Swiss VoIP Startup Acquired

For the second time in three months, Microsoft has acquired a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) startup-in this case, Swiss company Media-streams.com AG. The 23-person company was developing a software product called “e-phone”-client-side add-ins for Outlook and Lotus Notes and supporting server software that integrate VoIP phone capabilities into the e-mail clients so that PC users can take or receive voice calls directly from within Outlook or Notes.

Microsoft said that it plans to integrate Media-stream’s people, technology, and intellectual property into the Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) Group, which oversees Live Communications Server, Live Meeting, and the Office Communicator 2006 client (its current business VoIP client). Microsoft also said that the Media-streams technology would appear in future Office products, although it gave no details on future product plans.

The acquisition appears to be mostly for Media-stream’s back-end server software rather than the clients. Microsoft says that the acquired technology will accelerate the evolution of its RTC products by adding support for third-party VoIP phones that use the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP); for protocols used by gateways to PBX equipment; and for workgroup call-routing functionality (e.g., for directing calls to a pool of available help desk personnel). Microsoft did not say whether it would continue to support the Lotus Notes version of e-phone.