Execs Say Microsoft-Cisco Interop Running Smoothly
But when it comes to unified communications, both companies are still playing their cards close to the vest.
In a Q&A posted Wednesday to Microsoft's PressPass site, Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft, and Kathy Hill, senior vice president of Access and Networking Services at Cisco, danced around the issue of the two companies' intensifying competition in the unified communications space, which many solution providers expect to eventually become quite vicious.
Muglia acknowledged that Microsoft and Cisco "will continue to compete for customers in the unified communications arena," but insisted that both companies "share a joint commitment to ensure the appropriate level of interoperability between our respective products for the benefit of our customers and partners."
Likewise, Hill painted a rosy picture, noting that although unified communications "is clearly an area of competition, it is also one of the areas into which we've directed much of our collaborative energy in the spirit of giving our customers the choice and flexibility they've told us matters to them."
Muglia and Hill also discussed areas in which the Cisco-Microsoft collaboration has borne fruit.
In February, Cisco and Microsoft unveiled plans to weave Windows Server 2008 services into Cisco's Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) appliance, which optimizes performance of TCP-based applications in WAN environments. Aimed at branch offices, the 'Windows Server on WAAS' solution to enables companies to host Windows Server 2008 services in their existing branch office infrastructure.
"This Cisco network optimization for Microsoft applications has helped our customers deploy SharePoint, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 out into branch offices and over their wide area networks," Muglia said in the Q&A.
Another area in which the Microsoft-Cisco tie-up has achieved sustained momentum is Internet TV. Hill pointed to Cisco's launch in January of Linksys Media Extender, which works with Windows Vista Media Center to stream content from PCs to TVs. Cisco has also sold more than one million IP set-top boxes that support Microsoft' s Mediaroom IPTV platform.
"That's powerful proof of the business case for the work we've done together," Hill said in the Q&A.