Microsoft and Polycom have struck a deal to link
Microsoft's Office Live Communications Server with Polycom's
conferencing products.
Microsoft hopes the connection will spur sales of Live
Communications Server, an enterprise instant messaging and
"presence" product, while Polycom is keen to sell more desktop
video conferencing hardware.
With Live Communications Server, companies can run their own
enterprise instant messaging network. The product can determine
whether a user is online and available for communication in Office
applications and can extend this information to other
applications.
In the first phase of the collaboration, Microsoft and Polycom
aim to ease communications within an enterprise by allowing users
of Live Communications Server and the Windows Messenger Client to
see the status of Polycom's IP phones, desktop and conference room
conferencing products and to launch intra-company conferences from
within Windows Messenger.
To enable this first link, Polycom plans to deliver software
upgrades for its Media Gateway Controller and WebOffice product in
the fourth quarter. The updates will likely be available at no
charge for Polycom users with a service contract, but pricing has
not officially been set yet, a Polycom spokesman said.
The second phase of the partnership will include updates from
Microsoft and Polycom and will add federation, allowing users to
set up conferences with users outside their own corporate networks.
The products will also provide a link to Microsoft's Office Live
Meeting web conferencing service.
In the third phase, planned for 2006, Microsoft and Polycom plan
to add control of Polycom products and Live Communications Server
capabilities to other applications, including the Microsoft Outlook
e-mail client and CRM and ERP products.
The agreement between Microsoft and Polycom is not exclusive,
said Dean Schoen, vice-president of corporate business development
at Polycom.
Microsoft already has partners, including Radvision and First
Virtual Communications, whose products offer capabilities similar
to the combination of Live Communications Server and Polycom's
products, a company spokesman said. However, they do not have the
same reach as Polycom, he said.
Joris Evers writes for IDG News Service