Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Web Security SaaS: The Next Generation of Web Security
Business Intelligence and Enterprise Performance Management: Trends for Emerging Businesses
Taking On Demand CRM Integration to the Next Level
Vendor Influence Curves And How You Can Get The Best Value Out Of Your Network
Strategies for Eliminating .PST Files
Best Practice in Building an Integrated Information Management Strategy
Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Enterprise Planning
Enterprise Wireless WLAN Security
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.Newsletter Subscription
Similar to its famous "developers, developers, developers" rant, Microsoft is chanting "software, software, software" as it lays the cornerstones of its unified communications platform.
Microsoft's is an all-software strategy that weaves voice, e-mail, instant messaging, presence, and video conferencing into a suite of communication tools anchored by Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007.
Read Cisco's approach to unified communications Watch a head-to-head comparison of Cisco vs. Microsoft UC solutions
The most dramatic difference between Microsoft's vision and that of the hardware-based unified communications players comes at the junction of the voice and data networks, where Microsoft believes the PBX will die and be resurrected as software. In other words, OCS 2007 becomes you new PBX.
Microsoft's Chief Software Architect Bill Gates in October was blunt in his PBX prognosis. "Once you get software in the mix the capabilities go way beyond what anybody thinks of today when they think of phone calls. This is a complete transformation of the business of the PBX," said Gates at the launch of the company's unified communications platform.
Gates likened the PBX to the mainframe of years ago, an all-inclusive system that lacked flexibility. Gates said moving voice to software would bring efficiencies to workers and IT, and reduce infrastructure and operating costs.
This approach also allows Microsoft to more easily integrate directory services, desktop applications and system management tools.
Click to communicate
The company believes that its voice-enabled unified communications platform will give more than 100 million corporate workers the ability to "click to communicate" by the end of 2010.
Gates says megatrends, such as hardware improvements, abundant bandwidth and a digitized economy have "laid the foundation for voice integration via software and unified communications."
Microsoft believes that as the phone call is revolutionized, the change will bring along screen sharing, video, collaboration and the ability to put rich unified communications capabilities into business applications.
In the Microsoft nirvana, all that will remain at the network's edge is a gateway to translate signaling and media between the Public Switched Telephone Network and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based OCS 2007.
Certainly such a dramatic switch comes with pros and cons.
Computerworld Member Login
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
- +
Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
Polaris Installs Massive Generators 2008-10-15 11:30:00+10
Netapp first to announce support for native FCoE storage 2008-10-15 10:02:00+10
Verizon Business Helps Companies Improve Performance of Key Applications, Enhance Bandwidth Usage 2008-10-15 10:00:00+10
m.Net Chosen to Build Fox Sports Mobile Site 2008-10-15 09:51:00+10
Carbonite Release 3.7 Features Enhancements Suggested by Carbonite User Base 2008-10-15 09:49:00+10
Solve Exchange Storage Problems Once and For All: A New Approach without Stubs or Links
The management of Microsoft® Exchange storage growth is the most challenging problem facing Exchange administrators. Because of the popularity of email as a communication technology, and because users tend to keep email, maintaining adequate storage on the Exchange Server is a constant challenge. Learn how to maintain the space you need by reading on.
