Objectworld last week announced that it is now offering unified communications and communications-enabled business process (CEBP) software solutions for SMBs with Microsoft Windows platforms for as little as 7 cents a day per user.

The unified communications features include e-mail, voicemail, messaging, and fax capabilities accessible from one interface and from any device. Voice feature support includes VoIP, personal call control, conference server, unified messaging, and integrated fax server. Other services supported include Active Directory-based administration, ODBC-enabled service creation environment, and a presence-based operator console.

If businesses want to upgrade their existing phone system, Objectworld can provide an end-to-end unified communications solution for only 37 cents a day per user. The 37 cents per day (using the Objectworld UC Server SIP Edition solution) includes the Objectworld software and new third-party hardware along with third-party desktop phones, server hardware and gateways.

When we followed up on the announcement with David Levy, president and CEO of Objectworld., he said that his company’s approach, targeted to the SMB market, “is more about providing telephony than desktop collaboration.“ He said that in order for unified communications to be effective, businesses need to look at “how unified communications will unify communications with business processes and practices,” adding that “end users only use a fraction of what they’ve already got [with unified communications].”

Given that Objectworld's target market is the SMB, we asked Levy where he sees the SMB opportunity for unified communications in the future. He said the while the Microsoft Office Communicator (OC) and IBM approach to unified communications that focuses on collaboration is well positioned for large enterprises today, he believes that the implementation complexity and prices put the collaboration approach out of reach to the SMB. But he added, “we’ll see collaboration and presence become more relevant [to the SMB] in the future.

To see a cost estimation of Objectworld’s software-based solutions, including support for incorporated third-party vendors like Polycom, Snom, and Grandstream, please click here.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.