Microsoft Serious About VoIP

VoIPluvr writes "Microsoft, is quietly turning into a voice-over-IP powerhouse. It all started with the launch of its Microsoft Live Communication Server. Bill Gates says, 'Communicating in a better way has a huge impact for business,' and he states that he wants Microsoft to marry the PC, the cell phone and the desk phone. Recently, Microsoft teamed up with VoIP companies like Sylantro to offer hosted IP-PBX services, and now is rumored to have bought Teleo, a small VoIP company based in San Francisco. Microsoft's dominance on the desktop is helping the company extend its reach into the fast growing VoIP business, thus putting it in direct competition with the likes of Cisco. Teleo, for instance could help the company compete more effectively with the likes of Yahoo and Skype."

Comments

802.16 + well supported VoIP = end of cellular

[Anonymous Coward]

Disclaimer: while I work for a company heavily involved in telco stuff, my work is more with associated divisions than the part that deals with VoIP. But it does mean I have some insight into how this all works and how the industry is adapting, or should I say, leaping on board.

VoIP is definitely taking off, and we're beginning to see most of the major telco equipment manufacturers signing onto it. I thought the most interesting part of the article was Microsoft's partnership with the big telco equipment companies, such as Nokia and Motorola. Motorola's already doing some interesting stuff with a Microsoft protocol called WMV12C, which is at the heart of Microsoft Live, where data moves using a circular topology. As you can see from the diagram, the protocol is optimized for typical voice traffic.

This is an exciting time to be in telecommunications. Long term, I see protocols like 802.16 taking over from traditional mobile telephony. You'll use an HPC instead of a traditional cellphone, and subscribe to a combination of a VoIP SP and a set of wireless (802.16) operators, getting all you can eat telecommunications for a price relative to the number of locations you travel to rather than the length of time you speak.

Pretty awesome.

Re:802.16 + well supported VoIP = end of cellular

[toddbu]

I understand your enthusiam, but after using VoIP services for nearly a year in our business we switched back to copper. No matter what we did to improve the situation, the call quality never really measured up to that of even a cell phone. IP was never really meant to route real-time traffic, and it definitely shows. QoS can help, but with more and more real-time traffic being driven onto the Internet (video, streaming audio) then my fear is that the QoS indicator is just meaningless. After all, how many apps are willing to tag their content as "unimportant"? Maybe some file transfer stuff, but that's usually a small portion of the traffic.

I'd love to see something like VoIP take off. It just seems like IP is the wrong protocol to do the job.

Re:802.16 + well supported VoIP = end of cellular

[homesteader]

What type of call processing system were you running? Separate VLAN's for data and voice? I've rolled out Cisco phone systems in some pretty dodgy network scenarios, and voice quality has never really been an issue.

is ms desperately seeking

[hsmith]

a true "core" product?

everyone else seems to be seeking out one specific segment of the market, is MS finally realizing specializing in everything means you specialize in nothing?

i think they are good and bad, but they seem to have lost the wind in their sails...

Microsoft cultivates more animus

[yagu]

I wonder how this is going to play with the Telco's. I worked a long time at one of the Telco's and we did much/most of our work on IBM mainframes and Unix servers. Then our high level management and Microsoft marketers got very cozy and all of a sudden many of our critical applications began shifting to the Windows 2000, SQLServer, IIS platform. This was all very much with heavy opposition from technical staff, but their input wasn't wanted. In the course of five to ten years I saw us (them?) become very heavily vested in Microsoft platforms (including the public facing web site (which was nothing but problematic rolling out on the MS platform)).

And now, Microsoft wants to enter the market of the telcos? I know everyone is jumping in on this, and I for one have little empathy/sympathy for the PHB's who've made their beds with Microsoft, but I wonder how much they like Microsoft now?

Re:Microsoft cultivates more animus

[linsys]

Well unless they really stabalize their operating system or decide NOT to use it and use something basied on Unix like the GSX9000 then they will never be able to compete with the core VoIP market.. I have a few friends who work for one of the largest telecos in the U.S on their VoIP hardware and he tells me their switches handle millions of phone calls every second.. I don't know any MS software that can do the same..

Now as far as them marketing and profiting off of a desktop application which integrates with VoIP I could easily see... I could see them integrating it with Windows Media player... Radio, TV, Movies, Make A Phone call... just like X-Lite or other VoIP softphones all you need is a VoIP provider, speaker and mic..

