12:05 - Microsoft’s Warren Barkley is here to discuss IP on the Desktop. Given that Microsoft is announcing the general availability of Office Communications Server this afternoon at 3pm, it’s undoubtedly going to be one of the hot topics of the conference.
12:05 – Workers are suffering from communication overload, says Warren. Emails, phone calls… it all mounts up. Add to that the problems enterprises have with globally distributed customers and teams, the high cost of comms (especially when you’re roaming around the world) and disconnected comms systems and you have a headache, for business and IT managers alike.
12:12 – At the moment, telecoms is vertically integrated, Warren argues. Microsoft thinks that model needs to transform into a more horizontal one, just as the IT side of the industry has done. Interoperability is the watchword.
12:13 – Microsoft is now talking about providing ’software-powered communications’, which will open up more choice to users – they can choose a wide range of devices to run on top of the software ‘layer’, which sits between the existing IT infrastructure and the hardware devices. This will also lower the costs for companies (indeed, BT has found just that - it’s a Microsoft case study).
12:16 – Microsoft did some research recently and found that people typically spend 18mins trying to set up a videoconference session. Warren claims his company’s RoundTable product dramatically reduces this. One click, and you’re away. It also records the videoconference, and can be easily accessed afterwards.
12:19 – Presence and identity is at the core of Microsoft’s UC solutions, Warren says. For example, with identity, most people’s business cards have a phone number, fax number, mobile number and email address. Really, you should have only one ‘identity’. People only care about the person they’re communicating with, not the method. You should be able to transfer a mobile call to your fixed phone. This is a ‘person centric’ world view, not number centric.
12:21 – So what does Microsoft have to do with all of this? With its Unified Communications offering, it has a lot to do with it. For example its software helps streamline communication. Warren’s PC is his phone, thanks to OCS (Office Communications Server). Microsoft is also embedding ’click to communicate’ functionality in applications and delivering “anywhere access”, with mobile and enhanced conferencing.
12:25 – Warren outlines some of the key benefits of OCS. The slide reads: ‘Extend active directory investments; improve administrator functionality; reduce infrastructure costs’.
12:26 – The “future-ready software foundation” is another key phrase you’ll be hearing from Microsoft in the coming weeks and months. Warren stresses his company’s commitment to open technologies, and how in the UC (unified communications) field it will continue to deliver an ‘extensible development platform’. Integration is key for users. Eg. Virgin (another Microsoft customer) found it could integrate Microsoft’s UC technology with its existing PBX.
12:29 – Microsoft is targeting the client, server and services space these days.
12:31 – Over 100 companies used OCS before its official launch. They were all global and very large (average size = 97,000 employees).
12:31 – Microsoft is launching something called the Open Interoperability Program today. This is designed to deliver interoperability between PBXs and OCS – breaking down that vertical alignment Warren referred to earlier (and as Virgin has seen). There are a huge number of partner companies from both IT and telecoms ‘camps’ that Microsoft is working with here.
12:34 – ‘You have to move to UC if you want your business to grow and expand,’ claims Warren. So it’s not just about saving money and operational efficiency. Also, you need to remember that new entrants to the workforce will expect to communicate in the way that OCS enables.
12:36 – So what’s next? For Microsoft, there are three areas it’s focusing on: cross-boundary collaboration, speech-enabled applications and intelligent agents. Interesting stuff.
Tags: Microsoft, OCS, office communications server, warren barkley
