Business and enterprise software, and other applications that help a business run

It seems that Microsoft has been playing a lot of catch-up lately.  One more are where the Redmond software giant is trying to catch up is Unified Communications. To this end, the MS Office Communications Server product is getting some long-needed improvements, especially in the areas interoperability, video conferencing, and features for contact centers. Of these, the interoperability improvements are probably the most important.

In order to offer true interoperability on all fronts, a unified communications vendor must to everything from telephone to email to ext messaging. One thing that requires is lots of partners on board to help with the astonishing array of different formats and technologies that are still very active in the communications field. The more partnerships, the better. As Jeff Raikes, Microsoft Business Division President says, “"The key here is to build on standards that are broadly used with our customers and find ways to create great software that brings them greater value by being interoperable.”

Among an impressive list of partners, Microsoft can now count Polycom, Tandberg, and Aspect Software, three of the biggest players in video conferencing and call center technology. The next versions of the integrated products will go further, integrating IP-based automatic call distribution and the capability to allow customers to communicate with customer service via phone, instant messages, e-mail or even conferencing software. Nortel and Microsoft have also announced integration between Nortel's IP call center products and Microsoft's OCS. As Microsoft’s list of partners grows, so do its prospects in this crowded field improve.