Google's next target: Unified communications

Unified communications has been a technology specialty of networking vendors for years, but Google Inc.'s recent forays into Google Voice and Google Wave, launching later this year, could drastically upset the competitive landscape.

It's not as if Google Voice and Google Wave will kill related efforts of companies like Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others heavily involved in unified communications, but Google seems to have the competition scrambling already.

Witness today's comment by Cisco's Doug Dennerline, senior vice president of collaboration software, in a Web conference with reporters and analysts. "Google Wave validates what we've been doing for two years [with Webex Connect]," Dennerline said. "We are going to invent and reinvent. You'll see cool things from us."

Anybody who has followed the computer industry for long knows that when a vendor says another company has "validated" them, it really means, "Yes, they are clearly in our living room and we are making sure they don't move in permanently." Dennerline was careful to imply that Cisco is up to the Google challenge and would "invent and reinvent" to stay competitive.

While Wave and Voice seem more focused on consumer users, with tools for instant messaging, e-mail and social networks, Dennerline was quick to point out that "social networking is important to enterprises, too."

Zeus Kerravala, a Yankee Group analyst who was on the call with Dennerline, said Google Voice and Wave so far are not a threat to Cisco, Microsoft and voice-switching vendors like Avaya Inc. or Siemens. However, he added, "long term, Google will have a significant role" in voice and unified communications markets.

The main reason is Google's size. "Google has the mindshare and capital resources that it can be as big a threat as it desires to be," Kerravala said.

The Google threat to Cisco could be especially acute compared with Google's threat to other companies, since Cisco has a dual mission of keeping its traditional enterprise customers and service providers happy and well-supplied with networking gear, while also seeking to service consumers, especially with video technology.

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

• Email
• Print
• Share
  • Slashdot
  • Digg
  • Stumble
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine