Mark Garcia - Unified Communications product specialist

Interactive smartboard for $55? Yes, it can be done.

markga — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:57:17 GMT

I thought this was pretty amazing to watch with some very simple items you can have an amazing smartboard for any surface. I love gadgets so I am taking this project on. I figured it may be an interesting way to kick off a demo of OCS/Exchange with schools...(read more)

How does faxing work with Exchange unified messaging?

markga — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:10:46 GMT

I had this question from a university in the rocky mountain range. With Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging, the UM server can directly detect a fax tone using the T.38 FOIP (Fax Over IP) standard and route inbound faxes to an extension. It does...(read more)

What type of bandwidth does OCS web conferencing use?

markga — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:08:35 GMT

I had this question from a large school district down in Florida and the answer is it depends on what aspects of the OCS conference you are using. Here is a bandwidth breakout of the conference scenarios: Application Sharing bandwidth: Peak Bandwidth...(read more)

Is there a way to speed up the Exchange Management Shell launch?

markga — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:54:00 GMT

Have you noticed it takes quite a long time to open up the Exchange command shell? I timed it and it takes anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds to launch. I found a way to knock this down to 2-3 seconds. This script updates the GAC with some of the Exchange...(read more)

How do you separate OCS administration between pools in the same domain?

markga — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:32:39 GMT

I had this question today from a large University in the Midwest and after some digging I found the answer to this is yes: Here are the steps to do this: 1) Create two Universal security admin groups in ADUC such as OCSserverPool1group and OCSserverPool2group...(read more)

Is there way to get the Office Communicator inside of Outlook?

markga — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:18:00 GMT

I had a few SameTime/Notes schools who were switching to Exchange 2007 and OCS 2007 ask me if there was a way to embed Office Communicator client inside of Outlook? The answer is yes. There sample add-on available here along with source. Here is what...(read more)

How can I quickly validate my ActiveSync, SMTP, Autodiscover, Outlook Anywhere infrastructure from the Internet?

markga — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:56:00 GMT

I just came across this very nice testing tool called the "Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer" that was created and hosted by Microsoft for customers and schools to use to validate your ActiveSync, SMTP, Autodiscover, Outlook Anywhere configurations...(read more)

Can I install OCS into an Active Directory Forest deployed as a Single Label Domain?

markga — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

I just had a school that deployed a single label domain in Active Directory (e.g no .com or .edu for their domain namespace) ask me this question. I searched around but I couldn't find anything in the OCS supportability document. The answer from the OCS...(read more)

So what is Microsoft Live@edu and Exchange Labs exactly?

markga — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:44:00 GMT

Just a quick note that I am changing my role into a pure Unified Communcations Technology Solution Professional in U.S. Education starting this week. I will also be helping customers with Live@edu and Exchange labs implementations, etc. Schools are asking...(read more)

Windows Mobile 6 and GPS already here

markga — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:42:00 GMT

The new upcoming iPhone 2.0 has GPS with Google maps support only. Should I get excited now? I guess so but just so you know certain Windows Mobile phones have had built-in GPS support for sometime now. You can search for a list here at pdadb.net which...(read more)

Preliminary Guidelines for Running Exchange Server 2007 on Hyper-V

markga — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:49:00 GMT

The Exchange product team is going to announce our preliminary strategy for Hyper-V and Exchange Server 2007 tomorrow at Tech-Ed. I posted my quick interpretation of what is coming. Here are some quick notes you can reference: 60-days post RTM of Hyper-V...(read more)

What are my Office Communicator client options?

markga — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:36:00 GMT

Here is another common question I get from schools. What options do I have to connect to Office Communications Server 2007 from a client perspective? Office Communicator Client 2007 The first client option is the Office Communicator Client that is available...(read more)

Why run Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 vs Windows Server 2003?

markga — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:29:00 GMT

I seem to be getting this question a lot from schools as to what is the value of running Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008. I have compiled a list from sources and I also have added my own personal thoughts: Higher reliability With self healing NTFS...(read more)

My Hyper-V RC0 install experience

markga — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:43:00 GMT

For my new role, I needed to build out a Hyper-V server in order to demo MOSS, Exchange 2007 and OCS for education customers. I am new to Hyper-V so I documented a few things I have learned along the way. Sample Hyper-V demo server The first thing I needed...(read more)

I love the new HTC Vogue XV6900 phone...

markga — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:36:00 GMT

I have been using our mobile phones since the beta days and I have to say this Windows Mobile 6 Professional (PPC) phone is certainly one of the best I have owned. I wasn't sure about the white to start but I like it now and I can always 'skin' it later....(read more)