Virtualization

Jun 30 2008   3:29AM GMT

Cutting Edge Microsoft UC

Posted by: Tony Bradley
VoIP, OCS 2007, SIP, Virtualization, hyper-v, new global telecom, ngt, Unified Communications, UCC, UC, Microsoft

Microsoft has put a fair amount of marketing muscle into their Unified Communications offering. Many organizations are busy architecting, deploying, and implementing the various components- Exchange Server 2007, Office Communications Server 2007, the OCS 2007 Mediation Server, etc. The standard, supported configuration involves separate server hardware for most of the components, and an on-site PBX solution. Evangelyze Communications however, working with VoIP provider NGT (New Global Telecom) has built a fully functional Microsoft Unified Communications deployment running almost entirely virtualized in Hyper-V, and connected remotely to a hosted VoIP service. You can learn more from Mike Stacy’s blog: Hosted Gateway/SIP Trunk with OCS. The result is a Microsoft Unified Communications deployment with significant cost savings in terms of hardware and infrastructure.

Mar 1 2008   4:30AM GMT

Outsourcing Unified Communications

Posted by: Tony Bradley
UCC, Virtualization, VoIP, Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, 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.