TMCnet.com
April 14, 2009
By Gary Kim, Contributing Editor
Royal Dutch/Shell is equipping 150,000 desktops with Microsoft (News – Alert) Office Communicator as the unified communications client, with Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS) hosts in its three global data centers in Amsterdam, Houston, and Kuala Lumpur, says Forrester Research (News – Alert) analyst Phil Sayer.
Under the new plan, voice will be treated like any other application. For most sites, all voice capability is delivered over the WAN. All Shell applications are implemented centrally, so sites must have resilient WAN access. If the sites WAN connection is down, the staff cannot work, so theres no need for local voice access. For emergencies, employees have mobile phones.
UC video use is expected to be “massive,” but with only limited use of telepresence. Shell plans to have only 10 telepresence locations globally but plans to put UC video capability on every desktop and Microsofts RoundTable videoconferencing device in every meeting room.
Federation of presence is key. Shell has a high percentage of contract workers and works with partners on many collaborative projects. Shell sees UCC as not being limited to Shell employees, rather will be extended to all contractors, suppliers, and partners.
Shell has many global virtual teams for which collaboration and information sharing are absolutely essential, and the business case for UC tends to be easiest to justify in large, trans-national corporations.
For many observers, the most prominent change is the elimination of desktop phones, with soft phones being the standard desktop voice tool.
Gary Kim (News – Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Garys articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Patrick Barnard
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
