Technology giant IBM, on Wednesday, announced new initiatives for emerging unified communications market including a wide range of investments, product and technology advances and collaboration with leading clients and business partners.

IBM’s strategy combines unified communications — convergence of information technology and telecommunications — with collaboration to enable a wide range of innovations that can change the way people work together, it said in a statement.

IBM is investing significantly in a range of resources meet the demand for these shifts, it said.

IBM Research is currently exploring a growing number of social and collaborative software projects with over 70 researchers dedicated to this work in eight labs worldwide.

In 2008, over 1,300 IBM software developers and technical experts will make innovative contributions to unified communications. IBM’s Venture Capital Programme is working to identify and fuel promising new innovations in unified communications, the statement said. Market research firm IDC estimates unified communications, which is expanding at 38 per cent annually, would reach US$17 billion by 2011 representing the next significant frontier for technology growth.

IBM predicts major trends that would propel demand for unified communications and collaboration over the next five years, the statement added.