Johann's Unified Communications : ocs

OCS Federation updates

jkruse — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:04:24 GMT

Some great news announced overnight…

Starting October 1, 2009, a PIC License will no longer be required for federation with American Online (AOL). Customers qualify for federation with AOL if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active Software Assurance on their current LCS/OCS license.
Microsoft is also releasing the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway at no additional licensing cost that allows basic Presence sharing and instant messaging (IM) with XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) networks Jabber and Google Talk. For Office Communications Server customers, this means Jabber and GoogleTalk users can now be part of Office Communications Server IM contacts.

Starting today, the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway can be downloaded here, while a video that explains how the Gateway works can be viewed here.

Read the press release and an interview with Eric Swift at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/oct09/10-01ucinterop.mspx

OCS Remote Connectivity Analyzer

jkruse — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:19:55 GMT

A great tool for testing remote connectivity to your OCS Edge Server is now available from the UC Team.

Check it out at https://www.testocsconnectivity.com/

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

Click-to-join conference in CoMo

jkruse — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:41:00 GMT

We have released an update to Communicator Mobile that introduces some new capabilities, the best of which IMHO is “click-to-join” for OCS R2 conferencing (i.e. audio conferences and LiveMeetings). There is no longer any need to dial the # and look up & enter conference IDs and PINs – now you can just choose “Join Conference” from your mobile calendar and OCS will call you back and sign you into the conference.

Issues that this hotfix package fixes

Homescreen support for new homescreens in Windows Mobile 6.5+ phones.

Integration within the phone dialer for Windows Mobile 6.5+ phones.

Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 now recognizes when the phone is roaming, and by default does not sign in to roaming networks.

Additional support for joining conference calls from a Windows Mobile appointment. To do this, press Menu, and then press Join Conference.

Enables users to log on with a username of the format user@example.com, in addition to domain\user.

When placing Call via Work calls, callbacks are now automatically accepted.

Microsoft Installer (MSI) installation on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) fails. In this situation, users should install Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 by using a .Cab installation.

AT&T FUZE devices set for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connection cannot handle voice and data at the same time. This causes Call via Work calls to fail unless the device is reverted to 3rd Generation (3G) by disabling HSDPA.

More information and download at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969816

Changes in OCS Public IM Federation

jkruse — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:54:13 GMT

From the OCS Team Blog….

Federation is an important goal for the Office Communications Server team and we are excited to announce several changes to public IM federation between Office Communications Server and public IM networks, effective July 1, 2009:

The Live Communications Sever Public IM Connectivity (LCS PIC) license will be renamed Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity (OCS PIC) license.
Customers with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or Office Communications Server 2007/Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 Standard CAL with Software Assurance will no longer require an additional license to federate with Windows Live. (A license will still be required for federation with AOL & Yahoo!.)
With Windows Live federation, customers will be able to add Windows Live contacts to their Office Communicator contact list, view presence and send and receive instant messages.

We will continue to work with our partners to enable more options that allow you to communicate seamlessly with customers, partners, friends and family on different networks. For more information on public IM connectivity with Office Communications Server, please go to http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/en/us/public-im-connectivity.aspx

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

Getting Rid of Your PBX Can Be Liberating

jkruse — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:42:28 GMT

Jamie Ryan, CIO at Aspect, has written a great post about the benefits of replacing your legacy PBX or IP-PBX with Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

When I tell people that Aspect is the in the midst of a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 rollout, they often ask me if we are really able to live without our PBX’s. Believe it or not, many times they look wistful when they ask the question. It’s almost like they equate PBXs with an old friend who is moving to a far off land and will be sorely missed. My answer is always the same. I’m actually happy to be rid of my PBXs. We had too many - from too many different vendors. They were not integrated. And, they were expensive to manage. Plus, technology has come so far in recent years – why would I stay with the old, when the new is here and better?

Read it at http://blogs.aspect.com/2009/06/21/getting-rid-of-your-pbx-can-be-liberating/

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

HP and Microsoft Expand Alliance in Unified Communications and Collaboration

jkruse — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:42:30 GMT

At Interop Las Vegas 2009, HP and Microsoft Corp. today announced a four-year strategic global initiative to deliver an end-to-end unified communications and collaboration solution. As part of their Frontline Partnership, the two companies expect to invest up to an additional $180 million in product development, professional services, as well as joint sales and marketing, to help organizations lower cost and improve productivity.

The end-to-end solution, which is planned to span software, hardware, networking and services would enable customers to improve business output and reduce travel, telecom and IT operating costs. This would be accomplished by streamlining communications across messaging, video and voice with connected applications and devices. HP and Microsoft also plan to provide the flexibility and control customers need to manage their communications infrastructure efficiently.

Product development and integration

The two companies will form joint teams to collaborate on products and services development across Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office Communications Server, as well as HP ProCurve networking products.
HP will obtain Microsoft Unified Communications qualification for the HP dx9000 TouchSmart Business PC and select smartphones.
HP will obtain Microsoft Unified Communications qualification for new IP desk phones.
HP Business Technology Optimization (BTO) software will provide additional support for Microsoft Office Communications Server, including the ability to provide real-time quality of service metrics for the voice and video network over the IP infrastructure.
The two companies will provide end point interoperability with HP Halo Telepresence Solutions and Microsoft Office Communications Server-based unified conferencing, enabling remote participants at any Microsoft Office Communication Server-enabled PC to join telepresence conferences.

Professional services

Microsoft and HP will offer a full set of business productivity services ranging from assessment, architecture planning and design to implementation, monitoring, management and support for software, hardware, network, server, storage and infrastructure components in the shared portfolio.
HP will dedicate a global team of service professionals to support the joint solutions, helping customers achieve improved levels of network availability and response times.
HP and Microsoft will also target communications service providers, offering them the same technologies and services to enable hosted unified communications and collaboration services for small to medium-sized businesses.
HP and Microsoft will provide services for customers who seek to run their technology on-premise, fully outsource, or who opt for a combination of both.
Microsoft and HP will work together to address customers’ real-time collaboration needs using HP Halo Managed Services and HP ProCurve products.

Read the press release at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/may09/05-19HPUCGPR.mspx

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.

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

Configuring Cisco CallManager 4.2.1 for Direct-SIP with OCS

jkruse — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:19:11 GMT

There is a great post over at the OCS Team Blog outlining the steps required to configure a Direct SIP connection between OCS and Cisco CallManager 4.2.1.

It covers the configuration steps required for both OCS and CCM – check it out at http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2008/09/30/302.aspx

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

Forefront Security for Office Communications Server Now Available

jkruse — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:56:05 GMT

Microsoft Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (FSOCS) provides fast and effective protection against IM-based malware by including multiple scanning engines from industry-leading security partners and can help to reduce corporate liability by blocking IM messages that contain inappropriate content.

The layered, multiple antimalware engine approach provides comprehensive protection against the latest threats, while file and keyword filtering technologies prevent the sharing of out-of-policy files, unauthorized corporate confidential information, or offensive language in IM conversations. Forefront Security for Office Communications Server integrates with Microsoft Office Communications Server to provide high-performance malware scanning optimized for instant messaging environments.

Forefront Security for Office Communications Server includes automated signature updating, IM notification alerts, and built-in management controls to simplify administration.

More information here, and you can download a trial of Forefront Security for Office Communications Server here.

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!