Microsoft Unified Communications Server launched....

No one other than Bill Gates launched Microsoft's entry into the VOIP market last week. Microsoft Unified Communications Server is a web conferencing and chat server that can be integrated with existing PBXs (Although the enterprise version has a switching module). Microsoft has validated the VOIP market and this will definitely help educate the market about the benefits of software-based phone systems. Though the route it has taken is a strange one - it's counting on partnerships with PBX vendors to create the total solution. Exactly why PBX vendors would want to partner on this plan is unclear to me, though it seems Nortel has offered to be the first lamb and bought into the idea of letting the Trojan horse into their customer base. I believe CISCO, Avaya and others will put up a tougher fight, leaving resellers to do the integration with the existing PBXs on their own.

Traditional PBXs are more or less black boxes and are notoriously difficult to integrate with. Coupled with the fact that most Microsoft Resellers have little telecommunications experience, I believe that it is going to be an uphill battle for Microsoft.

Not surprisingly Bill Gates announced the demise of the hardware based PBX, (along with message that it wants to partner with PBX vendors), and that a software switch will be doing that work in the future , obviously supplied by Microsoft. As a matter of fact, 3CX can do software based switching today ....

So Microsoft enters yet another market. But will it be successful? Microsoft has launched a series of unsuccessful products that have had a hard time getting significant market share - Microsoft ISA server, Dynamics, Virtual Server to name just a few. Even at no cost, Virtual Server is unpopular. Yet its core products, Operating systems and Desktop applications, are under heavy attack. Vista is a spectacular failure.

I can't help thinking that under Steve Ballmer Microsoft has lost its focus. Frustrated by a share price that has been static for nearly 7 years, Microsoft is behaving like a cornered dog, taking bites at any market it thinks might help its plight. Focusing its efforts on the release of a truly good operating system and desktop application upgrade might help Microsoft more....

Open up SKYPE!

SKYPE might have been one of the front runners in the VOIP market, but its refusal to open up its VOICE platform and allow other players to connect to it and develop for it, has resulted in SKYPE becoming a drag on the VOIP industry and on itself.

If SKYPE would create an open API to make and receive calls, SKYPE could be leveraged across companies networks via IP PBX's, resulting in more revenue for SKYPE and better coverage for SKYPE users.

Pretty much the whole VOIP industry is now adhering to the SIP standard in an effort to inter-operate, yet SKYPE refuses to communicate with anyone. There is no need to open source code, but refusing interoperability and seeking to create a monopoly by locking its users in is detrimental to SKYPE users and to the VOIP industry.

As a result, the SKYPE train seems to be coming to a halt. According to various blog sites - its growth has slowed down rapidly. Then there was an embarrassing multi-day outage this summer for which no adequate reason was posted. Recently, its founder and CEO resigned.

The writing is on the wall - just like any other proprietary vendor that refused to inter-operate - SKYPE will fade away. Open up, SKYPE!