Microsoft had a cell phone and a plan. It went up in smoke. Now it is Android or iOS – Apple or Google. Yet placement on that phone is as important as placement on a laptop home screen.
With the Metaswitch acquisition, Microsoft saw a possible win. Over 700 ILECs use Metaswitch to provide voice. Most of them were not going to move to NFV or SDN on their own. Azure allows that to happen in a simpler fashion.
Microsoft Teams ultimately wants to be the default softphone on mobile devices.
Now with announcements by Verizon Business and Broadvoice, MS is two steps closer.
Verizon reports: “Mobile users will be able to place calls through the Microsoft Teams desktop application, an integrated IP phone or the dialer on the mobile device…. The deeper integration of mobility into Teams has three potential impacts, the company says: It enables easy and quick application of enterprise policies, reduces costs of parallel management of mobile and desktop systems and provides a path to moving all activity to mobile handsets.” [source]
Broadvoice announced, “The Virtual b-hive Seat for Microsoft Teams enables remote users to make and receive calls within the Teams app on their existing mobile devices; no desk phone, softphone, or mobile app is required. The service is made possible through Direct Routing and is enabled natively within Teams.” [source]
Microsoft Teams as the endpoint for all business communications is the end game.