Johann's Unified Communications : download

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2

jkruse — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:38:19 GMT

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) has been designed specifically to help meet the challenges of any business and the needs of all the different groups with a stake in the messaging system.

Exchange Server 2007 SP2 is a mission-critical communications tool that enables employees to be more productive and access their information anywhere and anytime while providing a messaging system that enables rich, efficient access to e-mail, calendar items, voice mail, and contacts.

For the administrator, Exchange Server 2007 SP2 provides advanced protection options against e-mail security threats, such as spam and viruses, as well as the tools to help manage internal compliance and high availability needs.

For an overview of the new features that are available in Exchange Server 2007 SP2, see "What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP2".

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4c4bd2a3-5e50-42b0-8bbb-2cc9afe3216a

OCS R2 Site Resiliency

jkruse — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:55:00 GMT

Using backup and restoration procedures for site disaster recovery as described in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 documentation library topic Backup and Restoration, can entail some downtime for users.

This white paper describes a site resiliency solution for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The solution includes an Enterprise pool that spans two geographically separate sites. The solution provides a failover mechanism between the two sites to ensure that Office Communications Server functionality such as instant messaging, presence, and conferencing remains available even if one of the sites becomes unavailable.

This white paper is divided into three main sections:

The Solution section provides an overview of the tested and supported site resiliency solution described in this paper.
The Test Methodology section describes the testing topology, expected behavior, and test results.
The Findings and Recommendations section provides practical guidance for deploying your own failover solution.

To successfully follow this paper, you should have a thorough understanding of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering.

Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c930febb-3a44-4bf3-969d-1c52675a7063

Download free OCS R2 e-books, but be quick!

jkruse — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:01:20 GMT

For the next few days you can download free copies of some MS Press e-books on OCS 2007 R2. Simply sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection Newsletter for notification of offers, register, and download the selection of the month.

Programming for Unified Communications with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2

Step-by-step programming scenarios show you how to deliver high-quality VoIP, presence, click-to-communicate, and contextual collaboration across the enterprise and across time zones.

Click here to download

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit

Get the definitive resource for deploying, configuring, and supporting Office Communications Server 2007—now fully updated.

Click here to download

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Documentation

jkruse — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:17:49 GMT

The full documentation pack for OCS R2 is now available for download.

The full set of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 documentation is contained in the download file named Communications_Server_2007_R2_Documentation.chm. Selected, high-value sections of the documentation are also provided as separate Word documents.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e9f86f96-aa09-4dca-9088-f64b4f01c703

Exchange Server 2010 Beta VHD

jkruse — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:32:20 GMT

Download this fully configured virtual machine of the latest release of Exchange Server 2010 Beta. Evaluate the new capabilities of Exchange Server 2010 Beta, which helps you achieve new levels of reliability and performance by delivering features that help to simplify your administration, protect your communications, and delight your users by meeting their demands for greater business mobility.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=53f7382a-3664-4de3-8303-31e514d69f02&displaylang=en

OCS 2007 R2 Virtualisation Support

jkruse — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:15:02 GMT

We are pleased to announce official support for server virtualisation for Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

We are introducing support for both a fully distributed virtualised topology across several hypervisors and for a single server virtualised topology. These topologies are supported on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and any Server Virtualisation Validation Program (SVVP) certified partner solution (http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvp.htm).

Presence, Instant Messaging (including remote access, federation, and Public IM Connectivity) and Group Chat workloads are supported. The following server roles can be deployed:

Front-End Servers
Back-End SQL Server 2008 64 bits
Group Chat Channel Servers
Group Chat Compliance Servers
Archiving Servers
Monitoring (CDR only) Servers
Edge Access Servers

The virtual machines must be running on Windows Server 2008 64-bit. Archiving Server and Monitoring Server can be connected to a virtualised Enterprise pool, but they must run on a physical server. The fully virtualised distributed topology has been tested to handle up to 40,000 users, including 10,000 group chat users.

Virtualisation of the other workloads is not supported because of possible quality issues with real-time media.

Specifically, voice, video, live meeting and desktop sharing workloads cannot be part of the virtualised deployment. Therefore audio/video/web conferencing servers, audio/video/web edge conferencing servers, dial-in conferencing, Communicator Web Access, enterprise voice, or Remote Call Control may not be deployed as part of the virtualised pool.

If any one of these workloads is required, a new pool with physical servers must be deployed for those users. For more information about support for client virtualisation technologies, please refer to the official support statement at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951152.

In order to plan both their physical and virtualised topologies, customers can use Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Capacity Planning Tool, which can simulate user load for the available workloads. This will help customers validating the hypervisor load and scalability before going to production.

For more information there is a whitepaper available for download: “Running Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in a Virtualized Topology” - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a45d921-3b48-44e4-b42b-19704a2b81b0&displaylang=en

This document describes the results of a series of configurations that were run in a Hyper-V environment to validate that Office Communications Server on Hyper-V provides stable performance and scalability for production use.

The support statement at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd572860(office.13).aspx will be updated in the next few days to reflect this.

Microsoft Unified Communications 2007 R2 Adoption and Training Kit

jkruse — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:48:22 GMT

The Microsoft Unified Communications 2007 R2 Adoption and Training Kit provides resources and guidance for IT Professionals, Helpdesk and Support Professionals, and Trainers to support end-users who use Microsoft Unified Communications Technologies. Content includes:

IT Pro - Planning Checklist, Benefit Statements, E-Mail Campaign Samples, Success Metrics Examples, and User Education Materials
Helpdesk - Planning Checklist, Frequently Asked Questions, and Troubleshooting Guides.
Trainer - Planning Checklist, Quick Reference Cards, Tips and Tricks Flash Cards, How-to's, Getting Started Tours, and Web-based Tutorials and Training

Watch the video….

