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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. Raikes also predicted that in the same time frame, 100 million people—twice the number of current business VoIP users—will have the ability to make phone calls from Microsoft Office applications.

“Software is set to transform business phone systems as profoundly as it has transformed virtually every other form of workplace communication,” Raikes said.

Raikes discussed the challenges and costs that IT departments face managing multiple communications systems for telephony and software-based communications. For example, according to a report from Gartner Research, the cost of branded IP handsets—typically 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the cost of telephony installation—is still a main obstacle for companies adopting IP telephony.

By bringing a new approach to traditional telephony, Microsoft asserts that Office Communications Server will deliver the following:

• Software economics
• Voice quality
• Easy transition

“Office Communications Server 2007 represents a glimpse into the future of collaboration and information worker environments,” said Robert Sincavage, section manager of Web and Collaborative Systems for the BMW Group.

Raikes described Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 as the new communications technology since Microsoft Outlook 1997, an e-mail and personal information manager.

Customers can register for the public beta version of Office Communications Server and Communicator 2007 here. Partners can register for the Office Communications Server 2007 interoperability specification here.