Microsoft Office Communications Server
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Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, OCS 2007, is an enterprise real-time communications server, providing the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, file transfer, Peer to peer and multiparty Voice and Video calling, ad hoc and structured conferences (audio, video and web) and PSTN connectivity.[1] These features are available within an organization, between organizations, and with external users on the public internet, or standard phones, on the PSTN as well as SIP trunking.
Since February 2009 - Microsoft released the R2 version of the server which runs solely on 64-bit platform and is more scalable. R2 brings along new features such a Group Chat, Attendant Console. Some of the roles of OCS are supported in Virtualized environment.
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[edit] Client Software and Devices
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 ('MOC' or 'OC') and the LiveMeeting console (LMC) 2007 are the primary client applications released with OCS. OC 2007 is the client used for IM, presence, voice and video calls and ad hoc conferences. LMC is used for more structured meetings, conferences and application sharing. It can run natively against either OCS or the LiveMeeting hosted service.
Microsoft Attendant Console - a version of the MOC more oriented towards receptionists or delegates / secretaries. Microsoft Group Chat Client - a persistent Group chat client specifically for the Group Chat Server Role.
Other client software and devices include:
- Office Communicator Mobile 2007R2 namely COMO is a Windows Mobile edition of the Office Communicator 2007 client and designed to operate similarly.[2]
- Office Communicator Web Access 2007 is a web instant messaging and presence client. This version works as well on IE, Firefox and Opera Browsers [2]
- Microsoft Roundtable is an audio and video conferencing device that provides a 360-degree view of the conference room and tracks the various speakers.[3][4]
This device is now produced and sold via Polycom under the product name CX5000 [5]
- LG-Nortel and Polycom also make IP phones in a traditional phone form factor that operate an embedded edition of Office Communicator 2007. The Physical plastic phones as referred by Microsoft are also named Tanjay Phones. [6]
- SNOM has produced the first open SIP phone that also integrates to OCS.[7]
[edit] Features
One basic use of Office Communications Server is instant messaging and presence within a single organization. This includes support for rich presence information, file transfer, instant messaging as well as voice and video communication. (These latter features are often not possible even within a single organization using public IM clients, due to the effects of negotiating the corporate firewall and Network Address Translation). OCS uses Interactive Connectivity Establishment and TLS encryption to enable secure voice and video both inside and outside the corporate network.
OCS 2007 also supports remote users, both corporate users on the internet (e.g. mobile or home workers) as well as users in partner companies. OCS 2007 supports "federation" - enabling interoperability with other corporate IM networks. Federation can be configured either manually (where each partner manually configures the relevant edge servers in the other org) or based on use of the appropriate SRV records in the DNS.
Microsoft Office Communications Server uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for signaling along with the SIMPLE extensions to SIP for IM and presence. Media is transferred using RTP/SRTP. The Live Meeting client uses PSOM to download meeting content. The Communicator client also uses HTTPS to connect with the web components server to download address books, expand distribution lists, etc. By default, Office Communications Server encrypts all signaling and media traffic using SIP over TLS and SRTP. There is one exception to this - traffic between the Mediation Server and a basic media gateway is carried as SIP over TCP and RTP. However, if a hybrid gateway is leveraged, such as one from Microsoft's Open Interoperability Site, then in fact everything is encrypted from all points.[8]
IM is only one portion of the OCS suite. The other major components are VOIP telephony and video conferencing through the desktop communicator client. Remote access is possible using mobile and web clients.
Microsoft announced that Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is planned for release in February 2009[9] and will add some of the following features:[10]
- Dial-in audioconferencing
- Desktop sharing
- Persistent Group Chat
- Attendant console and delegation
- Session Initiation Protocol trunking
- Mobility and single-number reach
[edit] Compliance
OCS 2007 also has the capability to log and archive all instant message traffic passing through the server and to create Call Detail Records for conferences and voice. These features provide a measure of compliance that are increasingly a legal requirement for many organizations. The Archiving server is not an overall end-to-end compliance solution as archiving requires you to install the Archiving Server and to configure front end servers accordingly.
[edit] Public IM Connectivity (PIC)
OCS 2007 also enables organizations to interoperate with three public IM providers: AOL Instant Messenger, .NET Messenger Service, and Yahoo! Messenger. PIC was first introduced with Service Pack 1 for Live Communications Server 2005, PIC is licensed separately for AOL and Yahoo but is free for Messenger service since June 2009[11].
