Shift to VoIP could make billions for Microsoft

It is said that voip technology is in news and if Microsoft makes use of this situation it can make billions . But how ??

Because the move to web-based phone systems will gain momentum during the next three years and Microsoft's new server software will transform the telecommunication system industry the way its Windows operating system changed the computer industry.

Microsoft's plan of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business market differs from that of Cisco, which is selling fully-integrated systems incorporating its network equipment with its own software.VoIP will grow to a $35bn (£18bn) market and Microsoft plans to get a piece of the action

Nowadays,  businesses are adopting VoIP technology in some form, mainly to save costs.Till now there are few players in this segment and Microsoft wants to makeuse of this situation .

Microsoft is planning to improve communications by introducing features other than  email, instant messaging, web and wireless telephony.

The Office suite, which includes Outlook email, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, is already one of the world's most widely used software applications. It incorporated a "presence" feature within Office 2007 to allow workers to see the availability of another worker for a call or message.

Any time a worker's name shows up on a document or email, there is a icon that allows people to initiate a phone call with one click.

Microsoft  say that users will be able to make VoIP phone calls through Office within three years.

I think microsoft has seen the right opportunity at the right time of using VoIP .