So is it? Here’s an interesting article from eweek:

Microsoft is expected to release its latest enterprise instant messaging server, Live Communications Server 2005, later this month, and industry analysts suggest that its enhanced capabilities signal a concerted and not entirely surprising effort to move into the telephony and VOIP (voice over IP) market.

“They want to go into a new market where they haven’t played before,” said Laura DiDio, a senior analyst with The Yankee Group, based in Boston. “It’s a new vista for them, and we’re seeing that the traditional datacom, telco and software markets are getting to a blurry point of indistinction.”

DiDio said she sees the moves as a natural progression for Microsoft, and that she sees LCS 2005 as part of a larger initiative—.NET. “This all tracks back to what they’ve been talking about since two months after Windows 2000 shipped,” she said.

Other analysts agree, and they’re quick to point out that Microsoft initially won’t want to compete with the VOIP carriers or traditional hardware vendors, but rather on applications and functionality.

“It’s the higher-layer services and applications like IM [instant messaging], voice and data that is enabled by VOIP and those protocols [that Microsoft will focus on],” said Tom Valovic, program director of VOIP infrastructure at IDC (International Data Corp.) in Framingham, Mass. Get rest of this article here.

Well the thing about Microsoft is, lot of times it’s late to the game, but eventually it muscles it’s way to the top. Right now there is no feasible Microsoft VOIP or phone system solution for enterprise, but I believe, given time Microsoft will make some waves. What do you think?