DELIVERING DESKTOPS

MCI Michael Capellas declared at Network+Interop last week that MCI must fully integrate telephony into the business desktop. And to do so, MCI is tying its IP fortunes to Microsoft, bringing the carrier's Net Conferencing portfolio under the Microsoft's Live Meeting audio conferencing application. Few could argue that MCI should choose another partner. Not that Live Meeting is superior to that of any other vendor, but when it comes to office desktop, Microsoft wins. Coming out of bankruptcy, MCI needs new revenues and customers badly. It's chosen to get them by launching an aggressive voice-over-IP and managed services and security portfolio, so partnering with the single greatest presence on the business desktop seems like a no-brainer. What's surprising is that the agreement was only for audio conferencing. While the two companies pledged to develop further IP-based services together, Microsoft already seems primed to launch them. Its Net Meeting Web videoconferencing service now comes integrated with Internet Explorer, and if it isn't already on the desktops and servers of every office worker in the country, it will be the next time they hit Windows update. It's hard to argue with that kind of saturation. There are a lot of telecom services that can be integrated into the desktop IP enhancements. Even if carriers are still cautious to deploy them, Microsoft is definitely ready to lend its omnipresence when they're ready.