Next chapter for Response Point
This week we made some changes to the Response Point business. I am not expecting impact on current customers as we will maintain the current version of the product. We want to take a good look at the next version of Response Point and ensure it addresses the needs of Small Businesses. We are thankful for the support we have received from our partners to date. We will continue to support our current OEMs, Service Providers and resellers that are selling Response Point v1.0. We will also continue to promote the product and our partners on-line. We believe there is a plenty of room for delivering breakthrough products in the communication space and will continue to investigate the opportunity in the small business segment.
If you have questions or concerns please feel free to contact me (johnfre@microsoft.com , GM for Response Point).
Comments
Anonymous
January 01, 2003
After reading a recent blog post from a popular technology blog, one has to ask the question; Is Microsoft loosing interest in the SMB VoIP Market wrt its Response Point product? Apparently on May 7th, Microsoft Response Point GM John Frederiksen madAnonymous
January 01, 2003
Q: (from Sam) …we just got our demo’s from Aastra and Syspine and on the surface looks like a good productAnonymous
January 01, 2003
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May 08, 2009
John, I sure wish that you would make a strong statement that version 2.0 will release as previously scheduled. Or at least that there for certain be a 2.0 version. My company has quotes outstanding at this time and without a strong statement I'm inclined to pull back those quotes and discontinue further sales.Anonymous
May 09, 2009
What does this really mean, in non-corporate-speak?Anonymous
May 09, 2009
Pleeeaaassse, keep your reseller base updated. There is a growing concern that Microsoft doesn't realize how important this product is to the SMB market. Enhancements to the platform are a must.Anonymous
May 09, 2009
John, Frankly this is very cryptic. Does this mean RP is finished? RP v2 is postponed? RP will not progress in it's current form past v1 and all further versions will require major hardware replacements? I ask these things as a customer who was an early adopter of something that seemed to have the backing of MS's tech & software. Tell me I'm not sitting on thousands of dollars of hardware to a phone system that is a dinosaur after only a year and a half.Anonymous
May 10, 2009
Response Point has only just been released in New Zealand via Dlink, the product is just what we have been waiting for, but we really need the assurance that version 2 is still on its way before we commit many of our clients to this already great product..Anonymous
May 11, 2009
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May 11, 2009
Reading between the lines (as you force us to do in the name of marketing and spin) it suggests to my company that you are going to end of life this product.Anonymous
May 11, 2009
John, I understand and respect the need for conservatism relating to future expenditures related to RP. Let me just say that RP is lightyears ahead of the competition and a few months to let the economy settle are not going to hurt the value prop of this product in the slightest. RP is already the best phone system in the SMB space and it is going to take years for any competitor to deliver the same value and ease of use at the same price point. Thanks for continueing to provide great support for your great product. Jeff LoucksAnonymous
May 11, 2009
Well for those worried about MS RP and the future it is heading you might want to take a look at http://schmoozecom.com/magic_button.php. We have a product that competes at every level of RP but with real PBX features and SMB pricing.Anonymous
May 11, 2009
News reports indicate that a good number of the Response Point team was laid off last week. If anyone is still there, is development work happening right now or is the product just going to coast in maintenance mode. My SMB customers DO NOT want OCS. Please don't go there.Anonymous
May 12, 2009
What does this mean. I received notification from one of my voice providers stating something to do with staff reductions at MS which will impact the SMB accelerator program. Specifically RP. It than goes on to vaguely state as this blog states they will continue to support version 1.0 and are evaluating the strategy for the next version of the product. I too am sitting here with an order now undetermined whether it would be good to wait it out or place the order.Anonymous
May 12, 2009
