Here's what the press said about Enterprise Connect Spring 2007:
March 9, 2007:
"Open-source VoIP vendor Digium this week unveiled its first formal channel program, a move that foreshadows its forthcoming launch of a line of channel-friendly appliances."
"Roll out voice over IP across 250 offices and 10,000 VoIP nodes and you learn a thing or two about the technology. So when Alok Kapoor, managing director of Merrill Lynch, Global Private Client Technology talked about VoIP here at VoiceCon, he had some concrete advice for any implementer."
"Software giant Microsoft recently announced in a keynote address at VoiceCon Spring 2007 that in approximately three years, the average voice over Internet protocol solution for business will cost half what it does today as VoIP systems move from hardware to software and that about 100 million people, twice the number of current business VoIP users, will have the ability to make phone calls from Microsoft Office applications."
"In a keynote address at VoiceCon Spring 2007, Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's Business Division, has predicted that in three years, the average voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution for business will cost half what it does today, as VoIP systems move from hardware to software."
March 8, 2007
"At the VoiceCon conference Avaya CEO Louis D’Ambrosio and Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski made bullish comments about the VoIP business."
"Cisco hit a soft spot during the recent quarter with U.S. Enterprise customers and this segment only grew only in the mid-single-digits. From discussions at Voicecon, the firm believes some of this weakness is temporary and they believe the industry is still in the middle of a healthy upgrade cycle."
"As part of what is shaping up to be another hotly contested land-rush between the two, Microsoft and IBM used this week’s VoiceCon conference to mark their territory in a race to provide unified communications technology to corporate users."
"Louis D'Ambrosio became top guy at Avaya last July, making him only the company's second CEO since its inception in 2000, when Avaya was spun off from Lucent's legacy business telephony arm--a group which created the first cell phone and packet PBX. At the VoiceCon show this week, D'Ambrosio spoke with Network World about changes at the company, its competitors, and the enterprise VoIP market."
"Microsoft introduced the public beta of its Office Communications Server 2007 at VoiceCon. Following the announcement, Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Unified Communications Group, discussed with Network World Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth how Microsoft's Session Initiation Protocol-based VoIP, messaging and collaboration server fits in and competes in the corporate convergence market."
"IT professionals attending VoiceCon this week hailed from large private enterprises, to public organizations and small businesses."
"Speaking at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 IP telephony forum in Florida, Microsoft Business Division president Jeff Raikes forecast that within three years the average voice over IP (VoIP) solution will cost half what it does now, and 100m people--twice the number currently using VoIP, by Microsoft’s calculations--will be able to initiate 'Click to Call' communications sessions from within Office applications."
"Avaya has introduced new tools to let enterprises do more with their IP telephony systems and keep them available when a network goes down. The company announced Avaya Communication Manager 4.0, the latest version of its software platform for enterprise VoIP at this week's VoiceCon Spring conference."
"IBM and Cisco have announced an alliance bringing together Big Blue's Sametime collaboration platform with Cisco's Unified Communications portfolio, in an obvious face-off against Microsoft and Nortel's Innovative Communications Alliance. The two industry heavyweights unveiled the initiative a the VoiceCon Spring event in Orlando, Florida"
"Cisco Systems introduced approximately 45 new and enhanced products at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 show in Orlando, Fl., including a new version of its Unified Communications Manager aimed at mid-sized businesses with between 100 and 500 employees."
March 7, 2007:
"The move to Web-based phone systems will gain momentum during the next three years and Microsoft's new server software will transform the telecommunication systems industry the way its Windows operating system changed the computer industry, said Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division. 'You're going to see history repeat itself,' said Raikes in an interview ahead of a keynote speech at VoiceCon Spring 2007, an industry conference for Web-based telephony."
Microsoft: 100M workers to use Net phones on job
"Some 100 million workers will be using the Internet to place phone calls by 2010, according to Microsoft, which will start testing the feature for its Office software this month."
"In three years 100 million workers will junk their old telephones and communicate with anyone from their desktop at half of what VoIP services cost today, Jeff Raikes, the president of Microsoftís business division said on Wednesday."
"Cisco is serious about driving unified communications and collaboration capabilities into mainstream applications. With already a large presence at this week's VoiceCon conference in Orlando, Florida, Cisco revealed a partnership with IBM to develop a new communications platform based on open standards."
"Nortel on Wednesday introduced new Ethernet routing switches for enterprises migrating to VoIP and advanced unified communications. In addition to other product and service improvements, the company announced its new Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 2500 and ERS 4500 at the VoiceCon trade show in Orlando this week."
"Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will publicly release its beta Office Communications Server 2007 this month and is inviting the public to participate. Microsoft Business Division President Jeff Raikes made the announcement at the VoiceCon trade show in Orlando, signaling what could mark the beginning of a surge in VoIP and unified communications."
"Microsoft introduced the public beta version of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 at VoiceCon. Following the announcement, Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president, of Microsoft's Unified Communications Group, discussed with Network World Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth how Microsoft's SIP-based VoIP, messaging and collaboration server fits in, and competes, in the enterprise convergence market."
"IBM and Cisco Wednesday announced a unified communications partnership and promised to deliver integration among their products including real-time clients and back-end servers, as well as an open-client framework for developers."
"Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is planning a global VoIP rollout with tens of thousands of IP phones that will ultimately run off of a mostly Microsoft-based server platform."
"Microsoft Wednesday will unveil the first public beta of its Office Communications Server and Office Communicator client, the heart of its unified communications strategy."
"Aiming to let enterprises do more with their IP (Internet Protocol) telephony systems and keep them available when a network goes down, Avaya Inc. introduced new software, phones and a gateway at this week's VoiceCon Spring conference."