I could also see their "Live Communications Server" product becoming a widely used VoIP platform for small to mid sized businesses of 10-20 people..

Hopefully people see the benefit of applications like Asterisk which are highly scalable and much more cost effective then MS based solutions.

Re:one thing to say

[linsys]

I agree with you for the most part.. however if you start implementing VoIP PBX solutions for your customers and it crashed regularly yes, you are gonna make a bit of cash off your customer, but it's also going to make you look like a CRAPPY consultant..

I believe in a mix of Unix, Linux and MS solutions for my customers.. I don't look so bad when PCs crash, but when their mail server or web server is down because IIS got doss attacked it makes me look horible(or probably would, I NEVER would implement an IIS Solution...).

I have implemented many asterisk solutions for customers who are very happy with the realiability, price, and quality of the product.. I would hate to get calls from customers all the time saying they can't call out becasue of SpyWare.

MSFT a networking company?

[HockeyPuck]

So letsee... in order to go from traditional PBX to VOIP you could either a) deploy a brand new separate IP network to directly replace your PBX or B) Upgrade your existing IP network including all of your ethernet switches so that they support PoE (Power over Ethernet).

You may need to implement QOS (you don't want some FTP transfer blocking time sensitive voice traffic.

You may need to redesign your core routers, backbone etc for this increase in traffic.

Also, if the CallManager (the computer that sets up the connection between the two telephones) goes down, you're not making phone calls. Do you really want to trust this to Windows? Yes, I realize that Cisco's CallManager runs on Windows, but rumor has it they are making a linux version.

So the question remains, with all the changes to your network that are required I doubt this will go far.. unless of course MSFT buys Juniper, Nortel...

Define "Serious"

[Nova Express]

By "Serious," I take it to mean "Microsoft will launch a VOIP service with much fanfare, will quickly grab 20-30% of the market, will then let the division languish through incompetence and lack of direction, and 10 years from now the service will still be hanging around without making a profit."

See also:

Hotmail
WebTV
X-Box
MSN
MSNBC
Etc.

Why?

[Comatose51]

he states that he wants Microsoft to marry the PC, the cell phone and the desk phone, Why? Has anyone thought of that? Integration is nice but sometimes it's pointless and harmful. For example, my Motorola v600 is Java powered. That's great except sometimes I can punch things in faster than it can handle. The battery life is poor. My older StarTac was perfect for me. No java or camera but it go the job done right. I never had to reboot a cellphone until I got this new one. Oh, let's not forget how the battery life is kind of mediocre. Let me count the number of times I've taken advantage of the Java and camera features: 5. Those 5 times, I could have done without them anyways. MS needs to take a lesson fron Apple and even *nix. Do one thing and do it well. Then make all those things play together well. God I wish Apply made cellphones.

cross-platform solutions?

[dalutong]

Skype seems to be the only product making cross-platform solutions.

as for video -- it doesn't seem like ANYONE is looking for cross-platform compatibility. iChat doesn't work with netmeeting or gnomemeeting (and the tiny AIM video screen sucks). video4skype only works in windows (though it is great in windows.)

i use linux, but i have recently had to reinstall (dual-boot) windows so I can use AIM's video chat with my girlfriend (who uses iChat.) It's the only solution that easily works through odd connections (firewalls,etc.) And, unfortunately, xmeeting just doesn't work that easily for the non tech savvy (like her.)

why hasn't there been movement to make cross-platform video solutions?

Asterisk?

[Sharkeys-Day]

Avaya also has a windows-based eIVR product, which they will sell you for a minimum $50k plus custom programming rates of $20k-$50k if you actually want to run anything on it. (Custom programmed in VBScript, and they won't bother to test it with any database other than Sql Server.)

Or you could spend $5k on hardware, install Linux, Asterisk PBX software, spend an afternoon hacking, and have the same thing.

Lots of people mention Skype and similar services. But I want to know how the new MS offering will stack up against Asterisk?

Re:First MS joke

[Spetiam]

Joke away, but if MS does come through with these implementations... I'm sorry, then MS is on the ball, and no amount of bashing by the True Believers will change that.

But will it be cheaper? Reinventing Wheel!

[Anonymous Coward]

The last time my phone service did not work was 1987. I can buy a new phone for $50. How will any of this be cheaper? How will this be easier? How will this be more reliable?

I don't want to download patches to my phone. I already get phone spam.

It must be easier, cheaper, and more reliable. That's pretty hard.

Why not go after the wheel market too?

Microsoft Wheels. Where do you want to go today?