Microsoft Teams Up With Japanese VoIP Carrier

paritosh wrote to mention an Ars article about the joining up of Microsoft and Softbank to provide enterprise-level VoIP, IM, email, Internet, and groupware to the Japanese market. They are already discussing bringing it to the U.S. if it succeeds there. From the article: "With Softbank BB supplying most of the VoIP infrastructure, Microsoft's primary focus in this agreement will be providing hosted versions of its server products. Some of the products mentioned in the agreement include Exchange 2003, Office Live Communications Server 2005 and SharePoint. I wouldn't be surprised to see Windows Messenger make its way into the mix considering its new PC-to-POTS capability, which can act as a segue into the larger areas of the VoIP market in North America."

Comments

Re:MS and VoIP?

[grasshoppa]

I think you miss an important thing about how Microsoft markets their products

Doesn't matter how they market their product. VoIP is not something they can half ass and bind to an established and successful product ( say, outlook ). People won't stand for flaky telephones in a business. It could have the best PHB-esse ever written. It could make you believe that it really can solve world hunger and lower your ROI in a single bound. But if it's flaky, people will not stand for it.

MS has never taken on a task as demanding in quality as VoIP before. Ever. And given their past behavior, they will fail in this.