Nice article, but neither complete not accurate enough.

Nick: Where are we inaccurate?

As I understand it, ICA is not a closed UC-ecosystem at all, so do not expect Nortel beeing the only Communications Server on the market to do interesting things with OCS2007.
Nortel and Microsoft are jointly developing an initiative for SIP devices (telephones, gateways, applications,?¢‚Ǩ¬¶) to be able the get the most for telephony when the OCS2007 is deployed in the network.
So the most important advantage I see for Nortel, is that they will be the very first to be ready in technology, support, sales and services for customers willing to have UC based on Microsoft solutions.

Nick: This is not what I see, it looks like there will be a broad range of companies ready to provide a Microsoft based UC solution when OCS ships.

With ICA, Nortel has the chance to ?¢‚Ǩ?ìsee?¢‚Ǩ¬ù further and deeper than other IPPBX manufactures when integrating (not just interoperating) with Microsoft OCS2007. This is a clear advantage, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t you agree?

Nick: The question is, is there enough value for Nortel to differentiate its offerings with this ?¢‚Ǩ?ìseeing further and deeper?¢‚Ǩ¬ù. What can Nortel see that others cannot and do customers care?

It is a mistake trying to position Nortel as THE ONLY one to have a valid telephony solution for Microsoft OCS2007. This is not the point, the point is (I insist) to be the first and best in the wide range of products and services needed by customers willing to have UC solution based on Microsoft.

Nick: We never said that Nortel is the only, we say that Nortel is just another telephony provider that will find it hard to differentiate in the Microsoft UC ecosystem.

In the way to do that, it is clear that some Nortel products will need to adapt. Call Pilot for Unified Messaging is a clear example when the customer insists on having Exchange UM, even though it is a first generation UM solution. But do not get wrong, the same will happen with the UM solutions from Cisco, Alcatel and AVAYA, to name a few. Beeing the first to recognize this completely, will give Nortel a nice advantage in the Microsoft-oriented UM market. It is a kind of ?¢‚Ǩ?ìDarwinian?¢‚Ǩ¬ù adaptation to the real world to be able to survive.

Nick: Agree but Nortel needs to provide clear product direction to its customers as it migrates to the OCS platform.

And let me add a final comment:
When Michael Faraday (the father of ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpractical?¢‚Ǩ¬ù electromagnetism) made a demonstration of an electrical current beeing generated by a magnet moving back and forth inside a copper loop, someone asked him: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìExcuse me sir, and what is it for??¢‚Ǩ¬ù Michael Faraday answered ?¢‚Ǩ?ìTell me gentleman, and what is a baby useful for??¢‚Ǩ¬ù
Do not expect a baby to start working too early and get the annual salary of an adult high level executive. ICA is a medium-long term initiative for at least 4 years. It is just a 1 year old ?¢‚Ǩ?ìbaby?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and there are 3 years more to grow and demonstrate what it is able to achieve. Be patience, wait and see ;-)

Nick: Nortel does not have the luxury of asking customers to wait a few years, the market is too competitive and my fear for Nortel is that customers will loose patience and start to defect.

As I understand it, ICA is not a closed UC-ecosystem at all, so do not expect Nortel beeing the only Communications Server on the market to do interesting things with OCS2007.

Nortel and Microsoft are jointly developing an initiative for SIP devices (telephones, gateways, applications,…) to be able the get the most for telephony when the OCS2007 is deployed in the network.

So the most important advantage I see for Nortel, is that they will be the very first to be ready in technology, support, sales and services for customers willing to have UC based on Microsoft solutions.

With ICA, Nortel has the chance to “see” further and deeper than other IPPBX manufactures when integrating (not just interoperating) with Microsoft OCS2007. This is a clear advantage, don’t you agree?

It is a mistake trying to position Nortel as THE ONLY one to have a valid telephony solution for Microsoft OCS2007. This is not the point, the point is (I insist) to be the first and best in the wide range of products and services needed by customers willing to have UC solution based on Microsoft.

In the way to do that, it is clear that some Nortel products will need to adapt. Call Pilot for Unified Messaging is a clear example when the customer insists on having Exchange UM, even though it is a first generation UM solution. But do not get wrong, the same will happen with the UM solutions from Cisco, Alcatel and AVAYA, to name a few. Beeing the first to recognize this completely, will give Nortel a nice advantage in the Microsoft-oriented UM market. It is a kind of “Darwinian” adaptation to the real world to be able to survive.

And let me add a final comment:

When Michael Faraday (the father of “practical” electromagnetism) made a demonstration of an electrical current beeing generated by a magnet moving back and forth inside a copper loop, someone asked him: “Excuse me sir, and what is it for?” Michael Faraday answered “Tell me gentleman, and what is a baby useful for?”

Do not expect a baby to start working too early and get the annual salary of an adult high level executive. ICA is a medium-long term initiative for at least 4 years. It is just a 1 year old “baby” and there are 3 years more to grow and demonstrate what it is able to achieve. Be patience, wait and see ;-)

(Jeff Raikes spoke about all their partners in UC-Avaya, Cisco and others he eventually mentioned Nortel!)

When Mike Z came into the company he said he would consider pulling out of markets where they did not have 20% market share- seems like this is well on the way to becoming true- the lack of development with Microsoft perhaps coming about through all the lay-offs, management turmoil and accounting issues.

Didn’t want to see this happen to a bellwether traditional voice company that I have shares in :-(