 Convergence & VoIPThis newsletter is sponsored by Raritan Computer, Inc. Data Center Build outs Simplified Network World's Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, 09/05/07Move over VoIP, unified communications is the new battlegroundBy Steve Taylor and Larry HettickToday, we’d like to discuss how recent announcements from Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Siemens, and Verizon point to trends in IP telephony and IP communications. First, the Cisco and Microsoft press event where Cisco CEO John Chambers and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasized that the two companies will cooperate (as dictated by customer demands) and compete against each other. Our view: This isn't a big revelation, but the fact that the two CEOs emphatically endorsed the concept speaks to their commitment. We think the same model must also apply even between direct competitors like Avaya vs. Nortel or Microsoft vs. IBM, although we don’t expect such a public “love-fest” from this group of direct competitors. The fact remains that no single vendor has the resources to supply all the best-in-breed features needed for all enterprise IP communications systems. Second, on IBM’s announcement that it intends to integrate Siemens OpenScape into the Lotus Sametime architecture: As a corollary to our first observation, since IBM doesn’t have the experience or feature set available that is offered by Siemens, it makes sense to use a best-in-class software alternative that gives customers who operate in a Lotus environment a better telephony solution.
Third, on what wasn’t announced but what we expect will be a natural outcome of our first two highlights: Much like Nortel using IBM and Microsoft expertise to supplement the Nortel product development, partnerships help to provide customers with better features more cost effectively. So, we don’t expect that these inter-company partnerships will be diminished in any way. Fourth, on the IBM announcement to acquire WebDialogs and Verizon’s announced enhancements to its unified communications offer: Sometimes customers find it easier to go to a service provider for certain capabilities and we think that the complexities of unified communications and the feature-rich collaboration feature set enabled by presence-based communications management is an especially ripe opportunity for a hosted and managed service. Finally, putting our first four points together with comments on some industry trends, we conclude that: * VoIP is becoming or has become a subset of unified communications, and the next wave of this opportunity to move beyond VoIP is reaching “high tide.” * As the next battleground, unified communications solutions will see intense competition but also need equally intense cooperation because, among other reasons, unified communication platforms are very software intensive and software can’t operate in a technology vacuum. * Enterprise customers will need cooperation and expect competition between companies that provide premise-based and hosted collaboration tools, much like how the enterprise views VoIP today.
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| Contact the author: Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at taylor@webtorials.com Larry Hettick is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in voice and data. He is Vice President for Telecom Services and Infrastructure at Current Analysis, the leading competitive response solutions company. He can be reached at lhettick@currentanalysis.com This newsletter is sponsored by Raritan Computer, Inc. Data Center Build outs Simplified ARCHIVEArchive of the Convergence & VoIP Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007 |
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