As Om Malik points out, this is yet another piece of technology that will help Cisco compete with Microsoft in the UC space. The discussion of Unified Communications tends to revolve around the importance of presence. While I do not disagree, I think the most important mode of communication for most people, especially in the enterprise, is through email.  If anyone wants to create a successful UC application, they will have to maximize the potential that email offers and develop something that integrates seamlessly with Outlook. 

In addition the importance of search to UC and the world at large should not be overlooked. One of the shortcomings of many strains of economic thought based on rational choice theory is that they fail to take into account humans’ limited cognitive abilities. While people may want to maximize their utility, they are rarely able to gain and process all the information necessary to do so. If you disagree, just go to a convenience store, and in under 30 seconds try to pick the one energy drink from the dozen or so choices which will perfectly match your preferences. It’s not easy.

The point is that the ability to organize information is paramount to effective communications. Imagine where the Internet would be without Google. Information is virtually useless if there is no way to efficiently sift through it and extract what is truly relevant and important. This same principle applies to Unified Communications. If we are going to seamlessly integrate voice, video and data, we will need to provide a way to organize any information that is extracted in these interactions. Hopefully Cisco’s involvement with Xobni is a sign of things to come and and will lead to some ground breaking developments down the road.