Microsoft tops new unified communications vendor matrix ranking

NEW YORK, USA: Microsoft has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research.

Cisco Systems and IBM Corp. claimed the second and third spots in the company’s most recent evaluation of worldwide unified communications (UC) vendors.

The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. Vendors are assessed on the important parameters of “innovation” and “implementation” across several criteria unique to each vendor matrix.

Senior analyst Subha Rama, comments: “Microsoft has shown the strongest growth among UC vendors, leveraging its position as a leader in desktop applications. It has, over the years, integrated multiple solutions in its portfolio to offer a compelling software-based UC solution in Lync. Microsoft also has the widest spectrum of partners for Lync and is expanding this ecosystem rapidly. It has an equally significant play both on the premises and in the cloud.”

Practice director Dan Shey adds: “Cisco scores very high for the way it has evolved its UC channel partner ecosystem: all leading system integrators view Cisco as one of the top two key vendors in this space. IBM was among the first to bring a high degree of credibility to the integration of social computing tools with UC platforms.”

For this particular matrix, under "innovation," ABI Research examined the vendors’ UC channel ecosystems, mobility (the ability to offer clients the same user experience on different devices, among other factors), technology partners, the cost of licensing and equipment, the nature of their application development efforts, the range of professional services vendors offer, and the scope of their product portfolios.

Under "implementation," ABI Research scrutinized UC security features, UC system architectures, solution scalability and interoperability, video and telepresence support, and messaging and IP telephony strengths.