Microsoft Corp. is playing a familiar role, productivity software vendor, on a new stage, hosted services, at SUPERCOMM 2005 in Chicago. The software giant is reaching out to service providers by offering its software products within a new framework that supports selling them as hosted services.
AT&T and Microsoft Corp. announced an agreement for AT&T to adopt Connected Services Framework, Microsoft’s system for delivery of hosted communications services to multiple kinds of endpoints using Web services technology. AT&T will use the system to create hosted IP services and applications that will expand on its existing IP services portfolio, including the company’s recently announced Dynamic Network Applications portfolio.
“AT&T is thinking, now that they have gone out with VoIP offerings, they want to add more services to their infrastructure,” says Michael O’Hara, general manager of the service provider business at Microsoft, and formerly with Sonus Networks Inc.
Microsoft and hosted PBX vendor Sylantro Systems Corp. unveiled at SUPERCOMM an agreement to incorporate Sylantro’s hosted PBX with the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration, which includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Live Communications Server 2005 and Windows SharePoint Services. The combined products enable a hosted service that includes business VoIP, email, collaboration, presence, instant messaging and desktop services.
Microsoft also announced that Accenture has adopted Connected Services Framework as a core component of the Web services version of its Service Delivery Platform, a system to enable the launch of wireline and wireless multimedia services. The Accenture product is aimed primarily at IPTV deployments.
Microsoft has a new deal with Amdocs, a provider of customer management software, to develop and market systems that combine Amdocs’ consulting and implementation services, the recently announced Amdocs 6 portfolio of products and Microsoft Communications Sector products, including the Microsoft Connected Services Framework. The integrated software will enable service providers to deliver combinations of IP services.
Specifically, Amdocs will expand its current integration with the Microsoft Connected Services Framework to facilitate flow-through provisioning and usage collection for a variety of Microsoft services, such as the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration and the Microsoft TV platform. The Amdocs Partner Manager 6 will be available on the Microsoft platform, and the two companies will develop Web services interfaces to facilitate deployments.
The Amdocs agreement “is a definition of Web services interfaces to OSSs,” says O’Hara. “It is porting their products to a Microsoft platform so they can start to use Microsoft services.”
O’Hara says the Connected Service Framework is not limited to Microsoft applications, but can tie into any software with XML interfaces.
