Johann's Unified Communications : communicator

BlackBerry Client for OCS 2007

jkruse — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:22:22 GMT

Research In Motion (RIM) have had a BlackBerry LCS client for some time, but in case you hadn't heard they have now released a client for OCS 2007.

BlackBerry® Client for use with Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 allows you to engage in immediate interactive communication while you're on the go. Exchange text messages with other Microsoft® Office Communicator users on your BlackBerry® smartphone*, whether they're using a desktop computer, BlackBerry smartphone or other mobile device.

Enjoy Familiar Features Wirelessly

Enjoy a desktop-like experience on your BlackBerry smartphone, with features and functionality you’re already familiar with from Microsoft Office Communicator. There's no need to compromise just because you are away from your computer.

Initiate and manage group chat sessions of three or more participants from your smartphone

View the presence status of contacts, such as online, busy, do not disturb, be right back, away or appear offline and set your own status to inform others of your availability

Enjoy a synchronized contact list, with the same contacts available on your BlackBerry smartphone and your computer

Find contacts quickly with the quick find function and picture association

Receive alerts when team members become available

Communicate more effectively with emoticons

And more

Integrates with other BlackBerry Smartphone Applications

You will also enjoy tight integration with other applications on your BlackBerry smartphone:

Set your presence status from your home screen icon

View the presence status of contacts directly from your address book

Check your spelling and edit autotext on your instant messages

Initiate phone calls or browser sessions directly from phone numbers or URLs embedded in instant messages

Voice integration with ‘Click to Call’

Download or get more information at http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server/exchange/ocs2007.jsp

Messenger for Mac 7 - available now

jkruse — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:27:57 GMT

We have just launched Messenger for Mac 7, which allows Mac users to connect to Office Communications Server 2007 (or Live Messenger).

Built for corporate Mac users on Office Communications Server 2007, Messenger for Mac 7 gives co-workers new ways to communicate easily with each other in different locations or time zones. Additionally, personal users will find a few improvements for managing their contact lists.

Messenger for Mac includes support for IM, presence, voice and video.

Say it face-to-face with audio and video

If your company has Office Communications Server 2007 and Messenger for Mac 7 installed within your corporate network, you can participate in face-to-face meetings with co-workers in other cities, countries, or on Windows PCs using multi-party audio and video conferencing.

Take better advantage of your corporate network.

For corporate users, increased support for Office Communications Server 2007 makes it easy to search a corporate address book from within Messenger and quickly find internal contacts and their presence information. With corporate users each having an account on your corporate network, communications are more protected.

Let co-workers know you’re available to chat.

Thanks to Mac OS X Bonjour instant networking technology, people will be able to see if you’re on the local network. New “presence” enhancements in Messenger for Mac 7 include the ability to add a personal message to your contact information, so co-workers will know more about when you’re available to chat.

Get more information at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/messenger/default.mspx or download it from http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?pid=Mactopia_Messenger&fid=20726b11-2ae8-4828-8b66-2964e277166d#viewer

Share this post :

Technorati Tags: messenger,ocs,communicator,mac,osx,messenger for mac,mac messenger

Communicator inside Outlook

jkruse — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:11:33 GMT

Outlook automatically includes presence indicators for all email recipients/senders/etc. But if you spend most of your day inside Outlook, this utility allows you to access the rest of your Communicator functionality without switching applications.

Available at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Communicator4Outlook

Share this post :

IM me!

Technorati Tags: outlook, communicator, api, tipsntricks, utilities

Differentiating between Stages of Enhanced Presence

jkruse — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:24:00 GMT

Over at the the Office Communicator Team Blog there is a great article that explains the different stages of Enhanced Presence.

This is very useful information - many customers I have worked with have questions about determining what the client migration steps are, and at what point users can not roll back from "enhanced" clients (e.g. Communicator 2007) to "legacy" clients (e.g. Communicator 2005).

By using the steps in this post you can determine exactly at what stage a user account is.

Check it out at http://communicatorteam.com/archive/2008/03/06/103.aspx

Share this post :

IM me!

Technorati Tags: communicator, presence

TechNet Vodcast: Communicator softphone/IP phone/mobile phone

jkruse — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:19:00 GMT

Last week I filmed a Vodcast for the TechNet Australia blog demo-ing Office Communicator 2007 in its three variants: Communicator 2007 (softphone), Communicator 2007 Phone Edition (hard phone) and Communicator Mobile (mobile client).

Click below to view the video at Soapbox.

Thanks to Deeps for filming, and for giving me the opportunity to spread the UC love!

