Mike Stacy

OCS 2007 R2 Adds Ability to Display Caller Name

On our home phones and mobile phones we more or less take it for granted that the Caller ID will display the name of the person or organization calling in addition to the originating phone number. In fact, many people simply refuse to answer calls from “Unknown Caller” and let them go to voicemail by default. With Microsoft Unified Communications and Office Communications Server 2007 this has not been the case.

Thankfully, amid a slew of other recent updates, Microsoft also corrected this glaring error in call management. Mike Stacy, a Director with Evangelyze Communications, illustrates the difference with before and after screen shots in his blog entry on this subject. Stacy also points out some additional steps necessary to ensure the updates work with Office Communicator, and to configure Office Communications Server 2007 to also display caller information on outbound calls.

Microsoft Unified Communications Virtual User Group

What exemplifies the spirit of unified communications more than a virtual user group?

The Microsoft Unified Communications Virtual User Group (UCVUG) has been established with the stated purpose ”to provide resources, education, and collaboration to professionals who are interested in Microsoft Unified Communications products.”

The group, which is not officially sanctioned by Microsoft, will meet on a quarterly basis online via Microsoft virtual meeting tools such as Live Meeting. Membership is free and you can join by filling out a simple registration form.  

The group’s first meeting is scheduled for May 21st at 7pm Eastern time and will feature a presentation from Evangelyze Communications’ Mike Stacy. Stacy will discuss Evangelyze Communications innovative SmartSIP product that extends Microsoft OCS connectivity to virtually any SIP trunk provider and any SIP phone / device.

SmartSIP Provides Exciting Possibilities for OCS 2007 R2

When Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (OCS 2007 R2) was unveiled in February of this year, it signaled the beginning of the end for the PBX or IP PBX. That is just my opinion I suppose, but it at least signaled proverbial dropping of the gloves as Microsoft moves forward with plans to make the PBX obsolete.

One of the features of OCS 2007 R2 which signal the first step toward killing off the PBX is the ability to do direct SIP trunking- connecting a VoIP provider directly to OCS 2007 R2 without the need for a PBX appliance between them. This is good news, but not great news. The reason it is not great news is that Microsoft only has partnerships with two VoIP providers, severely limiting the potential of the direct SIP trunking feature.

That is where SmartSIP comes in. Evangelyze Communications,  a global voice and unified communications products and professional services organization that specializes in Microsoft Unified Communications IP telephony products and services, has developed a suite of custom tools that extend the functionality of Microsoft OCS and open new possibilities for unified communications. One of those tools is SmartSIP.

According to a recent blog post from Mike Stacy, Director of Services for Evangelyze Communications, SmartSIP “will allow you to connect OCS with virtually any SIP system – TCP or UDP.  The most common use is to connect a Mediation server to a customer’s existing ITSP, but it can also connect to other IP gateways, SBCs, IP PBXs, etc.”

The product is still in Beta now with the first release scheduled for April. Stacy’s blog post thought talks about the excitement that SmartSIP is generating in the field, and some of the innovative solutions that are possible with SmartSIP like the ability to provide failover redundancy for the VoIP connection, or saving a 350-user company over $90,000 on their unified communications implementation.

Check out Mike Stacy’s blog for more details, and check out the Evangelyze Communications site for more about SmartSIP and the other tools available such as SmartChat and SmartVoIP.

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OCS 2007 R2 Not Yet a PBX-Killer…Or Is It?

At least that is the verdict of this SearchVoIP article by Michael Morisy. I do agree that the recent R2 release of Microsoft Office Communications Server is not perfect. Some of the issues pointed out by those interviewed in the article are related to scalability- they claim that OCS 2007 R2 is not built to support 10,000 plus users and is limited to small deployments.

However, this article describes how OCS 2007 R2 can be used to support an environment of 100,000 endpoints, and states that one OCS 2007 R2 Enterprise Edition Front End server is capable of supporting approximately 12,500 endpoints by itself.

At the end of the article Mike Stacy, Evangelyze Communications Director of Services, is quoted as saying “R2 is viewed as complementary to the PBX. With R3, I don’t think it’s a secret that Microsoft wants to replace the PBX.”

OCS 2007 R2 may not yet be a PBX-killer, but I think it at least mortally wounded it. OCS 2007 R2 includes the ability to do direct SIP-trunking, connecting the VoIP service directly to OCS without a PBX. One handicap is that Microsoft only supports direct SIP-trunking with two providers at this time. Stacy’s Evangelyze Communications though is set to introduce a product (SmartSIP) that bridges that gap and allows OCS 2007 R2 to be used directly with any VoIP provider- effectively eliminating the PBX and enabling companies to move forward with OCS 2007 R2 while leveraging their existing desktop phone hardware investment.

Finding Tools in OCS 2007 R2

Earlier this week Microsoft launched Office Communications Server 2007 R2. OCS 2007 R2 brings a plethora of new features and capabilities to the powerful OCS 2007 unified communications platform, but also a few unwelcome changes.

First, while not necessarily ‘unwelcome’, it should be noted that OCS 2007 R2 requires a 64-bit Windows Server operating system (preferably Windows Server 2008 64-bit). This is the direction Microsoft is headed with all server roles it seems, so if you don’t use 64-bit server operating systems today you should certainly plan to make that change in the near future.

