Nortel microsoft

Deep networking background Cisco, which provides most of the IP networking gear for major businesses around the world, has been aggressively moving into the communications market. The company has used its IP expertise to build a strong foothold in the IP telephony market with more than 8.

The company sells its CallManager software as a replacement for traditional private branch exchanges, or PBXs--private switches that connect calls from the outside world to different extensions within a company. Cisco also sells IP telephones. And the company claims it displaces about 12, traditional telephones based on time-division multiplex, or TDM, technology every business day.

According to the latest figures from Synergy Research, Cisco is the No. Avaya is a close second, while Nortel trails in third. Now Cisco is moving toward integrating its voice services with other communications services like e-mail, instant messaging, video and Web conferencing.

In March it introduced its Unified Presence Server, which collects status and availability data from users' devices and feeds it to Cisco applications, and the Unified Personal Communicator, which allows users to see on their PCs or IP phones who is online. The company claims that more than 70 percent of the Fortune is using Cisco Unified Communications.

Microsoft's big IP plans Microsoft, which dominates the software market both for consumers and business, has made it plain it is also going after the communications market.

Check out the latest Insider stories here. More from the IDG Network. Nortel's liquidation could cripple UC relationship with Microsoft Watch a slideshow of Nortel over the years. Join the Network World communities on Facebook and LinkedIn to comment on topics that are top of mind. Related: Unified Communications Microsoft. John Fontana is senior editor at Network World. Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski said a single platform tying together the expertise of both companies "is a giant win for our customer.

Ballmer would not discuss how much in extra revenue Microsoft expects, but he said hundreds of millions of people will get unified communications products and services in the next decade. The key is to make it happen. Few additional details were announced, and the amount of investment by both companies was not disclosed. However, Nortel will send potentially more than of its developers to Redmond, Wash. Their first task will be further integration between the Nortel Communication Server and Microsoft Office communications products, said Steve Slattery, president of enterprise solutions at Nortel.

That effort will evolve into a portfolio that includes a voice server appliance and various terminals and devices to complete an Office communications suite of products, he said. Anoop Gupta, vice president of Microsoft's unified communications group, said several products rolling out in the second quarter of will include integrated Nortel elements. Those products, spelled out at a news conference last month, include Office Communications Server and a related Communications client. He said the alliance with Microsoft helps Nortel re-establish its reputation as a market leader in the wake of a series of financial restatements the company has had to make in the past three years.

IT shops are currently burdened by having to block third-party communications, such as instant messaging or consumer-grade voice-over-IP services, something a unified architecture might help, he said.