Technorati Tags: vodcast, communicator, como, tanjay

Custom presence states in Communicator 2007

jkruse — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:09:00 GMT

Office Communicator 2007 has rich presence states such as Available, Busy, In A Meeting - but it is very easy to enhance this further by creating your own custom presence states. It's as easy as creating an XML file and importing it into Communicator. Example of some new presence states shown here.....

To create this, create an XML file with the following structure:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<customStates xmlns=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/09/2005/communicator/customStates"
xmlns:xsi=
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation=
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/09/2005/communicator/customStates
http://livecommteam/sites/main/ice/Wave%2012%20Docs/CustomActivities.xsd">
       <customState ID="1" availability="online">
              <activity LCID="1033">Working from Home</activity>
       </customState>
       <customState ID="2" availability="busy">
              <activity LCID="1033">In a Live Meeting</activity>
       </customState>
       <customState ID="3" availability="busy">
              <activity LCID="1033">Meeting with Customer</activity>
              <activity LCID="1055">meeting with client</activity>
       </customState>
       <customState ID="4" availability="do-not-disturb">
              <activity LCID="1033">Presenting</activity>
       </customState>
</customStates>

Then create a .reg file with the location of the XML file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator]
"CustomStateURL"="c:\users\jkruse\documents\custom_presence.xml"

It's as easy as that!

This can also be centrally deployed using Group Policies.

More information on this can be found in the Communicator Deployment Guide. Example XML attachment included below.

Technorati Tags: communicator, presence, xml

Office Communicator Mobile 2007 for WM5/6 - now available!

jkruse — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:47:30 GMT

Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile is a Unified Communications client for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Communicator Mobile runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6.0 software for Pocket PC and smartphone devices.

Here are some screenshots from my phone.

A presence indicator is installed on your Today screen. (yes I know that's a lot of unread email - that's what I'm going to do next. I swear!)

My personal contact groups.

Expanding my Nortel contact list. Yes, Nortel. That is federation in action, so this is not limited to contacts inside your corporate network!

More detail on Kirsten Gilbertson from Nortel (her contact details deliberately removed for privacy reasons). I can she'll be free at 6:30pm (that automatically comes direct from her Outlook calendar) - and I can call any of her phones, email her, or send a txt message straight from Communicator.

How cool is that!!??

Download it now from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2eea3e24-f216-4887-92b0-f37d942e26e0&displaylang=en

(Oh and if you're wondering how I took the screenshot with the Treo 750 skin - SOTI Pocket Controller is your friend. It is the single best tool for Windows Mobile demos/presentations :))

Technorati Tags: ocs, communicator, como, wm6, mobility

New Blogs for Office Communications Server and Office Communicator

jkruse — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:55:33 GMT

We have created two new Blogs for Office Communications Server and Office Communicator. These Blogs are by the respective teams within the Unified Communications Group. Please add them to your RSS or favorites. The URL's are http://www.communicationsserverteam.com and http://www.communicatorteam.com

On these two blogs you will be able to learn about the product teams, their features, tips n tricks, product announcements, usability enhancements and more.

You can also learn about Exchange via the Exchange Team Blog http://www.msexchangeteam.com

Technorati Tags: ocs, communicator, blogs

OCS documentation and deployment guides

jkruse — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:57:39 GMT

Use this page to find documentation and other content to help you deploy and operate Office Communications Server 2007 Standard/Enterprise, Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access (2007 release).

This page also has great documentation on planning for and deploying VoIP/video with OCS.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb676082.aspx

Technorati Tags: ocs, doco, communicator, livemeeting

Download the RTM trial version of OCS

jkruse — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:13:23 GMT

A 180-day evaluation version of Office Communications Server is now available for download. So download now and it fire it up in your lab!

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Trial Download

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, formerly called Live Communications Server, delivers streamlined communications to help you find and communicate with the right person, in real time, from the applications you use most – like Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client. Without expensive infrastructure and network upgrades, your organization can deliver these benefits on an extensible VoIP foundation. At the same time, your IT department can deliver these enhanced capabilities and provide operational control alongside your existing Exchange and Active Directory infrastructure.
This Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Trial Download includes both editions of the server: Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition.
Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition
An Enterprise Edition deployment consists of a one or more Enterprise Edition Servers connected to a separate, shared Microsoft SQL Server database that form an Enterprise pool providing IM, conferencing, and audio-video functionality. This two-tier architecture, delivers substantial improvements in availability, scalability, and performance over the Standard Edition.
Office Communications Server 2007 Standard Edition
A Standard Edition deployment consists of single, standalone server together on the same computer with an SQL Server Express Edition database for storing user data and providing IM, conferencing, and audio-video functionality. Standard Edition Server is the appropriate choice in small or pilot deployments where enterprise-level capacity, availability, and performance are not required.
Note:

