IBM/Lotus sharpens weapon for unified communications battle

IBM/Lotus is banking on the integration of its Sametime platform and collaboration software with tools from telephony partners to fuel its climb up the ranks of unified communications contenders.

The company's strategy is to marry collaboration, social networking, conferencing and messaging software, which feature open protocols and interfaces, with telephony wares from partners such as Cisco, Nortel and Avaya to create a unified communications (UC) platform that corporations can integrate with their current infrastructure and Web services projects. Integration and standards support are hallmarks of the platform that features voice, e-mail, instant messaging, presence and videoconferencing.

The model is much different from traditional rival Microsoft, which eventually hopes to supplant telephony vendors by re-inventing the PBX in software. And it is different from Cisco, which partners with IBM/Lotus but is taking a more network approach to UC.
IBM/Lotus, on the other hand, has drawn a line of demarcation and is developing a gateway that invites telephony vendors and other partners into its UC lineup, which is anchored by Sametime and includes the Sametime client, Notes messaging, Connections social software, Quickr document management and Lotus Symphony productivity applications.

To prove its commitment, Steve Mills, the senior vice president of IBM's software group, said in March that the company will spend US$1 billion on its UC strategy over the next three years.

It may take such a war chest to overcome major challenges. IBM/Lotus must fight market dynamics that now favor Microsoft's platform centered on Office Communications Server (OCS), clearly define its feature differences and architectural advantages, and penetrate companies that already have an affinity for rival software.

Playing from behind
That penetration is sort of a "do-over" for IBM/Lotus.

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