Microsoft releases Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2
Last week, Microsoft announced the general availability of Release 2 of Office Communications Server 2007. Where the first release of the product (which was launched in October 2007) was geared around conferencing in general, this release is very much focused on the telephony aspect of unified communications. For example, among the main enhancements in R2 are:
- an Attendant Console, which is designed for receptionists and secretaries, and allows calls to be delegated, transferred and queued
- response group capabilities, which allow the routing of incoming calls based on rules and caller selection
- single number reach, which allows all calls made by an individual to appear to come from the same number, regardless of whether they were made on their landline, mobile, etc., as well as enabling an incoming call to ring through to all the user’s phones at once.
Other telephony-oriented enhancements include SIP trunking capabilities, call monitoring support, and extended platform support for Office Mobile Communicator, which now runs on Nokia S40 and Motorola Razr in addition to Windows Mobile and RIM Blackberry. From a collaboration viewpoint, the major enhancements are dial-in audio conferencing (i.e. without requiring access to the Live Meeting Console Windows-based client), support for desktop sharing with Mac and Linux machines, and persistent group chat capabilities, which are enabled through the integration of the Parlano software, which Microsoft acquired in August 2007.
This latest release shows Microsoft’s desire for credibility in the unified communications market – an area where it has so far struggled to succeed. It also highlights the increasing convergence between the collaboration software and unified communications markets, with technologies such as presence awareness and VoIP providing the underpinnings. While this convergence provides opportunities for vendors in terms of new markets and for user organisations in terms of increased integration between key technologies, it also presents new challenges for organisations, for example in determining where the responsibility for ownership of these technologies lies. In the current economic climate particularly, I suspect that it will be the collaboration perspective (rather than unified comms) that will drive the initial adoption of these technologies, though in the longer term unified communications is likely to deliver the added value that is required to support enterprise-wide levels of adoption.
For our assessment of the overall Microsoft collaboration software portfolio, including Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, click here.
Tags: Industry news
Posted by Angela Ashenden on February 11, 2009
