Today we RTM (Released to Manufacturing) Office Communications Server 2007 and its relating technologies (listed below),  it all starts today !

  • Office Communicator 2007
  • Office Communications Server 2007
  • Office Live Meeting Console 2007
  • Communicator Web Access 2007
  • Microsoft RoundTable 2007
  • OCS 2007 Speech Server

Over the last 12 months plus,  I have been watching the development of Office Communications Server 2007 and relating technologies develop into a suite of products that we are ready to release to manufacturing.  Being at Microsoft means you get to use the software as it starts to reach beta (if not before) and this means you get to see the product group try different things to see if they work.  Here are a few things that come to mind

  • The ever changing ring tone - First it started off with no ring tone which confused people,  then it went to a tune for a ring tone which was good but too far from the norm for people,  finally we settled on a standard dial-tone.  Good example of something that just works in its current state :-)
  • The changing face of Communicator - The look and feel of Communicator 2007 has changed and at first I found the colours a little garish.  Now that they have grown on me I don't think I would want it any other way
  • Introduction of devices into the mix - Over the last few month the devices have started to come 'online'.  I particularly like the presence icon lighting up on the Catalinas.  A small thing but a really nice touch.  The Roundtable is the other piece of kit that everyone has been waiting for,  at least once a week I have someone say 'can I have one?' followed by 'and what does it do',  an interesting order in which to ask questions I am sure you will agree :-)

Outside of my own experiences,  during the last year we have seen over 75,000 downloads of the beta software,  worked with a number of organisations to deploy the technology in their own environments (with the help of our System Integrator partners) and started working with 12 PBX vendors to ensure support for approximately 90% of the PBXs out there in the world.

Today marks not only a major milestone for OCS 2007 but also the start of a year of events and excitement based around OCS including the launch day itself .... more to come on that later :-).

Today is the start of a new era of communications,  can't wait to see where we are 12 months from now!