AT&T and Microsoft push services

The first goal will be for Microsoft to web services-enable AT&T’s VoIP service so that it can run through Microsoft’s Connected Services Framework for enterprise customers.

The deal was announced last week at Supercomm, the annual telephony conference in Chicago.

Microsoft said that services over IP (SoIP) will transform the way firms operate but is not a single killer application. Mark Blowers of analyst firm Butler Group commented, “It’s ‘presence’ information that will be the key enabler for enterprises; and comms services integration on the desktop should bring significant productivity benefits.”

Andrew Steven, European director of Microsoft’s Communications Sector arm, said, “In the last 24 months we’ve been building telco-grade service delivery solutions, making it easier for companies to roll out messaging [and] collaboration services integrated with presence information.”

The alliance with AT&T will use Microsoft’s Connected Services Framework, enabled to run over AT&T’s global IP network.

Eric Shepcaro, AT&T’s vice president for strategy and business development, said, “There’s two ways we’ll be using this to enable VoIP in conjunction with Microsoft applications: one is through a voice adaptor using a software development kit allowing access to AT&T’s infrastructure, and the other is the easier option where users [of AT&T’s Dynamic Network Applications] will be able to use click-to-dial to get VoIP access to our network.”

In separate news, comms provider Nortel Networks last week also announced a multimedia plug-in for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. The Office client can be used with Nortel’s Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based Multimedia Communications Server (MCS) 5100 and 5200 systems.

The plug-in can be deployed by firms themselves or as part of a managed service. It can be accessed via a toolbar in Outlook 2003, allowing users to call out by clicking a contact name. Users are able to create presence information through communications rules indicating exactly how they want to be contacted.