atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General Telecom News Microsoft readies digital phone systems

I just got this in my email today:
https://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=559&tag=nl.e101

Microsoft wont have to integrate with anyone else. Everyone else will end up integrating with it (if they want to stay viable). The only integration microsoft will do is at the protocol level. Expect their communications server to work with POTS, PRI, and SIP. Don't expect it to do anything else.

Lets put it this way. Look at MS Exchange. Look at how popular it is. Now look at how inter-operable it is with something that's not Outlook. Unless you JUST want SMTP/POP3/IMAP from Exchange, don't expect to use 90% of it's groupware features.

MS will apply that same philosophy to their voip stuff.

In 2006 a study "estimated" that the number of active computers in the world would surpass 1-Billion by 2007. Lets say it did, and there are 1-billion computers in the world.

Now, depending on WHO you believe, windows (Desktop & OS) makes up 65-75% of that 1-billion computer market. If you want to refer to just the desktop market, then Microsoft is around 90-95% of it.

It all boils down to sheer numbers. Microsoft will never (and has proven it) work to be compatible with ANYONE else above the protocol level. Microsoft will also continue to offer high levels of integration within their software that can only be used by microsoft (with their own proprietary protocols). If you think microsoft is going to play nice beyond TDM/SIP signaling then it's my opinion that you are dead wrong.

Expect the MS Communication Server to roll out in force. The Windows IT weenies will love it because it plugs and plays with their server and will work with 95% of their client base. They will not even question it because "It is Microsoft".

Sounds like cisco all over again huh?

All we can hope for is that they do as bad a job as Cisco otherwise they will probably be VERY VERY disruptive to the market.

I'm willing to bet lunch that Microsoft will license this the same way they license MS Exchange. No recurring annual fee's, free updates, and a neat little holographic sticker.

WELL...if it comes with a sticker

a Holographic sticker... that add's like 5-hp to the computer

Voice is becoming data, and if the IT guy who has to now also maintain the phone system feels comfortable with Microsoft, it may be a deciding factor. We'll have to see if their integration is any better than anyone else's.

I also think there are a WHOLE lot of people who are not big fans of microsoft and their methods. Does anyone really want to buy a phone system hackers and virus writers will be out in full force against to cause problems with it?

Good analogy to the Linksys system above. If Microsoft is not cheap, what is their market? If they are selling on name alone, I can't imagine buisnesses being in a hurry to jump on board. Business decision makers are a little more savvy than our country's XBox purchasers....

1OldPhoneMan pretty much nailed it...

I believe cisco and microsoft both have a dream of a day when customers buy direct online and cut us out completely...

those microsoft phones are pretty dull... they should have had Apple design them!