I'm troubled by this news and the lack of clarity it presents. I do understand the nature of the team's position, with the layoffs or reductions, however I myself am compelled to hold off on some large bids I have out until this is cleared up. What I am looking for specifically is confirmation from you (John) or another exec that this product (software) will be around for the long haul, meaning, you will not only continue to support it with maintenance and patches but you will grow it even further into a mainstream product that has all the features and qualities it needs to go up against similar systems. I'd say it's 75% there, but the minute you slow down dev work you'll be indefinitely behind and unable to stay ahead as your competition is more and more aware of RP's ability to take significant market share. I guess what I'm really saying is this; the timing here is not good. In a down economy companies like MS need to take advantage of their capital reserves and take the ground when it's left open. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and your team, and I will continue to sing the praises of Response Point, but more information would be appreciated for those of us who have sold this product over and under and everywhere in between.Anonymous
May 13, 2009
I was very excited to add Response Point to my SMB product offering, rounding out the product mix of my business. I can only add my voice to the chorus asking MS to continue to support and expand the Response Point product, and to provide guidance on this product as soon as possible. The business environment is uncertain enough.Anonymous
May 13, 2009
From what I have heard from someone at microsoft, the entire response team with the exception of the GM has been laid off and there is hope that perhaps the hardware vendors will take over the deployment of the product.Anonymous
May 14, 2009
lets have a town hall or anohter announcement. we are seriously looking at other companies now...Anonymous
May 15, 2009
Anyone out there using 8x8 (Packet8) with the ResponsePoint? How is it? The reason this product got "shut down" was because, regardless of how good a product is, if you don't do A THING to market it, it will NOT sell...hence, no revenues. Marketing of this product from the beginning was an UTTER JOKE.Anonymous
May 15, 2009
I suspect that many players in the SMB telephony channel are watching the Microsoft Response Point situation closely. Why? Because we believe in the business opportunity and know it to be real. At TalkSwitch, we've been focused on SMB telephony since 1996, and since 2000 we've sold over 35,000 owner friendly PBX and IP PBX phone systems to the under-50-employee market. It's 100% of what we do and who we are. I started the company because I believed the segment was so badly underserved that there was a remarkable opportunity there. SMB telephony is our stake in the ground. When Microsoft committed to the segment, it validated the opportunity even further, but more importantly for all of us, it created much greater industry awareness, which ultimately gets conveyed to customers. Awareness is, in my opinion, the greatest obstacle now to mass market adoption. As I'm sure you're well aware, the SMB customer comes in many shapes and sizes, and all of them deserve to have the same professional phone system features and functionality that enterprise customers have taken for granted for years. Now, more than ever, this is possible. There's no doubt about the magnitude of time, commitment, stamina, resources and technology required to be a successful phone system developer. It's not something any organization can enter into casually, and I expect Microsoft is giving this matter serious consideration. In the meantime, we all need to strengthen our operations, secure our customers and keep our eyes on the ball. This market is worth it. Jan Scheeren Founder, President & CEO, TalkSwitchAnonymous
May 15, 2009
Response Point is a great product. It may not need marketing as such because Microsoft's channel partners will promote it as they gain confidence with it. Thousands of resellers have already invested their own time/money to buy demo gear, and once they've successfully implemented it in house, they'll sell it to their customers (believe me, you won't be able to stop them). The only reason that sales to date have been a little slow are:
- It's effectively a brand new product
- There are a few essential features which haven't been included in the 1.0 release, but 2.0 fixes all that. I would expect at least 20% of my customers to replace their existing PBX within 12-months if Response 2.0 ships this year. That figure would reach over 75% within 4 years. Those who have invested heavily to support Microsoft and adopt this technology early will be very angry at Microsoft if Response Point were to cease development. Let's hope that isn't going to happen.
Anonymous
May 18, 2009
John, a simple question, Response Point can be sold outsite USA and Canada, can be sold in Latam.???Anonymous
May 20, 2009
Whats telling is that this blog was updated daily, then 2 week gap, then this post. I dont run linux in my organization so im not installing one of the 1000's of asterisk rip offs. Has anyone tried 3CX? I just put the free trial in & it works on windows + I can virtualize it which is a plus. RIP RP.Anonymous
May 20, 2009
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May 26, 2009
I evaluated a RP system a few months ago and fell in love. v1 lacks a few features that we rely on, but what I read about v2 covered all the bases. I've already got a portion of our budget reserved for a RP system next year. PLEASE don't stop development on this product - it's too good to die.