B2X is BS
B2X is BS by Dave Michels
At the recent Lync Conference we learned more about Microsoft’s combined Lync and Skype vision. It was last October that the Lync group was merged into the Skype group. That was a pretty bold move considering Skype is a consumer application, and Lync is working to build enterprise credibility.
The conference opening keynote was delivered by Tony Bates the President of the Skype Division. First off, it is nice to have a face associated with Lync again. Gurdeep Singh Pall was very visible and iconic to the brand, and Tony just might be able to fill those shoes. But more importantly, it was clear that the Skype division is now driving. Tony announced that federation of voice, chat, and presence between Lync and Skype will be completed by June. Tony also promised Lync users a big improvement in Lync’s mobile capabilities. In fact, the new Lync mobile clients will offer many of the same rich features and broad range of supported devices that Skype users have enjoyed for years.
Connecting Skype to Lync is very significant. To date, UC is used largely within an organization, though slowly spreading broader through web clients and federation. B2C or Business/Consumer calls tend to resort back to narrow-band, voice-only, PSTN connections. Skype to Lync could change B2C communications in a way that competitors can’t match. The potential is so significant it gets its own new TLA.
Bates introduced “B2X” as a bold vision of “communications solutions from the living room to the board room and all the points in between.” In his blog post, Bates tells us that “B2X places the focus of business communication on enabling human interactions. B2X puts people first and looks at communications in a unified way, not as disparate technology silos focused on one task or protocol.” Bates wants to use the power of Lync and Skype to “rehumanize communications.”
“People first” has a nice ring to it, but it’s not quite as altruistic as it suggests. It is a people-first strategy for people who happen to use Lync and/or Skype. It makes sense that Microsoft would leverage its $8.5 billion Skype jewel to strengthen Lync, but this big vision is really just another (albeit bigger) island. Prior to moving to Skype, Lync presentations included the topics of interoperability and openness, two concepts unfamiliar to Skype.
Skype has played with interoperability before. There was the Skype for Asterisk experiment that allowed advanced rich signalling. Skype replaced that with a relatively basic implementation of Skype for SIP. Skype has allowed limited interconnection with some services like Vidtel and Blue Jeans, but only through its limited and restricted SDK – not published industry standards. There is virtually no aspect of Skype that can be described as open.
Most enterprise UC solutions include open and closed components. We accept this because many advanced features are simply unsupportable beyond the scope of the solution. But why accept closed arbitrarily?
For years there have been cries to kill/replace/upgrade the PSTN, but it won’t die. The PSTN is the lowest common denominator of communications. It’s primitive and reasonably obsolete, but it remains critical because it doesn’t discriminate among interoperable partners. Ironically, Skype would likely explode in growth if it enabled interconnection to the majority of enterprise UC solutions. Then it could be described as a people-first strategy. The big sucking sound would be PSTN atrophy.
A true B2C revolution is possible when the scope includes everyone. Forward thinking UC conversation needs to include terms like openness, standard codecs, APIs, WebRTC, SIP, XMPP, and/or other forms of interoperability – not new TLAs and more islands.