That was Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate VP for Unfied Communications at Microsoft admonishing his competition for delivering multiple disparate products and calling them "Unified". He even made mention of competitors’ need for duct tape to unify their platforms. While that quote was a general broadside against incumbent IP Telephony leaders, it was clearly aimed at Cisco.
I was actually pretty shocked at the direct shots he took at Cisco – I wasn’t expecting this much heat to come from MS. I’ve said it before: I do think Cisco needs to reshape their strategy to be more software-focused and truly unified. Those two things have always bugged me about Cisco. So I get the need to draw the distinction. But today was a relentless hammering on the current market leaders in general, and Cisco in particular.
The only way to read this: MS is declaring their intent.
It was more confrontational than I expected, but in a way I do feel like it’s about time MS got some guts about their UC strategy. I had previously expressed some disappointment that we didn’t hear that enough.
Cisco is the Main Competitor
At an earlier session, Microsoft’s Senior Director of UC, Eric Swift, diplomatically declined to name names when asked directly by the session moderator: "Who is your biggest competitor?". So I think that Gurdeep basically answered that question for us.
My guess is that this may be the spark that ignites the powder keg (insert obligatory mention of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination and the beginning of WWI here). The cold war may just have started to bubble over into something of an open conflict. Cisco certainly won’t take those shots lying down. Some of them were fair, some not. But the intent was clear: MS is looking for a fight with the current bully on the block.
Down with the old ways!
I’m definitely glad that MS is taking the lead by evangelizing the transformational nature of software-centric UC. And that really, truly was the message from Gurdeep. However, not everyone is totally bought into the notion. The tension was palpable in the auditorium as he took aim at hardware-centric UC players. But the moments that actually made me fidget in my seat were when he called Cisco out by name:
- He highlighted the following quote from a customer (University of Kentucky): "We chose Microsoft over Cisco because of lower costs flexibility and ingegration"
- He held up a Cisco IP phone in one hand and a Netbook in another and said "Each of these is a 300 dollar device that sits on your desktop."
- "I don’t care if you call your PBX Call Manager, it hasn’t changed – it’s still a PBX"
- "Putting phones on desks means more network switch ports are required. Some networking vendors will love this, but your CFO won’t."
(Side note: I take exception to the last quote. While IP phones do usually require a power-over-Ethernet port, or a network switch upgrade of some sort, most IP phones, Cisco and otherwise, don’t actually require a separate network port. I do, however, agree with the general point that IP phones require additional infrastructure)
His case for using software-centric communications platforms made sense. At least twice, Gurdeep referenced the old days of having a Brother word processor sitting on the desk next to a computer. He likened this to what we see today with phones sitting on desks next to computers. The point was pretty well taken.
So then what’s next?
It does make sense not to buy phones and additional infrastructure when you could be using what you already have (your current network and PCs). I think everyone gets that. The question that people are asking, though, is can Microsoft deliver? Or will people need to cling to the hardware devices for a while longer.
Now that Gurdeep has thrown down the gauntlet, it will be up to the rest of Microsoft to back up the vision, to deliver on the promise of transformation through software. To show us that hardware handsets really offer no comfort. I definitely believe in the message, but I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be a cake walk.
What does it mean for the long term?
So today’s presentation was really maybe less a dig at Cisco and more a dig at customers who are still considering a hardware-centric approach; who fail to see or are afraid to make the shift to the software-centric model. We all see and and say we understand it. Gurdeep just wants us to put our money where our mouth is.
