Microsoft is betting heavily that UC, including voice, will ultimately revolve around productivity software. “The movement of all communications to software is the uber-level thing that’s happening,” says Greg Saint James, Microsoft’s senior director of UC, “and it will benefit everyone, making it much easier to integrate communications with all your other processes.” And of course, Microsoft expects Active Directory to host the corporate dial plan.

Oracle’s Service Delivery Platform, an extension of its fusion middleware, provides a J2EE/SOA-based platform for building and deploying multiple IP communications software services, including IP telephony, video, IMS, and presence – all of which can be integrated with standard backend business applications.

One of the smallest players, BlueNote Networks, is also one of the most advanced in enabling IP communications as a service that a variety of applications can consume. The company’s flagship SessionSuite provides tools for building IP communications Web services and integrates with Active Directory and RADIUS servers. The capability of linking these services to CRM and other business applications is what could make Todd Sharp’s example a reality in many organizations.

The PBX guys go deep
On the other side of this convergence are the traditional IP PBX vendors. An increasing number, including Nortel, Mitel, and Siemens, are moving full speed ahead to build in interoperability with Microsoft LCS and OCS, IBM’s Lotus Sametime IM and conferencing package, and good old Outlook.

IBM recently announced it would license portions of OpenScape to bring connectivity and a single Sametime user interface to a number of different back-end IP PBX systems. This enables voice, video, conferencing, presence, and other UC features to be accessed from the software that users already know -- leveraging investments IT has already made, rather than forcing migration to Cisco, Avaya, or Mitel software.

Like Siemens, Mitel is looking to pull apart its hardware and software, allowing IT to run its PBX and UC solutions on Sun servers. Even Cisco is increasing efforts to integrate its communications solutions with those of its chief UC competitor, Microsoft, as well as IBM. “We recognize that no one vendor or developer can deliver all pieces of the unified communications puzzle,” says Rick McConnell, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s unified communications business unit.

Avaya is also investing heavily in supporting SOA architecture for its UC functions. Last March, the company announced its Communications Enabled Business Processes solution, which exposes an array of voice communications features as Web services.

Integration is the reason Fred Weber, a highway construction company and materials provider, chose a Nortel IP telephony system when it was time to upgrade its 20-year-old phone system and take advantage of UC. “We use Exchange and Live Communications Server and our staff all uses Office Communicator,” says Phil Hagemann, Fred Weber’s CIO. “The Nortel solution just laid right on top of what we had very neatly. We didn’t have to use a new interface or deal with a large learning curve. With the competing solution we would have had to use their own messenger and presence client.”

Fred Weber plans to take advantage of Nortel’s unified messaging to receive voice mail and faxes in Exchange, while using presence in LCS and Office Communicator to reach users when they are in the office, in meetings, or on the road. Office Communicator will also be available on staff-issued BlackBerry smartphones, so itinerant users can take advantage of find me/follow me features to route their office calls to cell phones or other preferred devices.