![]() And no XMPP is disappointing, but most people probably don’t care about that. No click-to-call unless you have the entire Office suite might come back to bite them. Like many of Microsoft’s recent “innovations,” the proprietary nature of the application will hinder its adaptation with one segment of the population, and help its adaptation with businesses that have already swallowed the Microsoft kool-aid. I’m with everyone else that this is good for VoIP in general, as it will catapult awareness to the general public. Overall I think this is an excellent opportunity, as not everyone has their clout nor assets, but we can all make use of the “output” of their efforts, so to speak. They will, however, dump millions into advertising, campaigning, and education of the layperson into to the basics of VOIP, which we will all be able to leverage, no matter whether we use their product or not. Outside of that market segment, I don’t think they’ll have much success at all. They want to leverage their Exchange Server installs. Microsoft will probably be good for business customers that need a VoIP solution, but I would like to see Linux or other open source VoIP programs such as Asterisk fill the needs of business as well. I’m also sure there are a lot of companies unwilling to pay the Microsoft tax, and several open source alternatives exist (though probably not so neatly packaged). I’m sure a fair amount of companies fit this profile. I’m guessing the best (only?) candidate is the SMB with an IT staff, already running Exchange and Active Directory. Microsoft is likely going to be pitching a fairly limited segment with OCS 2007. The product’s true progress will be dependent on how quickly manufacturers can implement this as an inclusion of purchase with their VoIP hardware offerings. The OCS gives the benefit to achieve the crossover with far less difficulty. With unquestioned indifference the Microsoft OCS 2007 eases the minds of many who are on the fence about a move to VoIP from their traditional analog. In the right hands what they’re doing could certainly be highly disruptive, but I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not sure it’s in the right hands… It’s not clear to me that they understand the buyer or the pain points, primarily for the SME audience that surely must be their target. ![]() However I think they will struggle with the execution. In theory Microsoft’s entry into this space makes lots of sense. Microsoft enters markets that it can attempt to dominate, but UC and VoIP is such a big market, I am not worried about loosing much to Microsoft – given their track record with writing software… Microsoft entering the UC/VoIP industries validates the fact that consumers and businesses alike demand more effective and cheaper communication technologies. See for the latest VOIP headset offerings. More and more manufactures will become Mircosoft certified partners and prodvide Microsoft OCS targeted or enhanced products. The marketing impact Microsft OCS 2007 can be felt across the telecom industry including the peripheral products.Īn example is the headset industry. History has shown that this normally isn’t the case. If they truly want to hit the big time, they will have to play well with others. Microsoft will play well to small installations. Companies like Avaya and Cisco will always be at the center of this technology for large corporations. Microsoft keeps doing the “me too” “me too” routine when it comes to innovation. ![]() This is the only place that they feel comfortable. However, there is a lack of understanding by Microsoft of how you get their software to become a centerpiece in a communications environment. They view the integration of voice into the operating system and messaging platforms (Exchange) as crucial to keeping up the viability of their current install base. For software vendors such as Microsoft, this is a space which is extremely foreign to them. ![]() Hardware vendors drive the adoption of Internet-enabled voice to drive the sales of switch ports and router processors. ![]() Voice has become nothing more than an application on a network at this point. Whether they succeed, they’ll increase the visibility of VoIP which will help the industry overall. MS will push hard into this space and spend lots of marketing dollars. I asked…”What are your thoughts regarding the industry impact of Microsoft OCS 2007 and their overall offerings in the UC and VoIP space.” Well, I received many opinions, and I have summarized them below. I recently posed a question to a wide range of colleagues, most of whom work work within the telephony industry. ![]()
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