Microsoft unveils it vision and technology roadmap

Jeff Raikes, President, Microsoft Business Division, recently unveiled the
company's vision, technology roadmap and partner framework for unified
communications at a strategy event in San Francisco. Microsoft Corp's approach
to unified communications will break down today's silos of e-mail, instant
messaging, mobile and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony, and audio,
video and webcon­fe­rencing. Through software, Microsoft and its partners will
put people at the center of communications through a single identity across all
modes and integrate communication into people's everyday work processes,
including the widely used Microsoft Office system and third-party software
applications.

Microsoft Business Division President Jeff Raikes demonstrates video conferencing using the forthcoming Microsoft Office RoundTable during a Unified Communications strategy announcement, San Francisco June 26

“Unified communications will drive the next major advancement in
individual, team and organizational productivity in today's 24x7,
always-connected and increasingly mobile work environment,” Raikes said. “We
believe that through software, we can transform business communications
(bringing down both its cost and complexity) by now integrating voice
communications with the familiar and powerful communications and collaboration
experiences provided by Microsoft.”

In support of its vision, Microsoft announced new and enhanced unified
communications technologies that will be part of the Microsoft Office system
2007 wave of products. The company will bring together its popular corporate
e-mail offerings of Microsoft Exchange Server, which includes new unified
messaging capabilities, Microsoft Office Outlook, and Microsoft Speech Server,
with updated versions of its real-time collaboration technologies and a set of
new communications devices to form a cohesive unified communications solution.
Built on a rich platform and supported by the extensive capabilities of its
growing partner ecosystem, Microsoft's unified communications offerings will
deliver seamless, comprehensive and integrated communications capabilities for
businesses.

DQC NEWS BUREAU