 24/7 monitoring and support from three Masergy NOCs, and self-service.
- Built-in end-to-end encryption and security controls.
- Masergy UCaaS also supports calling for MS Teams through Webex Calling integrations.
Masergy SD-WAN bundles also enhance an organization’s work-from-anywhere approach. These bundles are “SD-WAN on the Go” and “SD-WAN Home.” SD-WAN on the Go is aimed at mobile workers, extending the corporate WAN for remote workers on any device. SD-WAN Home is aimed at home office workers, providing secure WAN connectivity with Cisco Webex UC. This is done through Fortinet SD-WAN hardware.
Our Take
Masergy UCaaS’s selling point is ultimately its solid global network coverage and performance. Cisco shops that are leveraging Webex and are struggling with their connectivity would do well to consider migrating to Masergy. While not a market leader yet, Masergy’s SD-WAN solutions that explicitly cater to working from anywhere will remove the pain of jitter and poor connection at a competitive price. Masergy UCaaS will be one to watch for 2021, to see if it breaks into the top ten UCaaS providers in North America.
Source: SoftwareReviews UCaaS Data Quadrant. Accessed January 5, 2021.
While Masergy UCaaS also enables MS Teams calling through Webex Calling integration, organizations should be wary about this solution if they are predominantly Microsoft-centered. Rationalizing one’s collaboration tools has numerous benefits and, if MS Teams telephony is of interest, a better way to go is via direct routing through an SBC provider. While Cisco is a Microsoft-certified SBC provider, Masergy is not one yet. Maintaining telephony for both Cisco and Microsoft is costly to support and maintain and creates confusion among end users for which solution to choose.
For further interest on how to rationalize one’s collaboration toolset, see Info-Tech’s Rationalize Your Collaboration Tools.