This trial software is intended for evaluation purposes only.
When the 180-day evaluation period expires, you can either remove the evaluation copy or replace it with an appropriately licensed version of the product.
There is no product support for this trial. You are welcome to participate in the forums to share your trial experiences with others and to ask for advice.
To evaluate Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, click here.
To evaluate Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server, click here.
Please visit the documentation download page for the latest product documentation and release notes.
Public IM Connectivity requires a per-user, per-month subscription license that is in addition to the Office Communications Server Client Access License (CAL). No trial or evaluation is available for the public IM connectivity service. However, customers have the option of purchasing a small number of public IM connectivity licenses so that their company can try the service, and then increase the number of licensed users once they find the service meets their needs.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=663e5ef7-2288-46b0-9142-b2135a8fbdb9&DisplayLang=en

And of course you'll also want to download Communicator....

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Trial Download

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 introduces a wide range of new features, most notably enhanced presence and enterprise voice capabilities, enabling users to place computer-to-computer calls and to place outbound calls to, and accept incoming calls from, traditional (PBX/PSTN) phone users. Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 also introduces robust call-forwarding features, support for USB audio devices, automatic setup of audio and video devices, and the ability to add Active Directory Domain Services distribution groups to your Communicator Contact List.
Note:

This trial software is intended for evaluation purposes only.
When the 180-day evaluation period expires, you can either remove the evaluation copy or replace it with an appropriately licensed version of the product.
To evaluate the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, click here.
There is no product support for this trial version. You are welcome to participate in the forums to share your trial experiences with others and to ask for advice.
Please visit the documentation download page for the latest product documentation and release notes.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7f5ab627-2d34-470d-9393-8b3ede6fe3c4&DisplayLang=en

Technorati Tags: ocs, communicator, rtm, trial, download

OCS goes gold!

jkruse — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 09:38:32 GMT

This is huge - in case you haven't heard the news yet - Office Communications Server 2007 has been Released To Manufacturing (RTM)!!!!

I have been using Communicator 2007 as my primary phone for several months now, along with Exchange 2007 for voicemail, and I'm personally excited that the product is now finished.

So what can you expect with OCS, and what is included in this release?

Software powered VoIP: by using a smart end-point (aka a PC), OCS and Communicator 2007 allow a much richer experience than traditional VoIP systems.
Software economics: OCS works with a broad range of devices, phones, applications from a wide range of partners.
Voice quality: The listening and call quality offered by a pre-release version of Office Communications Server 2007 was “considerably better than that provided by [a leading provider’s] IP phones,” according to an independent benchmark study conducted by Psytechnics, a firm specialising in voice-quality research.
Easy transition: Companies can get more value from their existing PBX systems, networks and desk phones by using Office Communications Server to add VoIP and unified communications capabilities without ripping and replacing existing investments.
Streamlined communications: click-to-call from Outlook, Word, Sharepoint and other apps - including the ability to simply add presence and telephony/video to LOB or custom applications/websites.
Tools that travel: It doesn't matter if you're in the office sitting at your desk, working from home, or sitting at a coffee shop - you still have all of your communications tools available. In fact right now I am writing this from a hotel in Seattle. My girlfriend in Sydney can dial my local 02 phone number and I take the call over here on my PC. All of this without a VPN!! As long as I have web access, then I can make and receive calls - and due to our adaptive codecs (more info below) it doesn't matter that I am running across an unreliable unmanaged network (aka the Internet).

So how about the voice quality?

One of the huge improvements we're making in Office Communications Server 2007 is in the area of speech quality and Quality of Experience in VoIP phonecalls.

We have a document available for download with an overview of our RTAudio advanced VoIP codec, which has the ability to dynamically adjust to network conditions such as latency, packet loss, jitter, etc; and because it is a variable-bitrate codec, calls will not drop out if the network is not "perfect". This is a huge change from traditional Enterprise VoIP technologies, which require end-to-end management of the network. Rather than adjusting the network to fit the call, we can adjust the call to fit the network.

So what does this mean? Think better voice quality with less bandwidth, and the ability for remote/mobile users to connect to OCS and make voice/video calls across the Internet and from mobile networks, wireless hotspots, etc.

Download the whitepaper from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=05625af1-3444-4e67-9557-3fd5af9ae8d1&displaylang=en

So what else is being launched with OCS?

