Cisco's Un-Unified Communications

There's a lot of buzz about Cisco's acquisition of Jabber and before that, PostPath. John Furrier says it's "getting interesting" but most of the discussion I've heard is how Cisco will remain a non-starter in rich UC. Bar none, Cisco makes a great VoIP platform with their CallManager platform. However VoIP does not a UC platform make. They now have all the pieces, email (PostPath), IM (Jabber), VoIP/UM (CallManager) but they lack the glue.

It's impossible to overstress the importance of "unified" in unified communications. Microsoft's Gurdeep Singh Pall adds

Cisco’s offering is the definition of “un-unified” communications. With more than 40 products, their solution is a patchwork of technologies and networking. The risk for customers is that a patchwork system is slower to roll out, harder to train users, and more expensive to manage and maintain over the long term.

He has an obvious vested interest but you can't ignore that he makes a good point. No one wants to roll out 40 different independent platforms, or even 3-4. The whole point of UC is a single console and a single user experience across multiple modes of communication all tied together with a presence engine.

Cisco has proven they don't have the software expertise to bring it all together as Brian Riggs notes in his evaluation of their current IM solution,

Cisco’s Unified Presence Server has instant messaging software built right into it. But this home-grown IM capability is not something Cisco has drawn a lot of attention to. All the data sheets, configuration guides, installation manuals and all other Presence Server product literature I’ve ever come across completely gloss over its inherent IM capabilities. I get the impression that the Cisco-designed IM software is not quite up to snuff compared with alternatives from Microsoft and IBM.

Didn't know Cisco already had an internal IM solution? You aren't the only one. Fact is, it's not very good. Cisco isn't a [end user] software company. With these recent acquisitions they've got a lot of wood but no carpenters and no nails. I just don't see Cisco being able to put it all together anytime soon.