Lync Migration Featured Article

NEXTUSA Seeks Microsoft Partners That Can Use Its Help

By Paula Bernier Executive Editor, TMC

Microsoft (News - Alert) is positioned to become a major player in unified communications via its Office 365 and Skype for Business solutions, as Scott Weeks, director of strategic alliances at NETXUSA mentioned in an on-camera interview at the recent ITEXPO (News - Alert).

NEXTUSA is a North American distributor of VoIP hardware including analog adapters, headsets, IP PBX (News - Alert) packages, IP phones, network equipment (routers, switches, wireless gear), VoIP gateways, and video equipment from such companies as ADTRAN, AudioCodes, BroadSoft, Cisco, Cradlepoint, Grandstream, Jabra, Mitel (News - Alert), Polycom, snom, and Yealink, among many others. It’s focused exclusively on working with hosted service providers and Microsoft Lync partners, as Weeks explained during his on-camera interview with TMC (News - Alert) reporter Diana Bishop. NEXTUSA, which has developed an automated system for CPE deployment and lifecycle management, was at the event in Anaheim, Calif., looking for Microsoft partners interested in using its services.

Among the trends Weeks said he’s seeing in the industry is the emergence of hosted voice as the predominant way of enabling communications in the workplace.

“We’ve seeing less and less key systems, less PBXs being sold, and unified communications becoming more adopted widely across the country,” Weeks told Bishop.

Weeks added this prediction for 2016: “We’re looking for [Microsoft] to compete strongly with traditional telecom providers in the hosted space.”

Speaking of Microsoft and ITEXPO, the company at the TMC event last month hosted a variety of panels explaining what Skype for Business is and where it’s going, and how businesses can implement and benefit from it. Microsoft’s Skip Chilcott explained that Skype for Business brings together the familiar look and feel of Skype, and the enterprise features of Lync. With this offering the company provides users with access to various communications modalities, including chat, meetings, video, voice, and more, through a single interface.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere