The OC 2007 R2 Evaluation Edition is now [re]-released. KB article 980093 pertains to this release of OC.
Description of the update for the Evaluation version of Office Communicator 2007 R2: February 2010
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;980093
The Evaluation MSI is available at the following link.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=535637af-d92f-41b1-bf0c-54a526a88247
Just to let you know the Microsoft UC Folk will be in force at this years UC Expo – will be fun..!
“Interested in understanding more about Microsoft’s Unified Communications Strategy, the future of email, a software based approach to integrated telephony or making the case for unified messaging or video conferencing?
Microsoft is sponsoring the Unified Communications (UC) Expo at Olympia running from Wednesday 10th to 11th March at London’s Olympia. Come and talk to Microsoft (stand 708) and Partners in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion. The stand will be manned by representatives from Microsoft’s UC sales and marketing team. Microsoft will also be speaking both days sharing insight on the product roadmap as well as sharing examples of the benefits customers have seen from deploying the Unified Communications platform.
Registration for the event is free, to register please go to: http://www.ucexpo.co.uk/Register-for-the-Events/?WT.mc_id=UC10339DEMSF and for the latest show information please go to: http://www.ucexpo.co.uk/?WT.mc_id=UC10339DEMSF.”
I needed to get permission to post this, but now I have, here is our real example of how Office Communications Server R2 (OCS R2) has been deployed in our Dublin data centre and as such, enabling all Microsoft UK employees the capability of reducing travel expenditure as well as our 3rd party conferencing costs but utilising the native capabilities of OCS R2, namely: Live Meeting and Audio Conferencing.
Compelling reading for any case study.
“In Microsoft UK, the Sales & Marketing and Support Group has seen average cost reductions of over 50% in both T&E and Telecoms, generating savings of £3.6m saving year on year (over the period from November 2008 to Oct 2009 compared to the previous 12 months)
· T&E costs savings are 51% T&E (£3.3m)
· Telecom costs savings are 54% Telecoms (£320k)
The cost savings are due to the adoption of Unified Communication and Live Meeting and changes in the travel policy. The travel policy changes resulted in many business meetings being hosted online and therefore business continued as before.”
This morning I delivered a Ex2010 Overview session at Fujitsu’s offices in London – and as discussed I have revved the slide deck and other associated material which you can download from here
Thanks to FJ for a fun morning and a good # of delegates.
Busy day today :)
The latest versions of the Live Meeting Client and Outlook Conference Add-In have been released – this also includes the 64bit version Add-In’s for the 64 bit version of Outlook 2010 – woohoo..!
Remember
1. Both the LM Client and Conf Add-In versions should match for the best experience – so install both – I just installed over the top of the existing ones with no issues.
2. Once you have installed the latest Conf Add-In you will need to check your Audio location is correct.
For the more Techy:
· 976128 Description of the Windows-based Live Meeting 2007 client update package: Jan 2010
· 976129 Description of the update for Live Meeting Conferencing Add-in for Outlook: Jan 2010
As you maybe aware the native Notes connector was retired in Exchange 2010.
I received the following PR today from Binary Tree regarding the availability of their tool to provide migration tools from Notes to Exchange Server 2010 – in their own words:
“NEWARK, NJ – January 14, 2010 – Binary Tree, the leading provider of cross-platform messaging migration and coexistence software, announced today the immediate availability of their coexistence and migration products for customers who need to establish direct interoperability and a direct migration path between Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.”
www.binarytree.com/exchange2010
You may have recently heard of an IBM “win” of Panasonic moving to the cloud with iNotes – essentially being touted as a competitive win against Exchange. Before you get to immersed in all the news, I encourage you to take a look at the facts from Julia White.
http://blogs.technet.com/uc/archive/2010/01/15/title-ibm-panasonic-win-keeping-a-notes-customer.aspx
What made me chuckle are the comments in some of the reported news – my favourite being: “The Employees will revolt” :)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=29450&tag=trunk;content
If anything, it makes fun reading this morning…
I get asked fairly frequently about the native reporting on OCS R2 – now you can make life really is with this tool from Unify2
“PowerView is a comprehensive reporting and billing solution for Microsoft’s Office Communications Server (OCS). It comes with a wide range of reports, including reports that track the overall OCS deployment, optimize the OCS deployment, track the Return on Investment (ROI), and produce billing or charge-back reports based on the usage of OCS.”
Worth a look here
A minimum of 2 OCS articles every week from the MVP and OCS Masters community:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ocs/ee465814.aspx
You can download from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=371add31-d7a0-4c8b-8325-a6fced2d05e6&displaylang=en
This rollup includes changes required to support BlackBerry® Enterprise Server against Exchange Server 2010. More information here: Exchange Team Blog.
Register for the HP Exchange 2010 Webinar Today!
Making the Move to Exchange 2010: The Inside Story
Tuesday, December. 8th, 8:30-9:30 AM (PST)
Invite your customers to sign up today for this one-hour webinar. They'll receive invaluable insights into the technology changes and potential business impact of Exchange 2010. Listen to HP Services Vice President, Tony Redmond, a leading authority on Exchange; HP Services distinguished technologist, Donald Livengood; and Nicole Brown, Microsoft Sr. Product Manager, as they discuss:
· Business and technical benefits organizations can expect to realize with Exchange 2010 – and how best to proceed with deployment.
· Hot new features that can enhance the information worker experience.
· Critical success factors for planning a move to Exchange 2010.
Invite customers to register before December 7th!