Office Communicator 2007 - rich presence, web conferencing, multi-party IP audio, multi-party IP audio, call management, integration with Office and other apps.

My real-life experience with Communicator telephony: when somebody rings me during office hours my PC will ring (including my Catalina phone - more on that below), as will my mobile - I can answer whatever is more convenient. After hours (based on what I publish in Outlook), when I don't answer, or when my presence is set to Do Not Disturb, then calls will be redirected to Exchange Unified Messaging for voicemail.

Some screenshots of Communicator's incoming call options below (these are real shots - my numbers hidden for privacy):

Setting my phone to simultaneously ring my mobile.
That little envelope icon in the top-right is MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) for my Exchange voicemail - my Catalina phone (below) also has a MWI light for Exchange.

More call options - note the Outlook working hours option.

Calling from inside Outlook.

On a call. Note the Subject line of the phonecall - that is based on the Subject of the Outlook email I called from, so people know why I'm calling before they answer!!! Also if I'm talking on my PC and need to leave the office for whatever reason, I can transfer the call to my mobile.

Office RoundTable - 360 degree panoramic IP video camera. As part of OCS's on-premise conferencing features, you have the ability to use a RoundTable camera.

This allows you to see everybody in the room, as well as a stream of the active speaker, while you present PPT, whiteboards, application sharing, polls, etc.

A recent post on RoundTable can be found at http://blogs.technet.com/itproaustralia/archive/2007/07/11/microsoft-office-roundtable.aspx, and more information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/oct06/10-20officeroundtable.mspx

UC and Communicator phones - don't want to talk into your PC? Our partners are releasing phones that will integrate with Communicator. There are USB phones that require your PC as a softphone, but also the Communicator Phone Experience which is a standalone handset that has an Ethernet port to run as a pure IP endpoint.

Here are some the devices from partners that are now available:

The LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540 is an intelligent IP Phone that helps improve productivity and work performance for information workers.
JPG (40 KB)
JPG (1 MB)

The LG-Nortel USB Phone is designed to deliver a high-quality user experience.
JPG (38 KB)
JPG (935 KB)

The Polycom CX400 Cordless Phone helps to enable high-quality cordless calls from Communicator.
JPG (35 KB)
JPG (484 KB)

The Jabra GN9330 USB Headset is among the first wireless office headsets to offer true wideband audio.
JPG (49 KB)
JPG (808 KB)

The Jabra GN9350 Headset is a dual-function wireless headset for both traditional and PC-based telephony.
JPG (49 KB)
JPG (740 KB)

The LG-Nortel Bluetooth Headset is a wireless solution helping users to make or receive calls on their PCs without speakerphones.
JPG (36 KB)
JPG (841 KB)

The Polycom CX100 Speakerphone helps to enable hands-free calls with remarkable wideband voice quality from a PC.
JPG (46 KB)
JPG (778 KB)

The Samsung SyncMaster 225UW is a 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor with built-in camera and microphone.
JPG (32 KB)
JPG (483 KB)

Microsoft RoundTable, camera exposed
JPG (29 KB)
JPG (1 MB)

The ASUS S7F notebook series has a sleek, lightweight design that lets users travel light and in style.
JPG (63 KB)

The Polycom CX200 Desktop Phone helps to enable hands-free calls with remarkable wideband voice quality from a PC.
JPG (58 KB)
JPG (737 KB)

The NEC UC USB Phone is a USB device that can be plugged directly into a PC USB port, enabling high-quality wideband sound.
JPG (30 KB)
JPG (583 KB)

We have recently deployed the "Catalina" phone internally at Microsoft Australia - http://blogs.technet.com/itproaustralia/archive/2007/07/13/office-communicator-beta-3-and-the-catalina-device.aspx

Catalina phone.

Note the red Presence indicator (meaning presence in Communicator is currently Busy) and the Exchange 2007 UM MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) light.

So check out the announcement from Jeff Raikes at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/jeff/06-26-06UnifiedCommunications.mspx, and check out the launch site at http://www.microsoft.com/uc/default.mspx

This week I am finishing the build of a full UC experience demo for the Showcase at TechEd Australia. The Showcase is running on HP C-class blades (very nice servers!) and includes OCS, Communicator, RoundTable, LG-Nortel handsets, Exchange 2007 (w/UM), all integrated with a Nortel CS1000 IP-PBX.

I'll be posting detail on how I built the Showcase on this blog towards the end of the week, so stay tuned. And of course if you're at TechEd Oz - drop by, say Hi, and prepare to be blown away by our technologies.

Technorati Tags: ocs, uc, roundtable, tanjay, um