Vole ventures to do Voice over IP

WITH SKYPE TODAY announcing the half-billionth download of its VoIP service, the Vole has threatened to bite back in the business environment by leveraging its Office offering.

Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division, today told Voicecon Spring 2007 that within three years, 100 million office dwellers will be using Volish Office to make calls.

And he reckoned the average voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) business call will cost half what it does today.

"Software is set to transform business phone systems as profoundly as it has transformed virtually every other form of workplace communication," he trumpeted, reckoning the software-based VoIP technology built into Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator would "make the standard telephone look like that old typewriter that's gathering dust in the stockroom."

Raikes said Microsoft would distribute a public beta-test version of Microsoft's VoIP and unified communications server, Office Communications Server 2007 and Communicator 2007, later this month.

Office customers can register to receive the betas Communications Server and Communicator 2007 here. µ