Mar 12 2008 3:12AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Nortel,
Cisco,
Avaya,
VoIP,
SIP,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
UCC,
Microsoft
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.
Mar 1 2008 4:41AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Cisco,
VoIP,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
UCC,
Microsoft
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.
Mar 1 2008 4:35AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
VoIP,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
UCC
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.
Mar 1 2008 4:30AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Virtualization,
VoIP,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
UCC
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.
Feb 27 2008 3:53AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
VoIP,
SIP,
BlackBerry,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
Mobile,
wi-fi,
802.11,
802.11n,
Mobile device,
UCC
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.
Dec 17 2007 6:06PM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Microsoft Windows,
VoIP,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
UCC
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.
Aug 31 2007 7:31AM GMT
Posted by: Tony Bradley
Microsoft Windows,
IP communications,
Telecommunications,
Unified Communications,
Office Communicator 2007,
Office Communications Server 2007,
Office LiveMeeting
Microsoft has set an October 16 launch date for their Unified Communications initiative. Unified Communications are products and services that- as the name implies- are designed to bring various forms of communication together and allow them to work in conjunction with each other. The live webcast on October 16, co-hosted by Bill Gates, will roll out Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, and Office LiveMeeting. You can get more information about the Unified Communications initiative and the October 16 rollout from this Computerworld.com article.
