Mural Ventures post about Microsoft’s move into unified communications. Seems MS Office Communications Server, in effect, allows an enterprise user to become a PBX tech, running their phone “system” from their desktop and routing calls from their headset.

Questions that this begs;

  • How long till MS decides to own the vertical and bypasses telco’s
  • How does this look when combined with the Google phone and Google (maybe) owning radio and fibre spectrum

Methinks we might have just found another battlefield for MS and Google to slug it out.

And would Apple be in a position to join into the fray here (although their push seems to be consumer users and not enterprise)

Interesting times….

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

2 Comments
  • You’re spot on Ben!

    This is part of the epic battle computer companies have with every business whose product is “data” in some form or fashion. Telcos, media, home entertainment electronics, and many others are on the list. MP3’s have crushed CD’s. iPod rules over other portable devices. WiFi (and successors) will compete with cellular networks.

    Data is infinitely fungible, but you have to be expert at manipulating it. Computer companies are better because they think in computer terms and computers are the ultimate data manipulators. It’s only monopolies and inertia that slows them down. New disruptive business models help clear those barriers.

    Cheers!

    BW

  • From this post http://unreasonablemen.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=42

    Another reason why the whole of MS isn’t under threat in my opinion is that MS, like all companies (and as its shown numerous times before) has the opportunity to get into even more markets. The ICA is a classic example. Here’s the dynamic. Right now, MS gets nothing of the estimated $1.2 trillion in Telco revenue. So any gain is good for MS. Because MS has no incumbency, no vested interest in maintaining Telco margins, they could rock into the Telco space with …gee I don’t know a soft-phone on every desktop (see the IT Director bit for how many that might be), completely tank the market (or margins), gain 1% of the market and still be a massive winner (I think that’s a cool 10 Billion dollars).

    Telco is a whole lot of blue ocean for a software company

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