Office Communications Server 2007

Microsoft Brings UC to Mac

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.

Monitoring OCS Certificate Expiration

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.

Microsoft Introduces ‘Roundtable’

Conference calls don’t always suffice for getting business done. It’s great to get multiple parties on the phone sharing ideas and collaborating on a common goal, but sometimes you need visual aids like charts, graphs, or PowerPoint presentations, and a higher level of communication that can only be achieved face to face. However, in an increasingly global business market, companies tend to have sites and branch offices scattered to all ends of the Earth. Gathering a team together for a face to face meeting can be exorbitantly costly. The airfare, hotel, rental car, and other travel expenses for each person, combined with the lost productivity during the travel time to and from the location all impact the bottom line and make such meetings cost-prohibitive in many cases.

Microsoft has introduced a new tool that may revolutionize those face to face meetings- Roundtable. Roundtable is a webcam on steroids. It captures a panoramic view of all participants sitting around the device and transmits the video feed for others across the campus or around the world to experience as if they were sitting at the table. It also tracks the active speaker in real-time and automatically switches to displaying the individual that is currently speaking. For more details about the product, and a look at how well it worked during testing, take a look at Review: Video Comes Around, from ChannelWeb.

IBM Pledges $1 Billion Investment in Unified Communications

Not wanting to be left out of the next big wave in network / office communications, IBM this week announced that they have earmarked $1 Billion (With a ‘B’. The one with 9 zeros after it) for internal development and key strategic acquisitions to enhance and develop their unified communications offerings. I guess they are serious about jumping in to the deep end and taking on Microsoft and Cisco for their share of the UC pie.

Microsoft and Nortel Strengthen UC Partnership

Officially, Microsoft and Nortel have been buddies on the Unified Communications front for over a year and a half. Prior to now, however, the partnership was more rhetoric and lip service than actual solutions and products. Now, the partnership is resulting in a flurry of joint products designed to play together for an even more unified Unified Communications. Nortel released Nortel Converged Office, which integrates Nortel’s Communication Server 1000 IP-PBX with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Microsoft has also certified the Nortel Secure Router 4134 to run Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. The combination of Microsoft and Nortel is a formidable team capable of going to head to head with other network and telephony communications providers in the UC arena such as Avaya and Cisco. Read Nortel, Microsoft Expand Unified Communications at InternetNews.com for more details about the Microsoft / Nortel partnership and the new products and services that have resulted from it.

Microsoft and Cisco Fight For UC Dominance

When unified communications was still but a gleam in the eye of its creators, Microsoft and Cisco became mortal enemies jockeying for supremacy. At one point, they shook hands and promised to play nice, but now that seems more like some sort of calculated attempt at gaining inside knowledge on each other, or lulling the opponent into lowering its defenses. As soon as Microsoft had their UCC (Unified Communications and Collaboration) launch, Cisco dropped the gloves and slammed Microsoft’s approach. Since then, the two have gone back to calling a spade a spade and just doing battle openly rather than pretending to be friends. This article, The Cisco-Microsoft battle for unified communications, on ComputerWorld looks at the rivalry, and what’s at stake for the winner, in depth.

Due Diligence For Unified Communications

Unified Communications is the hot “technology” right now. Replacing plain vanilla VoIP solutions, the buzz is all about taking that VoIP deployment, tying it together with email, fax, instant messaging, conferencing, etc. to create a unified communications infrastructure that will revolutionize the way you do business…if you do it right. This ComputerWorld article, 5 things to know about unified communications points out some factors you should be sure to consider in doing your homework to determine if UC is for U.

Outsourcing Unified Communications

Taking the plunge and moving from traditional communications into the world of unified communications is not without its learning curve and price tag. It doesn’t have to break the bank per se. You can analyze the needs of the company and the existing communications infrastructure and come up with a strategy that leverages the investment you have already made to deliver the benefits you are looking for. But, you would still need to implement, maintain, and support that deployment. More and more, unified communications offerings are popping up as an outsourced, or hosted solution. Take a look at Hosted options for unified communications ‘evolving’ on SearchUnifiedCommunications to find out more about this trend.

Wi-Fi and Cellular Converge To Improve Productivity

One of the promises, or benefits, of unified communications is being able to communicate with people where they are when you need them. The concept of ‘presence’ in Microsoft’s UCC (Unified Communications and Collaboration) is designed so that you can tell if a person is available or not, the contact them by the most efficient, or convenient means possible. One potential gap in the communications is determining if a user is actually at their desk, available to answer their office phone, or if they are moving about the building or even off site, in which case you would contact them via their cell phone. Of course, the user can always set up various call-forwarding solutions to try and send the calls to where they will be, but that is cumbersome and most users don’t understand it and won’t take the time. Now, new solutions are emerging that leverage the converged wireless networking and cellular communications capabilities of mobile phones so that the land line can be ditched and the mobile phone can be the sole method of voice communication. For more details, read Wi-Fi cellular convergence can boost mobile worker productivity on SearchMobileComputing.

Free Tool From Microsoft To Troubleshoot VoIP Issues

VoIP has a number of benefits, but it can have its down sides as well. One downside is that the sound-quality of the phone calls can have issues. Normal telephones sometimes have sound issues as well though. The benefit of VoIP is that, because the communications are network-based, it can be monitored in real-time for easier troubleshooting than a normal phone. Microsoft has released a free tool for their Office Communications Server 2007. The module is called Quality of Experience Monitoring (QSM) Server. QSM can monitor voice quality by collecting information from the endpoints. It measures loss, jitter, delay, device quality and other parameters to assess quality. You can get more details on the scope and features of this new tool by reading Microsoft releases free tool to monitor voice quality from Computerworld.