I wrote a post for Australian IT’s “ The Hub ” that has just been published… Check it out for my opinions on UC from a business perspective – what do you need to consider before rolling out, how do you drive end-user adoption, what do you need to consider for the future.

Unified Communications at Microsoft supports over 40,000 users. Multiple communications tools such as e-mail, Instant Messaging, voice mail, voice, and presence are delivered in a unified experience which is available anywhere. Because multiple and disparate communication systems have been consolidated...

This poster of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 describes the traffic flow of protocols and ports used in each workload. Communications Server 2007 R2 supports the following workloads: IM and Presence, Conferencing, Application Sharing, and Enterprise Voice. These filtered views can assist you in...

This is huge… Microsoft and Nokia will begin collaborating immediately on the design, development and marketing of productivity solutions for the mobile professional, bringing Microsoft Office Mobile and Microsoft business communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokia’s Symbian...

Jamie Ryan, CIO at Aspect, has written a great post about the benefits of replacing your legacy PBX or IP-PBX with Office Communications Server 2007 R2. When I tell people that Aspect is the in the midst of a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 rollout, they often ask me if we are really able...

At Interop Las Vegas 2009 , HP and Microsoft Corp. today announced a four-year strategic global initiative to deliver an end-to-end unified communications and collaboration solution. As part of their Frontline Partnership , the two companies expect to invest up to an additional $180 million in product...

The Microsoft Unified Communications 2007 R2 Adoption and Training Kit provides resources and guidance for IT Professionals, Helpdesk and Support Professionals, and Trainers to support end-users who use Microsoft Unified Communications Technologies. Content includes: IT Pro - Planning Checklist, Benefit...

The Microsoft Unified Communications “How-To” training tool is a Silverlight 2 application that provides step-by-step instructions for common UC tasks. You can customize the How-To application to your company’s needs based on the UC features you’ve installed. For example, if you have installed all UC...

Unified Communications is about much more than what you get out-of-the-box – it is a platform that you can use to build, extend and enhance your own applications & business processes. Looking at UC as a platform is about more than cost-savings, it's about competitive advantage. As a software &...

& Just a reminder that the April Sydney UC meeting is on Monday evening (the 27th) at Polycom in North Sydney. Topics for this month are Exchange 2010 (technical overview & demo of the beta) and Polycom UC (including HD & Telepresence integration with OCS R2). Meeting & registration details...

The UC Open Interoperability Program has been updated and Cisco Unified Communications Manager (aka Call Manager) versions 4, 5 & 6 are now supported for Direct-SIP connectivity with OCS R2. This means that back-end integration can be configured between Cisco UC and OCS without the need for a gateway...

The recent National Broadband Network (NBN) announcement in Australia is the best piece of news I have heard in some time. Fibre To The Home (FTTH) with speeds of 100Mbps is going to dramatically change how Australians work, play and socialise online. I haven’t heard yet if these speeds are symmetrical...

This is why mobile Unified Communications & collaboration can help your business have happier, more productive employees; and retain them longer. Doing my Mid-Year Career Discussion preparation this morning – in peace & quiet, and without the interruptions, conversations, and “let’s-get-a-coffee...

Jabra have recently announced a few new products for Office Communicator – the M5390 headset and the Dial 520 OC handset . I’ve managed to get my hands on the Dial 520 handset, and am happy to say that it is now my preferred device for softphone calling when in my “mobile office” (i.e. anywhere I’m working...

Today is the official launch of OCS 2007 R2 ( sign up for the Virtual Launch! ). What’s new? Streamlined Communications Call management capabilities let receptionists and team assistants take a large volume of incoming calls and quickly route them to the intended recipients. Delegation allows executives...

Alex Lewis has written an interesting post over at Network World about Cisco and their UC stack.  Alex’s view is that Cisco have a very wide Communications portfolio and a great VoIP product, but they don’t yet have the “Unified” part. In summary, Cisco has a great VoIP solution but is lacking in...

There is an interesting article over at SearchUnifiedCommunications.com about how the tables have turned between Microsoft and Cisco in Unified Communications.  Two years ago the Yankee Group recommended Cisco, but that now seems to be changing. Quote from the article: "It's pretty safe to...

Massive storms in Brisbane recently left many people homeless, and in fact it was declared a disaster zone .         One of the people who had their home destroyed in this storm was my mate Bill Lockett from Dimension Data.  Our best wishes and thoughts are with him and...

You may have heard today’s announcement regarding the alliance between Microsoft and Telstra. What does this mean for Unified Comms? Hosted business applications: through Telstra's T Suite portal, it is contemplated that businesses will have access to Microsoft Online Services (e.g. Exchange, LiveMeeting...

Office Communications Server 2007 is the first Microsoft product to combine enterprise-ready IM, presence, video-conferencing, web-conferencing, and VoIP telephony in one solution. In addition, OCS 2007 includes real-time videoconferencing solutions running on servers in your intranet or interoperating...

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (aka CallManager) version 4.2, 5.1 and 6.1 (specific version/release below) is now certified for Direct SIP connectivity with Office Communications Server.  Direct SIP allows connectivity between the OCS mediation server and the Cisco IP-PBX without the need...

I was interviewed yesterday at Tech.Ed New Zealand by Nic Romaniuk about my views on Unified Comms, and how it's changing the way people work. Check it out at http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/office-unified-communications.aspx (click Johan Kruse (SIC) under Other Videos on the right). ...

At Tech.Ed next week we're launching a new community for Unified Comms in Sydney - Sydney UC ! If you work in, are passionate about, or just enjoy Exchange, OCS, VoIP, video, or comms in general - this is the place for you to network with your peers, learn from the experts, see the technologies and...

Harold Melnick, our local head of Unified Communications, has just started a blog . No doubt Harold will fill this with business and industry information that is relevant in the world of UC, so I recommend subscribing to his RSS feed if you're into that kind of thing. Welcome to the world of blogging...

I've just posted my thoughts on the HTC Shift to the Windows Mobile Australia blog. Toy?  Tool?  Maybe a bit of both :) Share this post :