IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. is acquiring a Swiss software company that specializes in voice-over-IP applications with a view to adding VoIP capabilities to its Office products, it said today.
The world's largest software maker will acquire Zurich-based Media-streams.com AG for an undisclosed amount, it said. The technology it gains as a result of the deal will help it add VoIP to the Office Live platform, which already supports real-time communications via channels such as instant messaging.
VoIP is a hot area of the IT industry at present, as can be seen in eBay Inc.'s $2.6 billion acquisition of Skype Technologies SA last month. VoIP's image has been changing from something that consumers use to make cheap, low-quality voice calls via their PCs to a more stable technology suitable for applications used by businesses.
Microsoft took some big steps into the VoIP space in March when it launched a new IM client, Office Communicator 2005, and added enhancements to its Live Communications Server 2005 and Live Meeting Web-conferencing service.
"VoIP is exploding," Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, said at the San Francisco event. "We want to enable the software richness on the PC to connect out to traditional PBXs."
The company followed up with a string of deals. In June, it formed partnerships with AT&T Corp., Amdocs Ltd. and Sylantro Systems Corp. to work on various VoIP systems. And in August, it acquired Teleo Inc., a developer of services and technology that allow users to make and receive voice phone calls on their PCs via the Internet. A month later, Microsoft said it planned to work with Qwest Communications International Inc. to provide VoIP services to small and medium-size businesses.
As a result of the latest deal, Media-streams.com will become part of Microsoft's real-time collaboration business group, which is led by Microsoft Corporate Vice President Anoop Gupta.
Microsoft will continue to offer Media-streams.com's software on a stand-alone basis, and existing customers should see no immediate impact from the acquisition, the management of the Swiss company said in a letter to customers, a copy of which was posted on its Web site.
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