Cisco feeling Microsoft heat
With Microsoft’s recent entry in the unified communications space, Cisco is admitting their VAR’s are feeling the pressure. Customers are unsure about Microsoft’s new product lines and managers are urging their staff to at least look at Microsoft’s offering. Cisco’s has updated it sales material and says that, until now, Microsoft’s entry in the market has just lengthened sales cycles for a couple of days.
This however is bound to change when more and more companies start deploying Microsoft’s solution in favor of others and the news starts spreading. Cisco of course has a competitive advantage of being a leader in the market, while Microsoft’s still the new kid on the block. If Cisco’s feeling the heat, other vendors such as Avaya will likely suffer the same faith.
It’s still to soon to tell how large the part of the market will be that Microsoft’s taking away from the traditional players. This is currently happening in the high end of the market but is definitely going to happen in the mid-grade and entry-level solutions as well in the future. Vendors that are still struggling with switching their product line from traditional telephony to VoIP will sure be beaten harder by the new competition.
