Johann's Unified Communications : rtm

Exchange 2010 has left the building

jkruse — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:19:06 GMT

The Exchange PG has declared RTM, so Exchange 2010 has been signed off and is now officially completed.

This is an exciting release and provides great value to business of all sizes.

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!

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

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