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Cisco seemingly reverted to its dotcom boom ways of expansion through acquisition today when it plunked down $3.2B for WebEx, the leader in Web conferencing. Scott Fulton at BetaNews reviews the state of play:
Throughout its history, Cisco has built its vast portfolio talents through mergers and acquisitions. Indeed, startups in the networking field intentionally developed business plans and product portfolios designed to attract a Cisco buyout. But with two new Cisco buyouts this week — storage appliance producer NeoPath Networks on Tuesday, and collaboration software developer WebEx this morning — Cisco appears not just to be building up but building out. And today, analysts believe Microsoft may be on notice.
It’s all part of Cisco’s Unified Communications push which has gotten a lot of notice lately and not coincidentally Unified Communications is the name of the Microsoft Business Division group charged with cornering the business communications market and whose Office Live Meeting Product (created from the 2003 acquisition of PlaceWare) is reported to be number 2 in the Web conferencing market and looks to be clearly in the path of the steamroller
Last January, Microsoft merged Exchange and Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) groups to form the Unified Communications Group (UCG) under corporate VP Anoop Gupta, and yesterday the group had a gala introduction of their upcoming enterprise offerings for unifying all of the forms of business communication. Press release:
June 25, 2006 – Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, today unveiled the company’s vision, technology road map and partner framework for unified communications at a strategy event in San Francisco. Microsoft Corp.’s approach to unified communications will break down today’s silos of e-mail, instant messaging, mobile and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony, and audio-, video- and webconferencing. Through software, Microsoft and its partners will put people at the center of communications through a single identity across all modes and integrate communication into people’s everyday work processes, including the widely used Microsoft® Office system and third-party software applications.
…
Raikes was joined onstage by Anoop Gupta, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Unified Communications Group, to demonstrate key capabilities of the new and updated servers, services and devices:• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, a robust, flexible, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standards-based real-time communication platform that enables presence-based VoIP call management; audio-, video- and webconferencing; and instant messaging communication within and across existing software applications, services and devices.
The former name was Live Communications Server so some branding confusion got sorted out as well.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging goes beyond e-mail and today’s stand-alone voice-mail systems to deliver a unified inbox experience that includes e-mail, voice mail and faxing functionality, as well as new capabilities such as speech-based auto attendant allowing users to access their communications from any phone.• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, a unified communications client that works in tandem with Office Communications Server 2007 to deliver a presence-based, enterprise VoIP “softphone”; secure, enterprise-grade instant messaging that allows for intercompany federation and connectivity to public instant messaging networks such as MSN®, AOL and Yahoo!; one-to-one and multiparty video- and audioconferencing; and webconferencing. As with the previous versions, Office Communicator 2007 will be available in desktop, browser-based and Windows Mobile®-based versions.
Yet another promise of IM interoperation.
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting, a rich conferencing service designed to help users more effectively collaborate, conduct training and deliver presentations using just a PC and an Internet connection. Improvements to Office Live Meeting include support for e-learning, enhanced audio and video capabilities including VoIP, a streamlined user interface, seamless integration with the Microsoft Office system and simpler deployment.• Microsoft Office RoundTable™, an audio-video collaboration device with a unique 360-degree camera. When combined with Office Communications Server 2007, RoundTable delivers an immersive conferencing experience that extends the meeting environment across multiple locations. Meeting participants on site and in remote locations gain a panoramic view of everyone in the conference room as well as close-up views of individual participants as they take turns speaking.
This appears to the be a productization of Microsoft’s Research’s Ringcam prototype.
• Microsoft Office Communicator phone experience, Communicator-based software designed to run an innovative set of new voice and video devices – including business-enabled IP desktop phones – from Polycom Inc., LG-Nortel Co. Ltd. and Thomson Telecom. This is a new ecosystem designed to run on dedicated communications devices in tandem with Office Communications Server 2007 to extend and enhance the Microsoft unified communications experience.• PC peripheral devices, such as USB handsets, wireless USB headsets, USB webcams and PC monitors with built-in audio and video components. Devices from industry partners GN Netcom Inc., Logitech, Motorola, Plantronics Inc., Samsung and Tatung Co. will work with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 to deliver a compelling communication experience on the PC.
Finally, IBM took the opportunity to rain on Microsoft’s parade a little:
IBM will announce Monday that Lotus Sametime, version 7.5, the company’s instant messaging and collaboration tool, will integrate with Microsoft Outlook, Office, and SharePoint applications.The company also said Sametime 7.5 will directly connect to mobile Research in Motion (RIM), Nokia, and Windows Mobile devices.
The announcement is being made on the same day that Microsoft is expected to unveil its unified communications strategy and the timing is not coincidental, according to Matthew Brown, a senior analyst at Forrester.
“This is a full frontal assault on Microsoft’s communications strategy,” Brown said.
“Full frontal assault” seems a trifle overheated.
Related Microsoft press releases:
• Global Telecommunications Providers to Build Innovative Business IP Phones on Microsoft’s Unified Communications Platform
• Microsoft and Siemens Collaborate to Usher in New Era of Unified Communications
• Microsoft, HP to Work Together to Deliver Unified Communications Solutions to Enterprise Customers
• Microsoft and Motorola Form Strategic Alliance to Extend Unified Communications to Mobile Devices
• Q&A: Microsoft’s Unified Communications Strategy and Solutions
• Q&A: Microsoft Speech Server’s Growing Adoption in the Enterprise
With all the Microsoft related news coming fast and furious, I’m grateful to Microsoft for brightening my day with Media Alert: Stephen R. Covey Offers Complimentary Seminar to Discuss “The 8th Habit” in the New Work Paradigm; Ken Blanchard Offers Advice for Creating World-Class Organizations:
Two free, online seminars. The first features Stephen R. Covey, a distinguished thought leader, discussing strategies for achieving fulfillment, passionate execution and significant contribution. The second seminar, highlighting Ken Blanchard, chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, will offer an overview of how to create a people-oriented, performance-driven and customer-focused culture. Both are being delivered via Microsoft® Office Live Meeting and are hosted by the Microsoft Leadership Forum and Microsoft Executive Circle.
If there’s one thing I enjoy more than a “thought leader,” it’s a “chief spiritual officer.” The Live Meeting team seems to be filled with boundless energy when it comes to PR stunts.
As promised, Microsoft Live Meeting gets massive product placement on tonight’s episode of Donald Trump’s TV show, “The Apprentice.” From the press Q&A:
But tonight, Live Meeting’s visibility will soar to new heights, as RTC Group executives join Trump center stage. They will pose a challenge to the competing teams in the form of a task surrounding Live Meeting and then judge the results.
Todd Bishop has some background:
Marketers from the company analyzed ratings from the past two seasons of the program, broken down by week and region, to choose the specific episode on which they wanted their product to appear. They settled on tonight’s show — which begins with only four contestants left, raising the possibility of high ratings.
People at Mark Burnett Productions, the company behind the reality show, told Microsoft they weren’t accustomed to other companies going to quite those lengths for the program.
