Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept that integrates multiple enterprise communication services. These include instant messaging, presence information, IP telephony, mobility features, audio/video/web conferencing, desktop and data sharing, call control, and speech recognition. UC also links with non-real-time services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS, and fax). UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.
In its broadest sense, the UC can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via a network to include other forms of communications such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and digital signage as they become an integrated part of the network communications deployment and may be directed as one-to-one communications or broadcast communications from one to many.