"Cisco Systems and IBM on Wednesday said they're expanding their strategic alliance to focus on unified communications and collaboration solutions. 'We are working together to create an open environment that allows [communications] applications to be deeply integrated into the desktop,' said Charlie Giancarlo, senior vice president and chief development officer at Cisco, in a keynote address at VoiceCon Spring 2007."
"Microsoft later this month will open the beta testing of its Office Communications Server 2007 to the public, the company said Wednesday at VoiceCon Spring 2007."
In a move further signaling that VoIP is now serious business, Microsoft (News - Alert) announced at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 conference it would enter the booming VoIP market, and release a public beta of its VoIP server software by the end of March.
"Microsoft will release a public beta of new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) server software by the end of March. The software smoothly integrates with legacy phone networks and its Office application suite, the company said. Microsoft plans a formal announcement today at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 conference in Orlando, Florida."
"Cisco Systems and IBM on March 7 at VoiceCon in Orlando, Fla., will team up to further the cause of richer collaboration with the launch of a new, open platform for third-party developers."
"IBM and Cisco will announce today at the Spring 2007 VoiceCon conference in Orlando, Florida, a joint effort to create an industrywide unified communications and collaboration platform."
"ORLANDO, Fla. -- IBM and Cisco today announced their intent to deliver a new platform for unified communications and collaboration client development."
"VoiceCon Spring 2007, produced by CMP Technology, today presented ShoreTel with the 2007 Best in VoiceCon Award, which recognizes new and exceptional enterprise IP communications solutions. ShoreTel received the most votes from the VoiceCon Spring 2007 attendees, and was presented the award for its ShoreTel 6.1 solution on March 7."
March 6, 2007:
"Nortel has unveiled two new switch series designed to accommodate convergence and ease the growth of VoIP and unified communications (UC) within an organization. The Ethernet Routing Switch 2500 and 4500 series, which were announced at VoiceCon Spring 2007, can be the foundation to enable LANs to prioritize real-time communications traffic such as voice, video and multimedia services."
"The future of Avaya's and Nortel's respective VoIP businesses is in software, as well as strong partnerships with enterprise-class application vendors, the CEOs for both companies said this week. In separate keynote sessions at the VoiceCon show, Avaya CEO Louis D'Ambrosio and Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski both said the majority of their respective companies' R&D efforts are focused on software ó with 75% to 80% of their development dollars going to writing code, rather than circuit boards, line cards and handsets."
"AVST is announcing at VoiceCon this week that it is expanding the deployment options for its CallXpress unified messaging platform so end users have more options of picking up their voicemail, faxes and e-mails."
"Nortel is at a critical point in its 111-year history, its president and CEO said in a keynote address at the VoiceCon show."
"Avaya's CEO Louis D'Ambrosio kicked off this year's VoiceCon conference in Orlando, Fla., with a bang. D'Ambrosio, in an opening keynote address, announced a partnership with Lenovo to integrate Avaya's Internet Protocol telephony capabilities in Lenovo's notebook computers along with a suite of services for communications-enabled business processes."
"Avaya President and CEO Louis D'Ambrosio on Tuesday touted unified communications solutions and advised attendees of VoiceCon Spring 2007 not to take their communications strategies lightly."
"PC maker Lenovo and communications giant Avaya have agreed to integrate their technologies on some ThinkPad models, merging Lenovo's notebook biometrics and form factor with Avaya's voice-over-IP (VoIP) software solution. The companies were set to announce the alliance on Tuesday, at the VoiceCon telephony conference in Orlando."
"Presence often is discussed in terms of its positive benefits for enterprises in general, since this functionality helps companies generally maintain a more efficient workforce. But, presence has some very specific benefits for contact centers, a fact being highlighted this week during VoiceCon in Orlando, at the booth manned by Mitel."
"Cisco launched Unified Communications 6.0, a platform for voice, video, and data, at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 conference in Orlando on Monday. The latest iteration of the system offers new features, such as the ability to instantly transfer calls from mobile phones to office phones."
"Extreme Networks, Inc. introduced their new Handset Provisioning Module and Universal Port software yesterday. It will allow 'the network to automatically discover and configure phones and provision custom network resources as devices come onto the network.'"
March 5, 2007:
"Fred Knight, VoiceCon general manager, said the show will build on two key themes: building the new platform to support a converged network and satisfy VoIP needs, and leveraging that platform for business process and collaboration...."
"Vendors at this week's VoiceCon Spring 2007 conference say they want to extend the reach of corporate VoIP technology to mobile users, while making VoIP a more integral part of other corporate applications."
"Two network infrastructure vendors launched free management software tools at the VoiceCon show this week, with the aim of simplifying the setup IP desktop phones and carrier VoIP services."
"Major networking companies, including Cisco Systems Inc., Avaya Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp., plan to announce new unified communications products at VoiceCon Spring 2007 in Orlando today."
"Extreme Networks will make it faster and easier to add VOIP handsets to enterprise Ethernet networks when the company launches an extension of its Universal Port software on March 6. The company will introduce its new Handset Provisioning Module at VoiceCon, in Orlando, Fla."
"VoiceCon Spring 2007 is bringing out all of the VoIP industry's heavy-hitters, many of whom will be flooding the market with new IP communications wares and the networking infrastructure that sit underneath them."
"The biggest star on the Nortel horizon these days is undoubtedly President and CEO Mike Zafirovskióor Mike Z., as he's commonly calledówho is set this week to unveil a beefed-up unified communications product line at VoiceCon Spring 2007."
