Microsoft's telephony software gains railroad ties
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway is hoping that Microsoft's telephony software can help it replace its aging phone system. But it also hopes the software might help it replace another asset that's getting older: its workforce.
About 40 percent of the company's workers will become eligible for retirement in the next few years. BNSF is hoping that by adding tools like unified communications, it can help attract workers who have grown up with tools like instant messaging and video conferencing.
"We've got to attract and recruit that next generation of workers," said Gary Grissum, BNSF's assistant vice president of telecom. "That's the way they communicate. They expect that same type of communication in a business environment."
Just how much that helps recruitment remains to be seen.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway sees Microsoft's telephony software as a way to get younger workers to hop on the company train.
(Credit: BNSF)In any case, it's a nice win for Microsoft, which was up against competing products from Cisco and IBM that had also been tested by BNSF. For several years now, Microsoft has been trying to expand its corporate presence from the desktop to the phone. The company took its corporate instant messaging product and transformed it into one that can handle phone calls as well.
BNSF has been piloting Microsoft's software with about 700 workers in its tech unit since December. Next month, it plans to expand to 1,000 workers, including its top executives, with plans to go to 15,000 workers by year's end.
Microsoft almost didn't get the railway deal. "We looked really hard at Cisco," Grissum said. "We are a Cisco shop from a network infrastructure side."
Cisco is still ahead when it comes to telephony features, Grissum said, but, in the end, it was the PC software experience that sealed the deal for Microsoft.
"Microsoft owns the desktop," Grissum said.
Heading into the project, Grissum imagined that the toughest part would be convincing the company's workers--many of whom have been at the company for 20, 30, or even 40 years--to embrace the technology.
"What we found was just the opposite," he said. "The biggest challenge has been managing demand."
Although the early pilot was supposed to focus on just those in the technology services unit, about 100 people outside that group have managed to get in on the trial.
BNSF isn't throwing away its desktop phones. For now, it will add Microsoft's PC-based "soft phones" as an option in addition to using standard handsets.
"At this point Microsoft doesn't have al the features we need," he said. "We're not replacing phones right now...As Microsoft moves to 'Wave 14' (the next version of Office), we'll look hard at the Microsoft solution."
Down the road, the company is also thinking about trying to expand into intra-company social networking using SharePoint. "We just have to get our head around how to incorporate that," Grissum said. "As soon as we get the first wave of unified communications out of the way we are going to take a hard look at that and what we do."
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
Obviously this quote was written by a PR person.
"Microsoft owns the desktop"
Doesn't BNSF own their own desktops?
KieranMullen
[CNET editor's note: Prohibited content deleted.]
My iPhone does not respond has has 'black screen of death' sometimes, does it mean i add the same comment to every Apple article regardless of whats it about.
Grow up !
I'm not sure why you would have worms, viruses, trojans, or hacked trains. Perhaps you are not aware of the railroad industry or is technology. You can start your education by reading TRAINS, CTCBOARD, MAINLINE MODELER, MODEL RAILROADER magazines for a casual reference. There's plenty more to go through.
Locomotives today from EMD, GE, and others are indeed computerized, but those computers ae no more in control than they are of your car. Mostly they deal with traction control, engine management, and MU setups. In the end it is still one person with their hand on the throttle in Run-8 down the line.
If you would like, I can go into full detail on railroad operations, but while it would serve to put you in your place as an ignorant troll, it might bore other people who are not railfans.
OCS (Office Communicator Suite) is a really impressive bit of technology if you ever get a chance to try it out. I can use it to make and receive calls on my laptop while traveling or have calls ring through to my desk phone. Video chat is available, as is tight integration with Global Address Lists, email, etc. From a business standpoint, it becomes a highly valuable tool.
It is not likely this technology would be used in railroad communications with actual trains though. It's not impossible, of course, but you'd need a reliable network connection with bandwidth to handle it and that would mean satellite since a traveling train would not be able to keep a good signal between cell towers, or in remote areas where there is no cell service at all.
(most likely not)
Will this help the railways prioritize passenger traffic over freight traffic as is done in the rest of the world instead of the way it has been done in the USA in the past thereby increasing efficiency, lowering costs and making passenger travel more attractive? (probably not)
Is this a money pit? (Probably)
KieranMullen
[CNET editor's note: Prohibited content deleted.]
http://www.network54.com/Forum/62534/message/1207011781/Rail+Line+Can%92t+Force+Web+Site+to+Reveal+Critics
- by NoVista April 2, 2009 6:20 PM PDT
- Heh, there are a few people here who take themselves all too seriously, can't recognise snark and obviously need a personality transplant, at least the humour module.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(22 Comments)Aside from that, maybe the train system there is different -- but I worked on the technical documentation for one state railway that specified total computer interlinking of ALL facets of the operation, data and voice/audio to trains, etc.
@ 42ita ... I reckon the real need is a new generation of oldstyle managers -- people who actually knew what their business was about. Obviously, you're perfect ... in not wanting to be slowed down, better start at the top, eh?
As for us old, slow duffers -- I started in electronics before the transistor, had my first data processing course on the old IBM EAM equipment. As a broadcast engineer, I worked in several states and two contract jobs overseas -- where I encountered gear truly from the Dark Ages. I transitioned from the RCA domination to the Sony era In later years, I worked in the computer field as field engineer, workshop supervisor, chief engineer of a facility.
I've had one book published on computer telecommunications (co-author), which was on recommending reading lists at the tertiary level.
I wrote a column for a national computer magazine, freelanced in various areas, writing on entreprenuers and technical types, including George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Charles Steinmetz -- had some articles on poor company management problems published, and a few science fiction stories.
I recently had an insight into the proper design of the next generation of digital cameras which I am pursuing.
That's just the highlights, even though I have to blow my own horn; call it an object lesson as assistance to you, no thanks needed.
Have a nice day.