OCS

May 31 2008   12:47PM GMT

Microsoft Brings UC to Mac

Posted by: Tony Bradley
OCS, Mac Messenger 7.0, Unified Communications, UCC, UC, Mac, Microsoft, Evangelyze, Office Communications Server 2007, Joe Schurman, OCS 2007, Office Communications Server

If you are a Mac user, as an ever-increasing percentage of you seem to be, you may be feeling left out of the unified communications revolution. As Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya, IBM, and a host of smaller players all vie to establish their share of the UC pie, the Mac operating system has been largely ignored. According to Evangelyze Founder and Executive Director Joe Schurman, Microsoft has changed that with the introduction of Mac Messenger 7.0. This initial step at integrating Macs with Office Communications Server 2007 does not include Live Meeting or enterprise voice support, but it does enable Mac users to benefit from video, audio, presence, and instant messaging with other users in an OCS 2007 / UCC infrastructure.

May 31 2008   12:24PM GMT

Monitoring OCS Certificate Expiration

Posted by: Tony Bradley
UCC, UC, Unified Communications, Mike Stacy, Evangelyze, certificate, OCS, Office Communications Server 2007

Certificates are a key component of enabling communications between the various components of Microsoft UCC implementation. The OCS server maintains certificates with the various servers in order to facilitate secure communications. Having the certificates expire unexpectedly means losing communications unexpectedly, so admins need to be proactive about ensuring certificates are renewed or replaced before they expire. Mike Stacy, a Director at Evangelyze, discusses how to monitor OCS for certificate expiration.

May 10 2008   12:38PM GMT

Microsoft OCS Meets Blackberry

Posted by: Tony Bradley
Mobile, BlackBerry, UCC, UC, Unified Communications, Office Commmunications Server, OCS, Microsoft

The Palm Pilot started the handheld PIM (Personal Information Manager) trend, but the RIM (Research In Motion) Blackberry handheld is the device that revolutionized information management by merging it with a mobile phone and incorporating enterprise email on the go. Unified communications seeks to bring that type of on-the-go communications to a whole new level, but the Blackberry was left sitting on the bench…until now. WebMessenger has introduced WebMessenger Mobile for Microsoft OCS, an application for Microsoft OCS which delivers some of the unified communications capabilities of OCS to the Blackberry handheld device. This first generation version essentially only provides IM and IM presence. WebMessenger is working with telecommunications switch vendors to incorporate presence on the phone side as well.