News from the Lync Conference: UCaaS
What did not come out of the Lync Conference was a lot of clarity about UCaaS and what Microsoft is expecting of that channel. Disappointing, but not unexpected. Microsoft has been consistently focused on the premise enterprise deployments. Gurdeep Singh Pall and Giovanni Mezgec made a lot of references to cloud enablement for Lync but the details were sketchy and by context they were likely talking about private cloud deployments of Lync (via HP or the telcos) or about hybrid solutions (similar to what West IP Communications is doing).
In their session on Service Provider Opportunities, Michael Butler and Roy King indicated that the partnership between Microsoft Office 365 and its service provider partners (historically in this relationship called "syndication partners") was continuing to expand. That was expected and portends good things for Microsoft as it finds more opportunities to work with the telcos.
Not a lot was said about Lync Hoster Pack v.2 other than Microsoft continues to offer it to partners and no mention was made in the Partner Hosting session led by Roy King and Clinton Dickey regarding a possible v.3 release. Steven van Houttum did a credible job talking about how UCaaS partners might work with Hoster Pack v.2 but this information was not particularly new since last year's Hosting Summit or WPC sessions.
What was missing, other than a small suggestion on Slide 8 of their deck, was detail of when Lync and PSTN services would be available directly from Microsoft via O365. Roy brushed by this topic in his comments and the slide seems to indicate that this service will be available in the United States in 2015. This is crucial news as it means that Microsoft is not abandoning the path it started down with Jajah about being able to provide dial-tone services directly to its Office 365 Lync customers. This, in turn, has potentially great impact on Microsoft's UCaaS channel.
More than likely any PSTN service that Microsoft would offer O365 Lync customers would initially be fairly generic. But just as likely those services, particularly as part of a larger O365 bundle, would be very competitively priced. That means that a UCaaS provider built on Lync is going to have to contend with the 800 pound gorilla that is Microsoft competing for customers wanting basic Lync functionality (typically, PBX replacement). As Roy and others pointed out, the key for long-term success by UCaaS providers will be to differentiate themselves through services, upgrades, and extensions.
It is expensive to differentiate, which is why it looks like the UCaaS world is consolidating. Arkadin's recent purchase by NTT and their own recent acquisition of Implement.Com is an example of how consolidating service providers in the Lync world will enable the UCaaS partners to build out a competitive portfolio. West Corporation (InterCall) had already moved in this direction with its acquisition of PostCti, which, together with the acquired Smoothstone, was repackaged as West IP Communications and enables West to build custom hybrid solutions. Avanade's acquisition of Azaleos combines hosting expertise with solid deployment and development expertise; although Avanade has not yet announced whether it will develop a Lync-based UCaaS it certainly has the horsepower now to do so.
It is unlikely Microsoft will provide any clarity on its UCaaS plans at Enterprise Connect. This month's Hosting Summit in Bellevue may provide a glimpse of things to come but if, as Roy's slide suggests, its own UCaaS service will not be fully enabled until 2015 it may be the Lync Conference next year where we get a more precise roadmap of where Lync, PSTN, and Office 365 are headed together.
Tags
Start YourCustomized Search
SOLUTION AREA
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
- 8x8 (18) Apply 8x8 filter
- Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (18) Apply Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise filter
- AT&T (15) Apply AT&T filter
- AudioCodes (13) Apply AudioCodes filter
- Avaya (78) Apply Avaya filter
- Cisco (166) Apply Cisco filter
- Dell (1) Apply Dell filter
- Five9 (14) Apply Five9 filter
- Fuze (16) Apply Fuze filter
- Genesys (19) Apply Genesys filter
- HP (38) Apply HP filter
- IBM (36) Apply IBM filter
- Jabra (5) Apply Jabra filter
- Logitech (13) Apply Logitech filter
- Lumen (1) Apply Lumen filter
- Masergy (13) Apply Masergy filter
- Microsoft (214) Apply Microsoft filter
- Mitel (38) Apply Mitel filter
- NEC (14) Apply NEC filter
- Nectar (35) Apply Nectar filter
- Polycom (32) Apply Polycom filter
- RingCentral (33) Apply RingCentral filter
- Sennheiser (10) Apply Sennheiser filter
- Slack (1) Apply Slack filter
- Tata Communications (2) Apply Tata Communications filter
- Unify (27) Apply Unify filter
- Vonage Business (24) Apply Vonage Business filter
- Yealink (3) Apply Yealink filter
- Zoom (5) Apply Zoom filter
- Acme Packet (11) Apply Acme Packet filter
- Allworx (2) Apply Allworx filter
- Arkadin (17) Apply Arkadin filter
- Aspect (5) Apply Aspect filter
