Microsoft shows VoIP phones

The Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, endearingly known as WinHEC, is one of Microsoft's bigger jamborees. Because software is pretty much useless without hardware to run it on, WinHEC usually gives a good perspective on where and how Microsoft intends to drive the PC hardware business. This year, the still-in-beta Office Communications Server looms large, as vendors including Samsung, LG-Nortel, Plantronics, GN and Polycom revealed desktop devices that will run with OCS. Nothing so plebeian as pricing was announced, and it's well worth noting that earlier this year at VoiceCon, Microsoft was loudly trumpeting that desktop phones were a thing of the past. Phone vendors will also want to know that Microsoft has launched a qualification program, with the putative goal of ensuring that approved hardware will work with OCS right out of the box.

For more information on OCS-capable phones:
- read this article from Computerworld