Microsoft:

Microsoft has always been a pain for Cisco, and still it’s the same. The best example for this stiff rivalry is the introduction of Lync, the UC solution by Microsoft. The software attracted lot of new buyers to the Redmond giant, just because of Microsoft familiarity. Since then, Cisco has spent countless hours explaining that their solutions are more reliable, cheaper and broader. This may be true, yet it can’t withstand the fact that Microsoft operating systems are quite common across enterprises.

Avaya:

Avaya versus Cisco rivalry dated back long before Microsoft versus Cisco. Years back, Avaya made its most ground breaking move by acquiring Nortel, which led to Avaya taking over 20 percent share in voice (when we say voice, we meant the whole voice and not VoIP alone!). This means Avaya controlled 1 out of every 5 business phones. Under the stern leadership of Kevin Kennedy, Avaya continued to excel in its business and it will continue to be a threat in the UC space.

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