- BT (9) Apply BT filter
- CaféX (2) Apply CaféX filter
- CallTower (1) Apply CallTower filter
- Clarity Connect (3) Apply Clarity Connect filter
- Damaka (1) Apply Damaka filter
- Dialogic (3) Apply Dialogic filter
- Dimension Data (9) Apply Dimension Data filter
- Empirix (5) Apply Empirix filter
- Enghouse Interactive (12) Apply Enghouse Interactive filter
- Inference Solutions (5) Apply Inference Solutions filter
- IntelePeer (12) Apply IntelePeer filter
- IR (6) Apply IR filter
- Jive (7) Apply Jive filter
- Kurmi Software (9) Apply Kurmi Software filter
- Lifesize (10) Apply Lifesize filter
- Lightware (1) Apply Lightware filter
- Mavenir (3) Apply Mavenir filter
- Modality Systems (2) Apply Modality Systems filter
- Momentum (1) Apply Momentum filter
- Netfortris (4) Apply Netfortris filter
- NetSapiens (6) Apply NetSapiens filter
- NewVoiceMedia (21) Apply NewVoiceMedia filter
- Nureva (5) Apply Nureva filter
- NUWAVE (2) Apply NUWAVE filter
- Orange (6) Apply Orange filter
- OVCC (5) Apply OVCC filter
- Panasonic (5) Apply Panasonic filter
- PanTerra Networks (6) Apply PanTerra Networks filter
- ScanSource (12) Apply ScanSource filter
- SIPPIO (2) Apply SIPPIO filter
- Snom (15) Apply Snom filter
- Star2Star (4) Apply Star2Star filter
- StarLeaf (8) Apply StarLeaf filter
- Tadiran Telecom (2) Apply Tadiran Telecom filter
- TekVizion (5) Apply TekVizion filter
- Unimax (1) Apply Unimax filter
- Verint (14) Apply Verint filter
- Voice4Net (1) Apply Voice4Net filter
- VOSS (52) Apply VOSS filter
- Voxbone (4) Apply Voxbone filter
- XO Communications (2) Apply XO Communications filter
- Yorktel (9) Apply Yorktel filter
- Zultys (2) Apply Zultys filter
- 3CX (1) Apply 3CX filter
- Avnet (4) Apply Avnet filter
- Bandwidth (4) Apply Bandwidth filter
- Calabrio (2) Apply Calabrio filter
- Consilium Software (13) Apply Consilium Software filter
- Drum (3) Apply Drum filter
- ESI (1) Apply ESI filter
- Esna (2) Apply Esna filter
- EZuce (3) Apply EZuce filter
- Highfive (1) Apply Highfive filter
- Huawei (8) Apply Huawei filter
- Imagicle (3) Apply Imagicle filter
- Logmein (3) Apply Logmein filter
- Metropolis Technologies (2) Apply Metropolis Technologies filter
- NextPlane (7) Apply NextPlane filter
- Ooma (6) Apply Ooma filter
- Patton (5) Apply Patton filter
- Radisys (1) Apply Radisys filter
- Shango (1) Apply Shango filter
- SMART (2) Apply SMART filter
- Stack8 (1) Apply Stack8 filter
- Swyx (1) Apply Swyx filter
- TrueConf (3) Apply TrueConf filter
- UJET (5) Apply UJET filter
- Voximplant (1) Apply Voximplant filter
CONTENT TYPE
- BC Expert Insights Market (42) Apply BC Expert Insights Market filter
- BC Expert Insights Objective - Vendor Neutral (42) Apply BC Expert Insights Objective - Vendor Neutral filter
- BC Expert Insights Planning (15) Apply BC Expert Insights Planning filter
- BC Expert Insights Solution (12) Apply BC Expert Insights Solution filter
- BC Expert Insights Vendor (80) Apply BC Expert Insights Vendor filter
- BC Expert Insights Vendor Solution (145) Apply BC Expert Insights Vendor Solution filter
- BC Expert Roundtable (133) Apply BC Expert Roundtable filter
- Bcs Webinar (0)
- Bcs Webinar Registration (0)
- Best Practice (38) Apply Best Practice filter
- Buyer Guide (14) Apply Buyer Guide filter
- Case Study (29) Apply Case Study filter
- Executive Interview (145) Apply Executive Interview filter
- Expert Roundtable (450) Apply Expert Roundtable filter
- Guest Contributions (34) Apply Guest Contributions filter
- Multimedia (38) Apply Multimedia filter
- (-) Remove News Analysis filter News Analysis
- Newsfeed Article (1303) Apply Newsfeed Article filter
- Newsfeed Article (1) Apply Newsfeed Article filter
- Thought Leadership (21) Apply Thought Leadership filter
- Vendor Collateral (211) Apply Vendor Collateral filter
- Vendor Resource Best Practices (24) Apply Vendor Resource Best Practices filter
- Vendor Resource Buyers Guides (2) Apply Vendor Resource Buyers Guides filter
- Vendor Resource Multimedia Content (4) Apply Vendor Resource Multimedia Content filter
- Vendor Resource White Paper (4) Apply Vendor Resource White Paper filter
- Webinar (13) Apply Webinar filter
- Webinars (7) Apply Webinars filter
- White Paper (64) Apply White Paper filter
MORE FILTERS
INDUSTRY
- Banking And Investment (150) Apply Banking And Investment filter
- Education (82) Apply Education filter
- Energy And Utilities (40) Apply Energy And Utilities filter
- Finance (10) Apply Finance filter
- Government (143) Apply Government filter
- Healthcare (76) Apply Healthcare filter
- Hospitality (27) Apply Hospitality filter
- Insurance (12) Apply Insurance filter
- Manufacturing (34) Apply Manufacturing filter
- Media/Publishing (52) Apply Media/Publishing filter
- None (0)
- Professional Services (118) Apply Professional Services filter
- Retail & Distribution (172) Apply Retail & Distribution filter
- Technology (93) Apply Technology filter
- Transportation (0)
Comments
There are currently no comments on this article.
You must be a registered user to make comments