….and download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=eb18d016-64f7-4aae-b491-65636a186c1a&displaylang=en

Unified Communications How-To

jkruse — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:44:03 GMT

The Microsoft Unified Communications “How-To” training tool is a Silverlight 2 application that provides step-by-step instructions for common UC tasks. You can customize the How-To application to your company’s needs based on the UC features you’ve installed. For example, if you have installed all UC features except Communicator Mobile and Communicator Group Chat, you can modify the XML file so that those features and topics do not appear in the interface.

The How-To training tool is delivered as both a desktop application and a Web application. It runs in all popular browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Opera.

Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=aba240af-b5ba-4e14-bc12-c98eae1f6d15#tm

Download Communicator Mobile Clients Directly To Your Cell Phone

jkruse — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:37:00 GMT

If you are running OCS 2007 R2 you can now download Communicator Mobile clients (for Windows Mobile and Java enabled devices) directly from you cell phone. Simply go to www.getcomo.com and select the right version of the client.

Integrating Telephony with OCS R2

jkruse — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:10:47 GMT

Updated for OCS 2007 R2, this white paper covers everything you want to know about Voice Interoperability with OCS. Topics include Media Gateways, IP-PBXs, SIP Trunking, PBX integration Scenarios, Standards Compliance, Integration Features and Migration Strategies.

Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8CDE0C3A-042E-445B-A514-2D12ED5B2AC2&displaylang=en

Exchange 2010 beta

jkruse — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:46:44 GMT

This is big – we’ve just announced Exchange 2010 (formerly known as E14), and released the beta.

If you want to get your hands on Exchange 2010 Beta, visit the Microsoft Download Center and download the bits today.
If you want to learn more about the Beta, check out the Exchange 2010 Beta TechCenter.
If you want a quick overview of what's new in Exchange 2010 Beta, check out What's New in Exchange Server 2010.
To get started with Exchange 2010 Beta, head for Planning and Deployment. It lays out the recommended sequence for preparing for and then installing the Exchange 2010 Beta, and includes the following important topics:

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 VHD

jkruse — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:54:51 GMT

This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for 60 days.

Start evaluating Office Communications Server today. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 delivers streamlined communications for your users so they can find and communicate with the right person, right now, from the applications they use most (like Office Outlook).

Note:

1. This trial software is intended for evaluation purposes only.
2. There is no product support for this trial. You are welcome to share your trial experience with others and to ask for advice by participating in the forums.

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is required to use this virtual machine
In addition to the system requirements for Windows Server 2008 as described in the release notes, a 64-bit system with hardware-assisted virtualization enabled and data execution prevention (DEP) is required.

Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=3bfe2fb6-493b-42d6-859e-eddddf04e2e8

Where to download OCS 2007 R2

jkruse — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:03:29 GMT

Today is the official launch of OCS 2007 R2 (sign up for the Virtual Launch!).

What’s new?

Streamlined Communications

Call management capabilities let receptionists and team assistants take a large volume of incoming calls and quickly route them to the intended recipients. Delegation allows executives to give complete management of their phone calls to assistants.
Desktop-sharing capabilities allow users on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms to collaborate with one another while they talk to each other using enhanced audio conferencing features.
Group chat lets organizations set-up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, which allows geographically distributed teams to collaborate with one another efficiently while preserving organizational knowledge.

Operational Flexibility and Control

On-premise audio conferencing capability puts IT in control of audio conferencing infrastructure while saving on outsourced audio conferencing costs.
Single Number Reach allows IT to log business calls placed from mobile phones for accounting purposes. It also helps to ensure that the same dialing rules that apply to calls from a work phone extends to mobile calls.
Video monitoring capabilities allow IT to monitor the quality of video calls and conferences on their network and make adjustments if necessary.
Support for SIP-trunking removes the need to manage on-premise gateways.

Extensible Communications Platform

Automate business processes with instant messaging, voice, and e-mail workflows with familiar development tools like Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.
Agent Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, built using the published platform APIs in Office Communications Server 2007 R2, gives call center agents the ability to see presence information and the ability to “click-to-communicate” from within the Microsoft Dynamics CRM screens.

And of course the most important bit – where can you download it? There is a 180-day trial available now. It’s also worthwhile checking out the FAQ and release notes before installing. Enjoy!

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

OCS 2007 Video-conferencing Interoperability White Paper

jkruse — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:11:52 GMT

Office Communications Server 2007 is the first Microsoft product to combine enterprise-ready IM, presence, video-conferencing, web-conferencing, and VoIP telephony in one solution. In addition, OCS 2007 includes real-time videoconferencing solutions running on servers in your intranet or interoperating with video-conferencing hardware vendors such as TANDBERG or Polycom.

Providing interoperability between Office Communications Server 2007 and video-conferencing vendors allows you to take advantage of your existing video-conferencing hardware investment while extending video-conferencing features to other users with minimal hardware investment and user training. The users that attend conferences using dedicated video-conferencing hardware can schedule meetings and determine attendee availability using familiar tools, such as Microsoft Office Outlook or Office Communicator 2007.

Download the whitepaper and get more info at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ocs/cc836454.aspx