Microsoft Rings Up Partnerships In Unified Communications Space

At VoiceCon Orlando 2008, the Redmond, Wash., software giant unveiled key new partnerships to leverage its unified communications solutions offered by OCS and Office Communicator, its unified communications client. Microsoft also later unveiled partnerships with Aspect Software Inc., a Chelmsford, Mass.-based contact center company; and pairings with Tandberg, New York; and Polycom Inc. in Pleasanton, Calif., to deliver high-definition video solutions.

In his keynote at VoiceCon, Microsoft's corporate vice president of unified communications, Gurdeep Singh Pall, said enterprise communications systems have evolved well beyond the need for just a dial tone. He said OCS is currently deployed in about 35 percent of Fortune 500 firms and has shown more than 200 percent growth in the past two quarters. In addition, he said, more than 800 Microsoft partners have earned the vendor's unified communications specialization. Those milestones, Pall said, signify that unified communications is booming and companies are recognizing the need for hardware based on industry standards, an open communications software platform, interoperable applications and innovative devices.

Microsoft's partnership with Aspect will open the door for turnkey contact center solutions integrated with OCS, Pall said. The multiyear agreement, in place for five years but likely to be extended, will integrate OCS with Aspect's Unified IP contact center solution.

Zig Serafin, Microsoft's general manager of unified communications, said Microsoft has made an equity investment in Aspect to accelerate the development and adoption of the new solutions and services. The amount was not disclosed.

According to Jim Foy, president and CEO of Aspect, the goal is to allow contact centers to easily interoperate with the enterprise. He said integration with OCS will enable contact center workers to utilize presence capabilities to connect customers and callers to experts when the contact center alone can't handle the query. Foy said about 10 percent of calls that come into contact centers require input from someone else. "Our alliance and the resulting joint solutions are designed to enhance sales, service and support capabilities for organizations of all types and sizes, across many industries," Foy said.

The joint solutions will be available from Aspect and Microsoft and their channel partners, Serafin said.

Microsoft's partnerships with Tandberg and Polycom, meanwhile, will bring high-definition video into the enterprise through OCS interoperation. Integrating the two vendors' video platforms into OCS lets users create an HD videoconference just by clicking on their buddy lists. OCS integration is available across Tandberg's MXP line of video products.

Polycom solutions will register, authenticate and share presence information with OCS, meaning users can see the presence status of Polycom video end points and users of those end points can see the presence status of others in OCS.

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