Partners Bulking Up Ahead Of Microsoft VoIP Launch

Vollerthum expects to be rolling out a lot of proof-of-concept projects over the next 12 months to 18 months as customers get their heads around the new technology and start to put it through its paces.

But for his trouble, Vollerthum expects to see business grow by 35 percent this year and by more than 50 percent next year, driven by the new Microsoft products and the special attention he expects Enabling Technologies to receive as one of the vendor's top unified communications partners. Currently Microsoft makes up about 15 percent of Enabling Technologies' $9 million in sales, but should climb to 40 percent to 50 percent of revenue next year, he said.

Vollerthum isn't alone in his anticipation of the Microsoft unified communications opportunity.

Nortel Networks VoIP solution provider Integration Partners has joined the Microsoft partner program in order to capitalize on the unified communications partnership Microsoft and Nortel forged in 2006.

"The Microsoft piece has definitely helped us get out to customers that maybe otherwise wouldn't have entertained talking to us," said Bart Graf, co-founder, director and principal of the Lexington, Mass.-based company. "And now that there is some understanding of the capabilities [brought by joint Microsoft/Nortel solutions], we've done some early demos and seen people's interest become more real."

Integration Partners has also added personnel and invested in training. Graf said he couldn't yet quantify the investment, but said "it's going to be heavy."

For solution providers like Graf and Vollerthum, the importance of partnership is also becoming clear. Both said they are forging relationships with other players in the Microsoft channel in order to provide full solutions. Integration Partners, for example, is bringing its Nortel experience to bear as it seeks application expertise from other Microsoft partners, while Enabling Technologies has teamed with 10 global systems integrators with expertise in Microsoft wares such as SharePoint, SQL Server and Dynamics.

That means solution providers expect to rely on each other to help them realize the full potential of Microsoft's unified communications strategy.

"We're betting the house that this [unified communications opportunity] is going to propel our business," Vollerthum said.