PBX vendor: Microsoft needs us

Microsoft will not replace current private branch exchange (PBX) sellers as it cannot offer comparable features or support, according to one vendor.

The Seattle-based company recently signed up some PBX vendors to provide VoIP inter-operability with its up-coming Office Communications Server 2007.

Some industry experts suggested this could lead to companies indulging in "rip and replace" of their current systems and herald a full-scale move by Microsoft into becoming a PBX vendor itself.

Office Communications Server includes a simplified version of PBX systems, based on the Office Communicator VoIP client.

But Richard Jenner, a product manager for Avaya EMEA, told IT Week: "Microsoft has a long way to go before it can become a voice vendor."

"It needs to offer quality of service, voice switching and security

"Nobody in the enterprise market would take a Microsoft desktop telephony solution and use it as a replacement for a PBX – you need the infrastructure behind it."

However, Mr Jenenr added that he thought the integration of IP PBX and Office Communications Server could be a success if they were run "in a complementary fashion".