"We don't plan to buy another PBX," said one customer.
In his introduction to the first set of VoiceCon keynotes Fred Knight pointed out that however useful online collaboration software and video conferencing might be, there's really nothing like god ol' fashioned face-to-face meetings. Microsoft brought the message home--to me at least--later in the day when introducing a few industry analysts to some of its UC customers. Speaking with them over box lunches we got some interesting perspective on how easily OCS can make inroads into enterprises, especially those with existing investments in Microsoft technology.A.T. Kearney, a management consultancy with 3,400 employees, had Microsoft's security, directory, and messaging software in place when it (1) replaced its legacy Avaya PBXs with a Cisco voice infrastructure and (2) began installing Office Communications Server for collaboration and enterprise instant messaging. Put off by a Cisco licensing model that was complicated and ultimately expensive--at least five years ago when the Cisco platform was installed--A.T. Kearney began exploring OCS as an alternative for voice. "Integration [with other Microsoft software] was key," said CTO John Laughhunn. "OCS let us leverage what we already had."
OCS now not only handles more than 400 video sessions each day, it also provides voice connectivity to all employees in the organization. But here's where things get more interesting. I was curious if A.T. Kearney end users were using Microsoft Office Communicator or one of the Polycom physical end points as their primary communications device. The company is, after all billed as having deployed OCS Voice to 100% of its end users. It turns out that Cisco handsets are still in place on all desktops. The plan is to let the Cisco voice system depreciate in value and, when it does, then rely solely on OCS for voice within the business. Until then, end users can place calls with either the Microsoft software or the Cisco devices. It's the sort of dual telephony infrastructure that I imagine will exist in a goodly number of businesses deploying OCS for collaboration and considering, but not yet--as A.T. Kearney very clearly has--committing to Microsoft technology for their telephony needs.
For electronics manufacturer Stoneridge Inc., OCS started out as an online collaboration tool--a way to cut travel budget and provide engineers with an alternative to burning data onto CDs and mailing them out to colleagues in other offices. The company was able to not only shave 10%--$500,000 a year--off its travel budget, but also found OCS a perfectly viable alternative its legacy telephony platform. To date 700 of Stoneridge's 5,600 employees are using OCS as their sole means of voice communications. Bill Johnson, Stoneridge's CIO, says he will continue making OCS voice available to additional end users rather than upgrading his traditional voice infrastructure. "We don't plan to buy another PBX," he said.
With details of "Wave 14," "Communications Server 14," "Office Communications Server 2010"--you'll likely hear all of these names applied to Microsoft's upcoming revision to the current version of Office Communications Server 2007--being gradually announced in upcoming months, it's important to note that businesses are already relying on Microsoft as a viable alternative to traditional PBX systems. This despite the lack of branch office survivability, E911, a range of proper IP phones, and support of analog and even native SIP end point support--all of which "14" will reportedly deliver. Microsoft is clearly very much a player in the business communications market already.
Other admittedly random takeaways from this week's meeting with Microsoft customers:
* (Cisco take note): Use of video conferencing over OCS has resulted in such an increase in video conferencing that Stoneridge is now obligated to upgrade its network infrastructure.
* "We just threw buckets of bandwidth at everything." This from Laughhunn who likewise needed to upgrade his data network to handle the increased use of video conferencing.
* Stoneridge has a Communications Server 14 trial currently in place. Forty employees are using the new Microsoft UC software and are providing feedback to Microsoft developers.
* A.T. Kearney needed to distribute tip sheets to OCS end users, as well as provide online training on how to use OCS for voice. End user training is a forgotten, but potentially costly factor in any UC implementations.
* Stoneridge had nearly 300 physical servers (overall, not just for communications), but the use of virtualization technology and consolidating applications in a centralized data center has cut this in half.
* "Customers were asking for wider range of phones," noted Moz Hussain, Director of Product Management in Microsoft's UC Group. (Note to Microsoft customers: Make your communications needs known. The more of you who ask, the more likely Microsoft will hear you and respond. Even if it take a couple years.)
* Microsoft has created a list of certified PCs whose microphones are equipped with the echo cancelation and other technology needed to use them instead of instead of external devices, like a USB-attached mic. This could help resolve issues like the one Stoneridge faced when certain end users insisted on using the laptop mic, despite instructions not to do so; the issue occurred because of the amount of feedback it created in conference calls.
* Sprint is in the process of deploying OCS Voice to 17,000 users. The company plans to use OCS to replace the more than 400 PBXs that currently make up its telephony infrastructure.
Follow me on Twitter!"We don't plan to buy another PBX," said one customer.
