10/15/2007 -- Believe it or not, Microsoft has been an uncharacteristically benign force in the enterprise PBX space -- a segment in which Cisco is also a notable competitor. That could soon change, and Cisco -- among others vendors -- should start to gird itself for competition.

"Over the past year or more, Microsoft has gone out of its way to garner the assistance and trust of PBX developers and other vendors as it transforms its corporate instant messaging server into more of a call processor for businesses of all sizes," wrote Brian Riggs, an analyst with consultancy Current Analysis.

This begs a salient question, according to Riggs: Does Microsoft plan to take more of a go-it-alone approach in the enterprise PBX space?

Riggs alluded to Microsoft's promiscuity in the PBX space, at least on the partnering front, highlighting its accord with Siemens (for the delivery of unified communications solutions based on Siemens OpenScape and its own Live Communications Server, or LCS), Mitel (for integration between the former's 3300 IP PBX and LCS), and -- most significantly -- Nortel.

"Microsoft's Nortel alliance spans wide-ranging R&D, sales and marketing initiatives that will ultimately place Microsoft Office Communicator at the heart of businesses' communications networks, potentially displacing the need for the PBX systems that presently form the backbone of business communications, and also gives Microsoft access to Nortel's large channel," Riggs pointed out. "Microsoft needs these companies -- and others with which it has partnered -- to lend credibility to a communications product strategy that is still in its initial stages, one that will need to fit into enterprises' existing communications networks based on non-Microsoft products."

This need is compound, Riggs stressed, because -- Microsoft being Microsoft -- PBX vendors must also demonstrate support for its initiatives, mostly because (their relative infancy notwithstanding) many enterprise customers are already considering Redmond's instant messaging, unified messaging and related offerings.

One such product is Microsoft's Office Communications Server (OCS), which is slated to ship later this year. According to Riggs, OCS has the stamp of a PBX-killer, although (in true Microsoft fashion) it won't be much of a threat right out of the gate.

"When Office Communications Server ships...the company will deliver a platform that can form the basis of a business communications network. But in the near-term, OCS is unlikely to be received as the PBX replacement it purports to be," Riggs said.

OCS must also buck a distinct anti-Microsoft trend, at least in enterprise telephony. "It is likely that it will be a good while before a representative number of businesses, particularly large enterprises, are convinced to abandon the PBX systems that have delivered such highly reliable communications services for so many years," Riggs said. "Besides this, the general trend in server-based voice systems is away from Microsoft-based platforms and toward more affordable and reliable Linux platforms. It is clear the Microsoft will need to rely on its PBX partners for quite some time."

The bad news, for Cisco and other developers of enterprise voice technologies, is that Microsoft clearly doesn't intend to rely on its PBX partners forever.

"This became rather clear last week when the company started taking preorders for Response Point, a small business voice platform that will become generally available before year's end," Riggs said. "Unlike OCS, which relies on integration with various third-party communications software platforms and applications, Response Point requires no such crutch. Microsoft is the sole provider of the call control software, voice features, automated attendant, speech interface and unified messaging software integrated into the little device."

Response Point is tightly coupled with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook, but doesn't interoperate with voice systems or other communications applications commonly used by small business customers.

"It is very clearly a replacement system, aimed to displace -- not peacefully coexist with -- other, better established communications platforms that might happen to be at the small business," Riggs said.

This is just the first, oblique shot in a larger effort to take on the PBX space. As a result, according to Riggs, developers of enterprise voice systems should expect Microsoft to take a less cooperative, more competitive approach to solution marketing as OCS gains ground. In this regard, he suggested, the onus will be on Siemens, Nortel and Mitel to promote their own independent approaches to full-featured enterprise communications.

Cisco, for its part, should concentrate on simplicity, Riggs said.

"Cisco should simplify the Linksys One installation and support process. Involving service providers and resellers for ongoing support and hosted services complicates the Linksys One sales model and potentially retards wide-scale deployment of the voice system for small businesses," he concluded. "Cisco must also decide how it will approach the small-business market in Europe, where the Linksys One program is not yet in gear, or risk conceding it completely to Microsoft and other players." --Stephen Swoyer