TDM and VOIP

Eric Lai and Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service

May 14, 2007 (Computerworld) SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. today trotted out what one analyst called a "very impressive" list of hardware makers that plan to build telephony gear compatible with its soon-to-be-released unified communications software.
Nine vendors are creating an initial batch of 15 phones that will be certified for use with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, both of which are expected to finally be released this summer.
T
he vendors include leading manufacturers such as Samsung, LG-Nortel, NEC, Plantronics, Asus, GN, Polycom, Tatung and Vitelix.

"My first impression is -- very impressive," wrote Blair Pleasant, an analyst at Santa Rosa, Calif.-based CommFusion LLC in an e-mail. "The demos were cool, showing how the devices leverage the capabilities of [Microsoft's software] and let users do things like dial by name and click to call. ... Microsoft is pushing the idea of reaching a person not a number, which is really key."

The Microsoft communications software is available to users that are part of a public beta program. Combined with other Microsoft programs, they unify e-mail, instant messaging and videoconferencing functions so that users can do things like click on an e-mail message to make a voice-over-IP call to its sender. The software also supports standard desk phone features.
Microsoft did not announce how much its partners will charge for the phones when they hit the market later this year. The company's goal is to encourage partners to build a wide variety of compatible phones so that prices quickly drop, Pleasant said.

That would make the overall package -- Office Communicator/Communications Server, plus telephones -- more financially attractive than integrated products from established players such as Avaya Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc., which list their VoIP phones for as much as $800 retail, according to Pleasant.

Microsoft is also intent on ensuring that all phones work out of the box. To do so, it is setting up a new qualification program for hardware makers. Those products will be tested by Microsoft to assure buyers that devices will work as expected with Office Communications Server or Office Communicator, said Eric Swift, senior director of unified communications product management at Microsoft.

Certified handsets must include wideband audio support, comply with a wide range of VoIP codecs and include specific user-interface elements. Swift also said that most existing VoIP gear today that works with services such as Vonage or Skype should work fairly well too.
"We're looking to ignite partner innovation to bring software economics to what has been proprietary," he said.

Some of the new phones connect directly to a USB port, so mobile workers can bring the phone with them and use it along with their laptops to access features typically only supported on desk phones, like call forwarding and conferencing. Other new phones include Bluetooth and video capabilities.

By themselves, none of the phones offers as many features as those from Cisco or Avaya, Pleasant said. But "when integrated with [Microsoft's software] these devices offer capabilities like presence, integration with the Microsoft Office Suite, the ability to view missed calls and return a call," she said. "It's not the Microsoft partner devices in and of themselves that are powerful, it's the fact that they offer seamless or embedded integration with [Microsoft's software], which is very powerful."

As for uptake of Microsoft's software, Pleasant believes companies adopting Office Communicator or Communications Server will keep their existing PBXs or IP PBXs "for the next few years" to lower the risk of hiccups in their phone service.

That means companies may initially eschew some of the lower-end phones -- such as those that lack actual keypads and require users to make calls from their PCs using Office Communicator or Communications Server -- in favor of more expensive devices, Pleasant said.

Microsoft made the official announcement at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Los Angeles.