Today, the Unified Communications Group is pleased to kick off the initial charter of the Microsoft Unified Communications Consultant Program (UCCP), a program designed to provide consultants with the resources needed to enhance their expertise in Microsoft unified communication solutions. ...

This month we're highlighting a video case study about AT Kearney who implemented a unified communications solution using Microsoft Communications Server “14” and other Microsoft technologies to improve the communication and collaboration...

I’d like to share the story of how the Columbia National Police are using Microsoft Office Communications Server to improve police work and save money. The 150,000 police officers on the force work in a range of locations, from busy urban streets...

There hasn't been much discussion about high availability of the server and failover capabilities of the client, but it’s something that I think is pretty cool, and JUST WORKS. And since I tested it, I think it works pretty well and deserves a kudo to...

In the last few months, we have highlighted case studies showing how different industries, including telecom and manufacturing, benefit from Microsoft unified communications solutions. This month, we take a look at the government sector. The Swiss...

In this post I’d like to bring your attention to an amazing solution developed by our partner ICT Wortell in the Netherlands. The solution, called ikpraat.nl (“I Talk” in English), is a secure, virtual communications environment on the...

There is some exciting news coming out today around tools for transitioning from Lotus to Microsoft that I thought our readers might be interested in. You can find out more about this from a post on the Exchange Server Team Blog "You had me at EHLO.....

It’s always great to dive into a new environment, and my first VoiceCon experience in Orlando was no exception. After I arrived in Orlando, and before I could even blink, the conference was renamed to reflect the rapid change in this industry, and is...

Microsoft will host our annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) next week, and we are eager to see our partners in Washington, D.C. On the heels of a successful showing at TechEd NA last month where we announced beta availability of Exchange Server...

The beta for Exchange Server 2010, the cornerstone of our UC technology, is here and available for download today at www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010 . This release is, without question, the best Exchange yet. And, it all centers around our customers....

Ensuring and managing Exchange security is always top of mind for customers. Toward this end, I’m excited about the recent announcement of Forefront Protection Server Management Console 2010 (FPSMC 2010) which helps improve security management and...

What a fun week on the UC Blog! We saw lots of spirited comments from the Notes community, especially in response to my Monday post . Certainly, there is a lot of passion among Notes users. There is a lot of passion in the Exchange community, as well...

What a week at VoiceCon Orlando ! When I joined the Office Communications Server team back in August 2007, I personally was new to the enterprise voice space and Microsoft was only just painting a vision of the world to come. Roll forward two and a...

It was just over a year ago that I had the privilege of launching Exchange 2010, standing on a stage in Berlin demoing some of the great new features in Exchange. My enthusiasm has only grown in the past year. Up to that point, I had already been on Exchange...

I can’t believe that VoiceCon is already here again. It seems like yesterday that Gurdeep Singh Pall was on stage encouraging people to compare the relative value of a $300 IP PBX phone that lets people make phone calls from their desks, and a $300 laptop...

Today, Microsoft announced Office 365, which we believe will define the future of productivity. Office 365 is a new cloud service that brings enterprise-grade productivity to everyone - helping professionals and smaller orgs get access to enterprise-grade...

Almost everyone knows the Toshiba brand, but you might not know that they recently switched from Lotus Notes to Exchange and SharePoint. Toshiba has 130,000 employees worldwide and is a global leader in electronics manufacturing. Their story is very typical...

Over the past year, with a myriad of vendors jumping into the business email market, I have been asked by press and customers how Exchange grew to its current leadership position and how we have continued to earn this position over time. The history of...

In this post I want to talk about one of our partners. Wonderware is a leading supplier of industrial software for manufacturing operations. Its solutions are used in approximately 125,000 plants worldwide. Wonderware recognized that many of its customers...

Today is another exciting day for the Exchange team. We’re pleased to announce that Exchange Server 2010 is feature complete and folks can download it today. This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to making Exchange 2010 the most effective messaging...

Partner Opportunities to Address Email Archiving Needs with Exchange 2010 SP1 Last year at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2009, we talked to our partners about the new business opportunities made possible by our addition of integrated...

Email continues to be the lifeblood of business communications so it should come as no surprise that vendors of all shapes and sizes want a piece of the action. The fact remains, however, that the vendors that will win in this space – and deliver...

Exchange is fortunate to have a strong Partner community that helps our customers plan, deploy, and manage their Exchange environments. Our Notes migration Partners have added an extra dimension by providing services and tools to move customers’...

Lync 2010 launched on November 17, marking an important milestone in our journey to bring together different silos of communication. Chris Capossela and Gurdeep Singh Pall unveiled the product in New York and we enjoyed hearing from Bill Gates and our...

Severstal is one of Russia’s largest steel and mining companies. With 92,000 employees in 10 countries, Severstal had been on Lotus Notes since 2003. But as the company grew rapidly, Severstal was finding that it was difficult to integrate Notes...