Earlier this month Microsoft launched Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007, the latest version of its voice over IP (VoIP) server suite that is supplemented by the Office Communicator 2007 desktop client. Used in tandem, they can significantly reduce the cost of company telecommunications, according to Microsoft.

The lower operational costs of VoIP systems often seem attractive, but just as often the disproportionately high price of new VoIP handsets proves prohibitive.

In the past, IT managers have had little choice but to pay through the nose for IP handsets, or use software and a headset connected to each PC to make IP calls instead. The cost of those devices has fallen recently but still adds up to a pretty penny. And many firms might find they would spend less by sticking with their existing telephone systems.

All of which sounds like there is a great opportunity for OCS to steal market share from the incumbents. But unfortunately businesses will probably find the set-up costs for a small OCS deployment to be higher than for a comparable private automatic branch exchange (PABX).

For example, to wire a small office for phones would cost a few thousand pounds, which would include supplying and fitting all the kit. While OCS does away with the need for dedicated phone hardware and cabling for each user by routing calls over the data network, each location would still need to buy three servers just to run OCS.

Free server virtualisation tools could be used to squeeze those servers onto one physical piece of kit, but the server hardware would still cost about £3,000. Windows Server licences and the OCS software would cost around £3,000 more, plus the client access licences (CALs) for each PC connecting to the system.

Mid-sized firms may find the difference in deployment costs to be more marginal, and the balance would probably be tipped by the tariffs for VoIP calls. But while BT and other telcos are in an excellent position to offer attractive tariffs for long-distance or off-peak calls, for example, it is not yet clear whether OCS resellers could put together similar price packages.

In some industry sectors, the unfavourable cost equation may be outweighed by the pressing need to implement accurate call logging for accountability purposes, and this may prove the catalyst for some early adopters.

But in the final analysis, Skype and instant messaging systems were the killer apps of the last decade. Walk into any office and you’ll probably see people using them. OCS is Microsoft’s attempt to ride that wave, and at this stage it is hard to tell whether it will succeed.

‹ roger@rogerh.com