This is not really a surprise. From what we hear in the channel is “How is Microsoft and Cisco going to work together?”. So:
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Cisco CEO John Chambers said the companies will continue to compete head-to-head in several markets, but they will also work together to make sure their products interoperate. The executives, who answered questions from TV journalist Charlie Rose and other business journalists at a press event here Monday, said the decision to work more collaboratively is being driven by customers who want to be able to mix and match products and technologies from each of the companies. And while Ballmer said he’d rather not have to compete against Cisco, he said it was a market reality.
As I have said many times, the truth is in the middle. People want choice and the ability to mix and match products that meet their needs not the homogenous view that Microsoft has always pushed. In short Microsoft Office is going to support the popular Cisco Call Manager range of IP PBXs with interoperability. The question of course is that really news and does it move the unified communications train down the tracks. That is a more difficult question.
