Mary-Jo Foley

What’s Next From Microsoft UC?

Microsoft is working on the next major release of Office Communications Server 2007. The new version, Microsoft OCS 2007 R2, is in a tightly controlled Beta test version currently. Microsoft is working closely with partners to incorporate needed functionality and work out the bugs. Gurdeep Singh Pall, Microsoft Vice President of the Unified Communications Group, has started to drop some hints about what to expect:

“In addition, customers should look for more focus on mobility, spanning mobile messaging and mobile telephony. They should also expect to see more comprehensive conferencing solutions than before and the ability to extend OCS telephony beyond remote and mobile workers. “

In the All About Microsoft column on ZDNet, Mary-Jo Foley talks about the upcoming OCS 2007 R2, as well as some hints at what might be coming for Microsoft’s hosted service, as well as some significant updates for how Microsoft UC works with mobile phone, codenamed ‘Rouge’.

Microsoft ‘Echoes’ Aims to Get Rid of Phone Numbers

In a recent post on the ‘All About Microsoft’ blog at ZDNet, Mary-Jo Foley describes an ambitious plan already in the works from Microsoft that seeks to eliminate the need for phone numbers. The project, codenamed ‘Echoes’, is being developed and incubated by Microsoft’s Israeli Strategic Development Center. The short-term plan apparently involves engaging telcom providers to partner up to provide a common network address book, to SMS in/out messaging, simultaneous ringing, click-to-call, single-sign on and more for their mobile phone users. In a nutshell, the goal seems to be a move toward greater convergence of the unified communications components (email, voicemail, instant messaging, presence, etc.) that will result in simplified communications that can be initiated by just knowing a user’s name rather than having to know, or look up their phone number.