|
|
Microsoft Oficially pushes VoIP Beta Program For Testing
2006-12-13
I'm pretty excited about this for a number of reasons; first of all, I can be part of the beta program and get my hands on the code and play with it to see just how deep the Microsoft commitment is to putting together a real unified communication solution. Second, and perhaps more important than the first reason, all the noise and hoopla that Microsoft is capable of generating can only help to push the VoIP industry into the mainstream. And then the third reason is that I think that by Microsoft quietly embedding the underlying VoIP stack and technology into some form of "Office" applications, we'll start to see more "Solution Selling" as opposed to pushing the VoIP technology. You may recall one of my past articles where I talked about my disdain for marketers and sales people in our industry who talk to customers about technology and features and so on, when in reality we need to talk about solutions to common everyday business problems. Like it or not, this is something Microsoft has become quite good at doing. So again I say yeah Microsoft, bring it on.
I also don't see this whole thing as a huge threat to the vendors and service providers who have established VoIP solutions. While eventually in a few years, if Microsoft plays the game right, they could begin to win some market share by developing the communication server into more feature rich call center, help desk, and service solutions, I still see a world of opportunity for the existing players. I think the "noise" that Microsoft makes will open more opportunities for existing players to come in and more easily sell VoIP solutions. It would be helpful if those solutions whatever they may be can coexist with the Microsoft stack, or even leverage it, but never the less, vendors will have an easier time making sales over the next year.
I'm sure we can expect to see a future phase add integration and functionality between Communication Server, Office and Microsoft CRM, with a final coup coming from tying it all in to web development tools so that companies will be able to truly build a 360 degree customer/partner facing business solution.
Company web sites will be able to be built with "call me" buttons that will perform a lookup in CRM data, find an available agent in the company, route the call, perform a screen pop in CRM and then record all necessary transactions while giving the agent access to complete caller history and records stored within CRM. For those of you unfamiliar with Microsoft CRM, the product is already tightly and seamlessly integrated with Outlook and Office. The additional VoIP and Unified messaging capabilities seem like a no-brainer to me. The ability to add web services to Microsoft CRM already exist making the "Call Me" button another no-brainer. Once again, all this will solve real business problems. No speaking of underlying technology and buzzwords. Just simple to understand business processes.
Here are some more details of the Microsoft announcement - The new voice server "Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007" will allow workers to instantly launch a phone call from 2007 Microsoft Office applications, such as Office Word 2007, Office Outlook® 2007 or Office Communicator, by simply clicking on a colleague’s name to determine his or her availability and initiate a person-to-person or multiparty call.
With native support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator, part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, interoperate with products from industry partners including Nortel Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., LG-Nortel Co. Ltd., Mitel Networks Corp., NEC Philips Unified Solutions, Polycom Inc. and Siemens Communications Inc. Through these relationships, customers worldwide will be able to support VoIP using their existing desktop phones, data networks and time division multiplexing (TDM) or Internet protocol (IP) private branch exchanges (PBXs). Customers will also able to leverage the softphone capabilities of Office Communicator to make and receive phone calls from their PCs, eliminating the need to purchase expensive IP-compatible phones.
“The convergence of telecom and data networks is happening rapidly. Software will integrate these two worlds, enabling IT managers to deliver new communications possibilities that include VoIP,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. “With this open architecture and broad interoperability, Office Communications Server 2007 will give IT managers the flexibility to determine when and how and in what way they move their communications infrastructure forward.”
I'm definitely looking forward to an interesting New Year, and I'm even more excited to see what neat things can be done with Communication Server, Exchange, Office, CRM and some creativity!
By Don Panek
|
|
|
|
VoIP Providers List Information |
|
|
|
If you have any constructive thoughts, creative ideas, or reasonable offers, please, contact us.
|
|
Send Email to Helen O'Neill if you have any questions either about this website, or about VoIP providers, or VoIP in general.
|
|
Send Email to our technical support if you have any technical queries.
|
About VoIP Providers List
VoIP Providers List services save time for companies searching both for information and interconnection partners, interested in voice minutes exchange, i.e. VoIP minutes termination and origination, as well as hardware and software trade. We provide information on interconnection services, VoIP hardware solutions and VoIP software , as well as overall situation in the VoIP industry.
VoIP Providers List is constantly moderated, and thus we can guarantee that any VoIP provider published in the web-based company catalogue has provided accurate details on its services and operations.
We are constantly working on improvement and development of our services. Your comments and proposals regarding the services are highly welcome. Please, do not hesitate to contact us providing with your ideas, opinion, and feed-back. We will be grateful for any information and useful links on Voice over IP, VoIP hardware, VoIP software, and VoIP Providers. |
|
|
|
|
VoIP Providers Statistics |
|
|
Providers in database: 3315
Users Online: 277
|
|
|
