UNIFIED COMMUNICATION AWARE NETWORKS

Unified Communication and Collaboration (UC&C) systems are enabled to dynamically enlighten a set of network elements (NEs) and/or network infrastructure with application awareness so that an accurate set of rules or actions can be applied for a given session without needing to lookup the payload of every packet or applying a somewhat ineffective expensive heuristic mechanisms. Taking advantage of typically longer communication session durations and separate control and media planes, a UC&C control point programs a set of NEs for a given UC&C media flow within a scalable and timely manner. Quality of Service (QoS), security, monitoring, and similar functionality may also be programmed into the NEs through the UC&C control point.