Productivity in the Cloud

Office 365 is coming

2010-10-19T19:30:33Z

The next big transition in Microsoft’s journey to the cloud is almost here… Office 365 is a major update to Microsoft Online Services, and is really delivering on the promise that We’re All In!

Office 365 provides easy access to best of breed collaboration cloud service including Exchange 2010, Sharepoint 2010, Lync 2010 and Office 2010. All of this is available as a subscription meaning you only pay for what you use, never have to do another server upgrade, and always have secure access to the latest software for your users. Just as Office has defined desktop productivity, Office 365 will define cloud productivity.

Office 365 provides a full suite of offerings from basic low-cost needs for small businesses, up to and including Enterprise Information Workers in the largest organisations who require the most richest and most advanced capabilities…

Learn more about Office 365 at http://office365.microsoft.com/en-US/faqs.aspx

Voicemail: a story of unrealised potential

2010-05-01T00:01:51Z

This whitepaper details the value that Exchange 2010's Unified Messaging capabilities offer to empower your users, reduce cost and manage risk by replacing your voicemail system.

Voicemail is a relatively mature technology. It is so thoroughly established in users’ daily workflows that it has become practically invisible to the organization except as an ongoing expense. Because of their origins in telephony, voicemail systems tend to exist in their own silos, managed separately from other IT systems in general, and business messaging in particular. Many fail to provide the features and ease of use that users have come to expect from other types of messaging.

Yet voicemail is a critical communication tool for most workers. Given the right strategy, it can go from a basic service to a productivity-enhancing tool. One way to do this is to treat voicemail as just one more messaging modality. It is then possible to manage it using the same tools administrators and users know from email. A universal inbox is also the foundation for delivering advanced voicemail features across devices and platforms. Microsoft calls this capability Unified Messaging. Microsoft® Exchange Server is the key technology that enables it. The newest release, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, delivers voicemail functionality engineered from the ground up to improve productivity while helping you reduce the cost and complexity of your voicemail system.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=70cfd1f1-fb01-4abb-a260-41b21ece5839

OCS 2007 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2

2010-03-30T21:19:25Z

Supportability is available for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 member server role on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Details at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982021

UC: What, Why, Who, Where, How and When?

2010-03-04T02:48:35Z

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.

Windows Mobile 6.5 completes Common Criteria EAL4+ testing

2010-02-08T04:59:26Z

On Friday 5^th February Windows Mobile 6.5 completed evaluation by Defence Signals Directorate(DSD) for Common Criteria EAL4+ certification.

http://www.dsd.gov.au/infosec/evaluation_services/epl/mobile_products/windows_mobile_v6.5.html

In the Mobile Products area of the Evaluated Products List you will see status for Windows Mobile OS and MDM, including any status on Crypto testing:

http://www.dsd.gov.au/infosec/evaluation_services/epl/epl.html

UC in MSIT

2010-02-04T22:53:49Z

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 and in sourced onto a single solution, the ability to manage and measure the environment is enhanced.

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Unified-Communications-Delivers-a-Scalable-Consolidated-and-Manageable-Communication-Experience/

NET acquires SmartSIP

2010-02-04T21:35:42Z

This is great news – NET are a strong UC voice partner, and SmartSIP will give them advanced capabilities like registering SIP phones to OCS.

FREMONT, CA--(Marketwire - February 4, 2010) - Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. ("NET") (NASDAQ: NWK), a leader in network and voice-over-IP solutions, and Evangelyze Communications ("EC"), a Microsoft Unified Communications Voice Specialized Partner, announced today that NET has acquired EC's SmartSIP product line and customer base.

The SmartSIP product line includes both the SmartSIP and SmartVoIP products. SmartSIP enables UC presence and interoperability for SIP phones while providing integration for Microsoft's Office Communications Server with IP-PBXs and integration for ITSP voice providers. SmartVoIP, a 2008 Internet Telephony Product of the Year, is an extension of SmartSIP that provides branch office integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Network-Equipment-Technologies-Acquires-SmartSIP-Product-Line-From-Evangelyze-Communications-NASDAQ-NWK-1112227.htm

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Workload Architecture Poster

2010-01-25T01:48:43Z

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 architecting your deployment of Communications Server 2007 R2. The different server roles are described along with server certificate requirements. Firewall and DNS configuration requirements are also described.

Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=af2c17cb-207c-4c52-8811-0aca6dfadc94

Exchange 2010 has left the building

2009-10-09T01:19:06Z

The Exchange PG has declared RTM, so Exchange 2010 has been signed off and is now officially completed.

This is an exciting release and provides great value to business of all sizes.

OCS Federation updates

2009-10-02T01:04:24Z

Some great news announced overnight…

Starting October 1, 2009, a PIC License will no longer be required for federation with American Online (AOL). Customers qualify for federation with AOL if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active Software Assurance on their current LCS/OCS license.
Microsoft is also releasing the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway at no additional licensing cost that allows basic Presence sharing and instant messaging (IM) with XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) networks Jabber and Google Talk. For Office Communications Server customers, this means Jabber and GoogleTalk users can now be part of Office Communications Server IM contacts.

Starting today, the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway can be downloaded here, while a video that explains how the Gateway works can be viewed here.

Read the press release and an interview with Eric Swift at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/oct09/10-01ucinterop.mspx