Microsoft Office finds its voice

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But Microsoft isn't the only company that sees the importance of integrating communications into applications. Microsoft's rival and partner Cisco is also working to integrate its unified communications software with a variety of applications, including Microsoft's own Office software. On Wednesday, Cisco is expected to announce even deeper levels of interoperability with Microsoft's Office applications.

For example, Cisco's Unified Personal Communicator client will be able to work inside of Microsoft's Exchange server so users can see all voice mails in their e-mail inbox and make schedule changes through the client that will end up in their Microsoft calendars. Leveraging built-in Microsoft smart tags, users can click on names or phone numbers in Outlook (or in any Microsoft Office application) to make calls using the Cisco voice over IP software. Cisco has not yet integrated its software with Microsoft's Sharepoint software.

"We recognize that not every customer will choose a Cisco solution from top to bottom," said Barry O'Sullivan, vice president of IP communications for Cisco. "I'm sure that Microsoft has developed deeper integrations with their own products and their unified communications software, but our strategy is to be open and integrate with as many applications as we can."

Cisco isn't just working with Microsoft. On Wednesday it will also announce that it has deeply integrated its unified communications software with IBM desktop applications. Specifically, Cisco and IBM have created a tool based on open development technologies Eclipse and OSGi to help software developers easily include communication and collaboration features into custom-built business applications.

"About half of our enterprise customers use Microsoft at the desktop," O'Sullivan said. "But the other half is still using IBM desktop applications, so we need to integrate with both."

In addition to Microsoft and IBM, Cisco is also working with other corporate software companies. For example, it has integrated Cisco Unified Personal Communicator software with Oracle's customer relationship management, or CRM software, so that an operator in a call center can click on a client name and make a call directly from the application.

"Users just want an easy and intuitive way to communicate," O'Sullivan said. "So that means that we have to bring communications to different applications. Whether they use Microsoft, Lotus Notes, SAP or Oracle, we can easily integrate our technology."

Microsoft also claims that it is taking an open approach that will allow its communications software to work with any application. Raikes said that a shift away from hardware-based communication to communication based entirely on software will help spur innovation.

"How much has your desktop phone changed in the last 10, 12, 15 years?" he said. "Very little. Yet, how much has your experience changed for mobile computing, for e-mail, for instant messaging? The real challenge that's held back this part of the industry is that they don't have a broadly accepted software platform that enables the pace of innovation.

"We are putting in place the software platform that will enable this pace of innovation, and the result will be much greater value for customers, because it will be a part of their user experience in doing their work."

[Commander_Spock]

"Click on a name, make a call"!

So, just what is new about this particular strategy by Microsoft and this article which went on to further state that "Microsoft will likely be a formidable competitor not only to the traditional telephony players, such as Avaya, but also to its longtime partner and more recent rival Cisco Systems". If there is anything the feeling is that it is Microsoft which should be minding its "sails" from the sea change that will be coming with the launch of IBM's Lotus Notes towards mid-year which also integrates VOIP Technologies from both Avaya and Cisco Systems.

[Lindy01]

Lol my Vulcan brother!!

You are just nuts with your posts! Like one of those crazy homeless people on the street talking about the end times.

I am consultant specializing in MS products mostly AD and Exchange implmentations along with Sharepoint and Live communications server.

Of all the corporations I have worked at consulting medium to large companies the trend is the same. MS backoffice products have completely replaced or mostly replaced Novell Netware and Lotus Notes products and if they have any Mac's the represent less than 1% of the computers at any particular corporation.

In a few places a Notes app or two used by a dozen or less users still exsist and only becaues the particular companies development teams have not gotten the time yet to convert that app over to something else.

I recently took an old compaq server running NT 4.0 and Lotus Notes 5?...and moved the whole server onto a VMWARE slice because the development team could not get to replacing the functionality of that app into a Java based platform for another year. There were 3 users of the Notes app....using a whole server. No one wanted to touch it, because no one at that company new Notes anymore. Now if there is a problem they just restore the virtual HD to when I migrated it.

[smilin:)]

What it means.

You click a name:
From your IM, from your mobile device, from your laptop in an airport, from the to: or from: line in an email you've seen, from a field in your corportations customer built app, from the list of names on your phone's screen.

You make a call:
Your desk phone rings, or your mobile phone, or your pc, or that other PC you're on elsewhere. The call becomes video, voice, or IM depending on the capabilities. You whiteboard, share apps, do panoramic video in a conference room, have your email read to you. The communication reaches you when, where, and how you want it. Join a concall where some participants are using video, some are walking around on a cellphone. No limits. Do it all with secured industry standard protocols.

Cisco is still drooling over remote call control, Avaya is still all excited about voicemail arriving in your email. That "new" stuff is so old it's dusty.

[mazinhasan]

thanks to cnet for every thing