My Review:
Joe Schurman is uniquely suited to write Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications. Schurman has been involved in voice and unified communications technologies virtually since their inception. He has been a successful consultant, speaker, and trainer, focusing on evangelizing Microsoft solutions, for the past 15 years. As the Founder and CEO of Evangelyze Communications, a Microsoft Gold Partner and Voice Premier Partner, Joe continues to be a respected authority in the field and a trusted confidant of Microsoft.

The book is not available today. According to Amazon.com readers can find the book around the end of February. I was fortunate to be able to read the pre-publications drafts and to provide my insight and feedback on the chapter dedicated to VoIP and unified communications security.

The book opens with an excellent overview of the history of telephony and the evolution through VoIP (voice over IP) to SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and other voice protocols, the concept of Presence, and the development of what unified communications is today. Schurman then goes on to talk about the use of VoIP by the consumer market using tools such as Windows Live Messenger, an excellent look at Microsoft’s Response Point phone system for SMB’s, and a discussion of enterprise-class solutions built on Microsoft Unified Communications technologies such as Office Communications Server and Exchange Server.

The book then covers additional topics like integrating collaboration and speech recognition into the unified communications / VoIP environment, and how to customize the solution to extend its capabilities. This is an area that Schurman has intimate knowledge of as his company, Evangelyze Communications, has leveraged the extensibility of Office Communications Server to develop innovative products like SmartChat, and the 2008 Internet Telephony Magazine Product of the Year, SmartVoIP.

Schurman covers more advanced topics like securing and virtualizing unified communications and voice, and a chapter for consultants to help them understand how to sell the unified communications concept to customers.

Unified communications is a quickly evolving technology (or collection of technologies) that businesses around the world are struggling to understand and embrace. Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications is just the title that these readers need to educate themselves on what unified communications can do for them today, but more importantly to position themselves for what unified communications will do for them tomorrow.

Features and Facts:
Title: Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications
Price: $39.99 (available from Amazon.com for $26.39)
Published: Feb 2009, Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 032157995X (ISBN-13: 978-0321579959)
Pages: 288

My Review:
Small and medium businesses have traditional analog or simple VoIP budgets. They want more features and functionality, but they can’t afford a dedicated PBX or IP PBX- never mind the personnel with the skills to implement and maintain them.

Microsoft understood the needs and budgets of small and medium businesses when they developed Response Point. Response Point provides features and functions normally reserved for enterprise systems, combines them with some basic unified communications capabilities, and delivers them at a price that SMB’s can swallow.

The cover of the book says “For Partners and Consultants”. I agree that this is the primary audience and the group that will get the most value from this book. However, customers who have Response Point or are interested in learning more about Response Point will also benefit from reading Harry’s book.

Beginning with a brief history of Response Point (and how he almost missed the meeting that got him involved with the Response Point group) and a recap of its basic features, Harry provides detailed information about how to deploy and configure Response Point, as well as how to maintain and troubleshoot the system. He provides some real-world case study scenarios and discusses advanced capabilities such as the auto-attendant and music on hold.

Beginning with Chapter 6 the book is certainly aimed more at partners and consultants. Harry talks about who the customer market is for Response Point and talks extensively about tips and advice that Microsoft Partners and consultants can use to effectively sell Response Point to their customers.

The book goes on with an overview of the available hardware options for Response Point, and the VoIP providers that are currently working with Microsoft on Response Point. It then wraps up with a discussion of the future of Response Point and a collection of valuable Response Point resources the reader can use to dive deeper and learn more. In addition, Harry has filled the book with little trivia factoids- there is a new one on almost every page.

I am perhaps not quite the evangelist that Harry is for Response Point, but I am an evangelist nonetheless. Response Point is nothing short of awesome. The features and functions it delivers with the simplicity of use and affordable price have no comparison or competition. Microsoft Response Point Primer – Cut The Strings is an excellent resource and a worthy investment to learn about this fantastic solution.

Features and Facts:
Title: Microsoft Response Point Primer – Cut The Strings
Price: $59.95 (available from Amazon.com for $41.97)
Published: 2008 by SMB Nation, Inc.
ISBN: 0-9770949-8-7 (ISBN-13: 978-0-9770949-8-1)
Pages: 396