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Daily Update part 1 by Eric Krapf

“In the next three years, the average voice over IP solution will cost half what it does today.”

That was the money quote, literally and figuratively, from this morning’s keynotes. It’s a pretty unequivocal statement, but the fact that it was made by Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s business division, makes its implications for the enterprise anything but uncomplicated.

Because to realize these savings, Raikes told the crowd, enterprises will find themselves migrating to a software model, in a manner that repeats the transition that enterprise computing made. Raikes had earlier told Reuters there’s $35 billion-$40 billion in the VOIP software market.

The incumbent vendors in this marketplace have been working to respond to the challenge that Microsoft first laid down last year and that Jeff Raikes amplified this morning. We saw that today in the keynote address that preceded Raikes’, when Cisco’s senior VP and chief development officer, Charles Giancarlo, took the stage.

Giancarlo also focused on software capabilities and new functions and applications. Using his college-age daughter as an example of the kind of user that enterprise networks will soon be supporting, Giancarlo talked about and then demonstrated the use of technologies like mashups and social networking within communications apps.

For example, Giancarlo laid out a demo scenario in which a user is trying to connect with a colleague to hold a telepresence meeting (this is Cisco’s slick new high-definition video system). A mashup using Google Earth inside Cisco’s Personal Communicator client let Giancarlo first find where his colleagues were located, and then let him identify the nearest telepresence-equipped room for that person to get to.

Cisco has been very high on Telepresence–”The power of video cannot be underestimated,” Giancarlo said–and experts that I’ve talked to here at the show, like Andrew Davis of Wainhouse Research, have said they were surprised at the strong response they’ve seen from enterprises since Cisco announced the high-end system late last year.

Video was also one of several applications Raikes demonstrated on Microsoft’s Office Communicator client. Besides video, Raikes showed some cool things like presence icons embedded for document authors and email cc: addressees. The icon offers a smart tag that lets you IM or even click to call that person.

On the other hand, you’re probably going to be skeptical, as I was, about the notion that software on the endpoint can improve voice quality that would otherwise be impaired by poor network performance in between. Raikes demonstrated this happening on a call, and he asked, “To enable improved voice quality, do you really need an expensive upgrade to your [data] network?” We all might want the answer to be No, but would you bet your career on it?

Today’s dueling keynotes opened a new chapter in the intense competition we’ll see among top voice communications companies. When Cisco entered the voice market, their line was that you shouldn’t buy another (traditional) PBX. Now Microsoft is suggesting you shouldn’t buy another IP-PBX. The battle is on.

Eric H. Krapf
Editor, Business Communications Review
VoiceCon Program Chair

Daily Update part 2 by by Marty Parker:
The UC Theme Continues in VoiceCon Keynotes

The VoiceCon Wednesday Keynotes from Cisco and Microsoft both added energy and direction to Unified Communications (UC) industry momentum.

Charlie Giancarlo emphasized the ability of the network to deliver integrated content with data and voice and video and mobility. He demonstrated Cisco’s new presence-enabled mobile client for Nokia and Blackberry devices and also announced plans to develop a new Unified Communication and Collaboration (UC2) client jointly with IBM.

Jeff Raikes emphasized the power of software in accelerating innovation in communications. He announced Microsoft’s publication of the Interoperability Specification for Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007 to enable improved linkage between OCS and other communication systems and between OCS and business process applications. He also threw down a challenge to the industry by forecasting a 50% reduction in cost of office communication systems by 2010.

Both keynotes emphasized that ROI from UC occurs when the communications is integrated into a company’s business processes. Examples were given where UC eliminated the trivial tasks (directory lookup, click to call, or drag-and-drop to form a conference), where UC saved time by cutting out communication steps (automated team conferencing, avoiding voice mail or messaging with presence/IM, or click to call from a document without changing applications), and where UC made the business process better (video collaboration, and information sharing).

But it seemed like customers were also being presented with an “either/or” choice between a PBX-type IP Telephony system, represented by Cisco, or a software-type IP Telephony system, represented by Microsoft. But a half dozen customers I talked to right after the keynotes said they would be taking both paths. The common thread was that they had no need or justification for aggressively swapping out what they already owned. Instead, they would adopt the new UC technologies for the locations, jobs and business processes where it was justified.

For example: A university indicated that the professors were gaining value from laptops using Microsoft Office Communicator for seamless work in their office and from home, but students were served sufficiently by the existing TDM infrastructure. A fast-growing school district is installing new Cisco IP phones in their new schools, but retaining the current satisfactory PBXs for their existing schools. In both cases, the new solutions are interoperating with the existing systems through telephony standard interfaces and gateways.

While the suppliers would love to see wholesale replacements of the installed base of communication systems, the customers will take a practical, gradual and interoperable approach to solving their problems.

The Florida weather outside is a sunny but cool winter day, but the UC weather inside VoiceCon Spring 2007 is definitely HOT!

Marty Parker
Communication Perspectives and UCStrategies.com

What do you think? Drop us a note here in the VoiceCon Enews Forum or directly at ekrapf@cmp.com or marty@parkerbiz.com

Posted in Applications, Architecture, Market Trends, Tech Trends, Unified Communications, VOIP |

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