14 DAY TRIAL // The VoiceCon San Francisco 2007 Conference was the stage where Microsoft announced that it would license its voice codec software to Intel. But the CPU maker is not the sole company after what Microsoft has to offer in the area of voice communications. In addition to Intel, Texas Instruments, AudioCodes, Dialogic, LG-Nortel, and Polycom will all license Microsoft's RT Audio Codec. The Redmond company applauded its own product, revealing that the codec software was tested for superior sound quality. According to the Redmond company, Intel plans to implement the RT Audio Codec into its Performance Primitives (IPP) software library.
"Used to compress digital speech samples into a digital media bitstream, RT Audio Codec provides partners with the flexibility to build customized solutions for customers. By converting analog sound into secure digital packets for transmission and then restoring the data into audible sound, RT Audio Codec can be used in an array of solutions, such as audio conferencing, video, wireless over Internet Protocol and games," Microsoft informed.
Of course that in the background of the voice codec software deal, Microsoft is preparing the launch of its line of software-based unified communication solutions. At this point in time the company plans to release its next generation of unified communications software on October 16. The entire Microsoft unified communications portfolio will become available at that date including Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007 and Office Live Meeting.
"As we approach the general availability of our unified communications products, we're seeing tremendous validation for our offerings from industry players and early adopters alike," said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president in the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. "Customers have downloaded 80,000 copies of our beta for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 in just five months. A new era of business communication is upon us, defined by software, not hardware - and sound quality will be one of the key product differentiators."