Competition drives standards up for communication and integration

Over the past few weeks we have seen both Microsoft and Google introduce various new products or updates of existing products in the bid to provide the best integrated communications features for their users. The competition has driven standards sky high.

This week, Google launched a new video and voice mail feature to its popular Gmail programme. Users will now be able to switch between email, instant messaging and visual and audio communication with relative ease. This new development comes after Microsoft introduced its updated Windows Live product. The new programme integrated email inboxes with instant messaging, contacts lists and links to social networking sites.

The competition between the two giants has led to many positive developments, as well as an exciting display of sharp marketing on both sides. Microsoft, in an effort to tighten up services, fixed four Windows bugs this week, in a move that has prompted sighs of relief from Windows Office users. The company has also signed a new distribution deal with Sun Microsystems, where Sun users will be able to download Microsoft’s toolbar when using Sun’s JRE, giving them instant access to Live Search, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. Added to that, Microsoft is reportedly near to signing another distribution deal to Verizon Wireless to become the default search provider on Verizon’s mobile phones. Rumours report that Microsoft is also looking to negotiate a separate deal to provide search tools for Verizon’s other devices, but little is known about this as of yet.

Back in the world of business intelligence and service oriented architecture (SOA), similar levels of market competition between SAP and Oracle have provided plenty of hot news for the industry. The rivalry between Oracle and it’s German counterpart SAP is well-known, which is why former Oracle vice president John Wookey’s move to SAP has caused some surprise in the IT business community. Mr Wookey left Oracle in October, and has now been hired as SAP’s new executive vice president.

Oracle has signed deals with new clients as the drive to conquer the market goes on. The issue of today is how SOA can be implemented to make green technology more viable, and Oracle is getting onboard. Yesterday, Oracle announced that it will be working together with ESS, a leading provider in Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) and Crisis Management Software. The two organisations hope to deliver a cohesive solution for environmental sustainability information management. They aim to help organisations reduce the risk, cost and complexity of sustainability management.

Meanwhile, new research from Aberdeen Group released this week shows that 58% of small to medium sized businesses can reduce their time-to-information to a real- or near real-time basis using business intelligence. Hot on the heels of this, SAP-owned company Business Objects has launched Business Objects XI 3.1, a unified business intelligence platform. The platform promises to integrate various data sources, including the internet and Microsoft, Oracle and Netezza products.

Here at Calsoft, all of this is good news to us. The two buzz words of this week have been “competition” and “integration”, and we are ready to tackle both, for the good of both businesses and our professional services.