Nortel Liquidating Unified Communications Assets
Filed under: OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications, Voice over IP
Where Will Enterprises Get VoIP in the Future?
There’’s a problem on the horizon for OCS!
In 2006, Microsoft and Nortel announced a partnership called the Innovative Communications Alliance (ICA). This alliance was intended for developing/selling Unified Communications & VoIP systems to corporations.
However, as we see here…
Nortel’’s Liquidation Could Cripple UC Relationship with Microsoft
Nortel has had to enter Chapter 11, and must liquidate its assets to satisfy bankruptcy concerns.
What did Nortel do for the partnership?
Through the ICA, Nortel helped develop telecom products for use with Office Communications Server 2007. Specifically, a platform for connecting IP-based communications to PBX phones. Nortel also provided consulting to enterprise businesses on putting in VoIP communications systems (running OCS, naturally).
So what does the liquidation mean for Unified Communications and OCS?
It means we”ve lost one good option for VoIP-related technology. However, other options are forthcoming.
The ComputerWorld article indicates that Nortel may sell its enterprise division to Avaya Networks. Since Microsoft already has a partnership with Avaya, it could continue offering Unified Communications technology that way.
Microsoft could even snap up Nortel’’s former VoIP customers themselves. Though I think having their partners handle those is an easier course.
Competition Brewing
Luckily, Nortel wasn”t the only one working on Unified Communications technology!
The ICA was due to end in 2010 anyway. So, other companies have been working on VoIP-related hardware. For example, this article discusses a new OCS gateway due out from Dialogic and ESTOS this month.
Dialogic’’s gateway solutions are used by small and mid-market businesses to build VoIP PBX replacements, or integrate OCS 2007 into an existing PBX system.
(Disclaimer: We”ve recently partnered with Dialogic to provide some of this very hardware to our own clients.)
What Will Happen to OCS 2007 Enterprise Integrations?
Nortel worked largely at the enterprise level. Dialogic and the up-and-coming solutions work more toward the small and mid-market areas. So there’’s still a potential disconnect at the enterprise level.
If Avaya gets Nortel’’s enterprise division, they”ll be able to provide enterprise-level VoIP systems. But this is a perfect opportunity for smaller, more targeted companies to offer alternatives. The waters for OCS in the enterprise may get choppy for a little while.
This should be a good thing though. With OCS 2007 adoption growing like it is - many companies looking for a cheaper, more full-featured PBX alternative - demand is solid enough to whip up competition.
I”m sad to see Nortel go - they had some great products. But, you know what they say about one door closing.
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