Some of the unwelcome stuff though just seems silly. Its like one of the developers couldn’t come up with a worthwhile contribution and at the last minute they decided to move some existing functions around just for the sake of appearing productive. For example, OCS 2007 previously installed the Admin Tools necessary to work with the server on the various server roles. Those are gone now. Now you have to locate the directory and install them manually yourself.

It doesn’t end there though. The tools are usually available on the Computer Management console. So, just right-click on Computer and select Manage and…..hey? Where did the Computer Management console go? In Windows Server 2008 when you right-click on Computer and select Manage it takes you to the Server Manager console instead. The Computer Management console is still there, you just have to be more resourceful in figuring out how to get to it.

Understanding OCS 2007 R2 Licensing

This morning Microsoft held a virtual launch event on the Web to officially unveil the new Office Communications Server 2007 R2. R2 has a whole slew of new features and functions and represents a big leap in the capabilities of OCS, but we’ll talk about that another time.

The focus of this post is on OCS 2007 R2 licensing. Any time you are dealing with enterprise software, especially when dealing with enterprise software from Microsoft, navigating the licensing options can be daunting. You want to get the functionality you need at the best possible price while also ensuring that you don’t run software illegally by not having the appropriate licensing in place.

Mike Stacy, Director of Services for Evangelyze Communications, wrote a blog post providing a detailed look at the ins and outs of licensing with OCS 2007 R2. Take a look at OCS R2 Licensing Explained to learn more about it.

Introducing OCS 2007 R2

Microsoft is hosting an official launch event for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, but the actual RTM code is already available. After testing the OCS 2007 R2 Beta for the past few months and deploying it internally, Mike Stacy of Evangelyze Communications recently had an opportunity to do the first real-world deployment for a customer. The implementation involved replacing an existing Shoretel PBX infrastructure. You can check out Mike’s blog for details about the project and the features and benefits that OCS 2007 R2 was able to deliver for this customer. If you’re free Tuesday, be sure to participate in the Microsoft launch event to learn even more about what R2 as to offer.

Direct SIP with OCS 2007 R2

In a few short weeks Microsoft will officially release Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007) R2. R2 represents a big step forward in the evolution of Microsoft’s voice and unified communications platform and a significant evolution toward software-powered voice (eliminating the PBX or IP PBX altogether).

One of the most anticipated improvements with OCS 2007 R2 is direct SIP- the ability to connect a SIP connection directly with OCS 2007 without the need for an audio gateway to mediate the communications. In this blog post Evangelyze Communications Director of Services, Mike Stacy, describes his experience configuring a direct SIP connection between OCS 2007 R2 and VoIP provider Global Crossing. Mike also explains some of the lessons he learned from the experience.

.NET Framework Update Causes OCS 2007 Communication Issues

Part of the value of unified communications- in fact a big part- is the unified part. With a Microsoft Unified Communications implementation, the Office Communications Server (OCS 2007) has to be able to communicate with the Exchange Server for a variety of converged communications reasons. One particulalry important reason though is Presence. OCS 2007 is able to sync up with Exchange and the user’s Outlook calendar and automatically update Presence. It also helps for co-workers or managers be able to see when an individual is free or busy when they want to schedule a meeting.

That became a problem recently for some organizations. Mike Stacy, Director of Professional Services for Evangelyze Communications, noticed a string of communications or connectivity issues between his OCS 2007 server and his Exchange server. Ultimately, he determined that a recent update to the .NET Framework was to blame and found the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article he needed to resolve the problem. Check out Mike’s blog post for more details on the problem(s) and the solution: Communicator Exchange Connection Issue.

Connecting Cisco to Microsoft OCS

According to a recent Gartner Magic Quadrant report for Unified Communications, Microsoft, Cisco, and Nortel are the industry leaders in terms of both innovation and the ability to actually deliver that innovation to customers. Nortel and Microsoft have an intimate partnership through their ICA (Innovative Communications Alliance) relationship with Microsoft, and they work very closely together to ensure seamless interoperability of their unified communications products.

Cisco is another story. At one point Microsoft and Cisco made a very public showing of burying the proverbial hatchet and vowing to cooperate in the best interests of corporate customers and unified communications in general. That cooperation lasted right up until they started rolling out products at which time the mud-slinging began. Each declared their approach and solution superior and slammed the other.

Whether they want to admit it or not though, they are sort of forced to play nicely together (sort of like the nerd and the playground bully while the teacher is actually monitoring recess activities). Cisco is a dominant player in network infrastructure and VoIP communications. Microsoft has a virtual monopoly on the PC desktop and a significant share of the enterprise server market. There is a high probability that a prospective customer is already using Cisco networking in conjunction with  their Microsoft Windows network, so that prospective customer may very well wish to continue that balance as they move forward into unified communications.

Thankfully for the prospective customer, Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) does integrate with the Microsoft Office Communications Server environment. It isn’t always pretty, but it works. Mike Stacy, a Director with Evangelyze Communications, provides an illustrated step-by-step guide to configuring direct SIP connectivity between the Cisco and Microsoft communications products.