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Cisco Unified Communications vs NEC UNIVERGE Sphericall comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Unified Communications
Ranking in Unified Communications
1st
Ranking in IP Telephony & Unified Communications
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NEC UNIVERGE Sphericall
Ranking in Unified Communications
10th
Ranking in IP Telephony & Unified Communications
7th
Average Rating
0.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Communication Gateways (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Unified Communications category, the mindshare of Cisco Unified Communications is 10.2%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NEC UNIVERGE Sphericall is 3.3%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Unified Communications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Unified Communications10.2%
NEC UNIVERGE Sphericall3.3%
Other86.5%
Unified Communications
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1194252 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Sales & Solution Sales - MEA at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has supported collaboration across distributed teams and continues to deliver reliable communication features
Currently, all future propositions for UC are not Cisco-based. Easy integration with Microsoft Windows would be beneficial. It integrates with SharePoint and Outlook, which was not available at one point in Cisco Webex. Regarding improvements, the focus should be on how cloud-friendly Cisco Unified Communications products are and how technically and commercially simple they are compared to competitors such as Genesys. All features are present. The concerns lie in the ease of using features, pricing, and whether it is available directly on the cloud or requires going through a Cisco channel partner. Features themselves are not an issue, and Cisco can develop new ones quickly if needed. If current customers are using Cisco Unified Communications and enjoying its features with devices that are not end of life or end of sale, they will continue using it. However, when moving to the cloud, comparisons become necessary. The simplicity, customer journey, transformation journey, and architecture complexity define whether Cisco Unified Communications is the right product or if third-party solutions are more suitable.
it_user422535 - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
The capability of becoming a Web Collaboration Platform by simply adding a server and licenses empowers companies.
Staff for administering Univerge 3C are telecomms specialist, but the person who administrates Active Directory could be the one as it´s a platform that is fully software based. We have customers who started up with the product running v2 over ATM and are now based on SWA (Software Assurance) they have been migrating to the latest versions of the software, replacing some gateways from ATM to ethernet, however I believe there is no need to drop their investment. Another great feature is the unique User Centric Capability that allows IT administrator full control of the users based on their Microsoft AD credentials independently of their multiple devices (Deskphone; Smart Phone; Tablet and/or PC/Laptop). Finally, the capability of becoming a Web Collaboration Platform by simply adding a server and licenses empowers companies with the option to access to great tools for collaboration and stop spending a lot of money in travelling, training, etc.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I have work on Cisco Unified Communication Manager (Call Manager) for one and a half years and it is a remarkable device which provides fully integrated communications, converging voice, video, and data over a single network infrastructure using standard protocols."
"Cisco Unified Communications is stable and works well for us."
"The Click to dial feature was one of the most important features for the customer."
"Cisco supports third-party gadgets, including workforce management systems."
"Using the Communication Manager, it gave us the possibility to move around the office, and even outside the office, keeping our phone number always accessible using Jabber."
"We use Extension Mobility and Jabber a lot with mobile remote access. In addition to video calls with Jabber, this greatly enriched communications between coworkers."
"Having a single system including the routers and switches all from the same system gives ease of use."
"Technical Support: Cisco TAC is the very best support I have seen from any company I have ever had to work with."
"Another great feature is the unique User Centric Capability that allows IT administrator full control of the users based on their Microsoft AD credentials independently of their multiple devices (Deskphone; Smart Phone; Tablet and/or PC/Laptop)."
"It is as robust and stable from a few phones in one location to thousands of phones over hundreds of locations."
 

Cons

"Licensing can be an unbelievable mess."
"An improvement option could be to incorporate the Voicea solution with Communication Manager, allowing it to make a translation between different languages automatically in a conversation."
"One of the major flaws in the unified CM is handling the configuration of the Voice mail port."
"An improvement option could be to incorporate the Voicea solution with Communication Manager, allowing it to make a translation between different languages automatically in a conversation."
"To have 2 call management server configured as failover would be expensive."
"Some features take a lot of steps to configure, so having areas where a few clicks can configure a feature for a user would be nice."
"Sometimes, minor temporary issues can arise while updating the servers."
"I want to see improvements, especially for the GUI interface, as it should be much easier and user-friendly in Cisco Unified Communications."
"This was a weakness in the past, and it took a few years from the acquisition of the product until now for it to become a core IP solution."
"Customer Service: This was a weakness in the past, and it took a few years from the acquisition of the product until now for it to become a core IP solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Government
12%
Educational Organization
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Unified Communications?
I want to see improvements, especially for the GUI interface, as it should be much easier and user-friendly in Cisco Unified Communications. It would be beneficial if it could be more web interface...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Unified Communications?
We use this only for communication purposes, which includes a few use cases for it. We haven't used the video calls and other features because we based our use on basic communication, so I cannot g...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Unified Communications?
Regarding price and value, it is already expired and has reached end of life.
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Also Known As

No data available
UNIVERGE Sphericall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Afni, Allied Irish Banks, Bellevue, Came Group, Children's Hospital Colorado, Erickson Living, IDEALondon, Instituto Zaldivar, John Lewis, Linz AG, London Hydro, Lone Star College System, Lone Star College System, Mondi Group, North West Redwater, Park Nicollet, Pentana Solutions Australia, Pilatus, Pirelli, Portugal Ministry, Presidio Inc., Republic Bank & Trust Company, Saipem, SickKids Foundation, Top Right Group, Vital Images
The Peninsula Shanghai, Voorhees College, Keller Williams Realty, Curve
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, 3CX, Digium and others in Unified Communications. Updated: March 2026.
885,264 professionals have used our research since 2012.