Nortel Buzzboard

One recent news item that I didn’t get to talk about in the last few weeks with all the other news about 40 gig and VoiceCon (as well as a week of vacation) was the joint news that Nortel announced a few weeks ago with Microsoft.  This area is particularly close to my heart as I have personally supported this alliance for the last year and half.

In our joint release with Microsoft, we announced that four new OCS-based solutions from our Innovative Communications Alliance were now generally available.  In total, Nortel and Microsoft have now brought 10 solutions to market related to the alliance.  The alliance now has over 600 wins, and we highlighted 5 new OCS-based joint customers in the release.

Earlier today I attended an internal Q&A session in Richardson for Nortel employees hosted by Ruchi Prasad.  Ruchi is Nortel’s VP and GM of the Innovative Communications Alliance.  She answered various questions about the alliance’s progress, our solutions, the competition, etc.

Ruchi Prasad, Nortel’s VP and GM of the Innovative Communications AllianceDuring the session, she highlighted her view that unified communications couldn’t just be sold as a “horizontal” solution…that creating targeted vertical UC solutions was key (and an area where Nortel has a lot of experience).  Ruchi was also asked if she was satisfied with the progress the alliance has made.  She talked about the journey that Nortel’s relationship has taken with Microsoft in the last two years - the work learning each other’s “language” and processes, and the difficulties that can come anytime two large companies partner.  But Ruchi was very happy with the “significant progress” the alliance has made.  Progress that she said has surprised many people.

Indeed, looking back at the prognosticators in early 2007, some didn’t expect the alliance to make it through the summer.  At the same time, other vendors made various claims that their products could also interoperate with Microsoft UC, that Microsoft wanted them first, or staged grand exec events promising close collaboration with Microsoft.  All-in-all, there have been plenty of doubters.

But as Nortel continued to show progress with Microsoft — celebrating our one year anniversary, leading the integration with OCS, announcing Dell as a new UC channel, and finally with this latest news delivering on the entire joint roadmap that Mike Z and Ballmer outlined in Jan 2007 — the noise from naysayers has mostly faded away.

In it’s place is increasing recognition that Nortel and Microsoft are succeeding together — as shown in Gartner’s latest UC Magic Quadrant, feedback from channel partners, as well as recent news coverage.

There is still a lot of joint work to be done…which is a testament to the depth of the alliance itself.  Ten joint solutions already available and the two companies haven’t come close to slowing down.  But what do you think?  Do you see the progress?  What questions about the alliance do you have?