[edit] Previous Versions
- 2009 - Office Communications Server 2007 R2
- 2007 - Office Communications Server 2007
- 2006 - Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1
- 2005 - Live Communications Server 2005, codenamed Vienna
- 2003 - Live Communications Server 2003
[edit] Possible Future Versions
- 2010? - Office Communications Server 2010 also named Wave 14
[edit] History
When Microsoft Office Live Communications Server was originally launched on 29 December 2003, it replaced the Exchange Instant Messenger Service that had been included in Exchange 2000, but which was removed from the Exchange 2003 feature set. Holders of Exchange 2000 licenses which include Software Assurance are entitled to receive Live Communications Server as an upgrade, along with Exchange 2003; however, Live Communications Server Client Access Licenses must be purchased as normal for new users.
OCS R2 was announced at VoiceCon in Amsterdam in October 2008 [12], just 364 days after releasing Office Communications Server 2007. This version has major advantages over the original solution and positioned Microsoft firmly in place to be a major player in IP Telephony and Video (Telepresence).
New call management capabilities let receptionists and team assistants take a large volume of incoming calls and quickly route them to the intended recipients with a simple click, while delegation features allow executives to completely hand over the management of their phone calls to their assistants. New desktop-sharing capabilities allow users on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms to collaborate with one another at the same time they talk to each other using enhanced audio conferencing features. The Group Chat feature lets organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.
Interestingly, all of these features are covered under a single license per user through the Enterprise Client Access License (ECAL) from Microsoft. This is dramatically different than traditional telephony and VoIP vendors who charge for additional clients, endpoints, and interfaces into the communications system.
The improved on-premise audioconferencing capability puts Enterprises in control of their audioconferencing infrastructure while saving money on audioconferencing costs over hosted bridges. The Single Number Reach feature allows IT to log business calls placed by users from cellular phones for accounting purposes while helping to ensure that the same dialing rules that apply to calls made by users from their work phone also extend to their cellular calls. The new video monitoring capabilities allow IT to monitor the quality of video calls and conferences on their network, while support for SIP-trunking does away with the need to manage expensive on-premise gateways. Video in OCS is also interoperable with third party solutions such as Tandberg and PolyCom systems as well. This means that customers can keep their existing investment in these systems, but extend video to the desktop via Office Communications Server.
One of the biggest advantages of having a software-based communications infrastructure is that businesses can embed communications capabilities into existing line-of-business applications and use communications and workflow capabilities to automate business processes, which saves money, saves time, and improves customer service. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 delivers an extensible communications platform that works with an organization’s existing messaging and telephony infrastructure and can adapt to changing business needs. This extensibility is one of the major reasons that Gartner has placed Microsoft at the top of their Unified Communications Magic Quadrant for 2007 and 2008.[13]
[edit] Competition
Competitors to OCS include:
- IBM's Lotus Sametime
- Jabber XCP (from Jabber, Inc., not to be confused with the open-source IM project Jabber and IETF open standard named XMPP)
- Cisco's Unified Presence Server and Unified Personal Communicator
- Avaya's one-X software
- Siemens' OpenScape
- Openfire
- Tigase
- ejabberd
In the Instant Messaging space, the free public instant messaging networks (Google, MSN, Yahoo and AOL) are widely used and represent a degree of competition. There have been attempts by other vendors at providing solutions such as Yahoo!'s Enterprise Instant Messenger; however these attempts have been largely unsuccessful. An ICQ corporate client and server option once existed, but it is no longer supported or developed.
It's important to note that products such as Cisco Unified Presence Server (Version 6.0.2+) support federation with Microsoft OCS 2007 to provide presence of Cisco IP Phones and remote call control of the IP Phone from the Microsoft Office Communicator client.
[edit] See also
- Microsoft Office
- Windows Server System
- Microsoft Office Communicator (2007)
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager
- Nortel Communication Server 2100
- LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540
- Instant Messaging
- Comparison of office suites
- List of Microsoft - Nortel (ICA) Products
[edit] External links
- Microsoft Office Communications Server (official site)
- LCS feature comparison
- LCS Developer Portal
- LCS Developer articles
- LCS Support website and forum, by Meni Milstein - LCS MVP
- (French) Customer Case Study
- Factors to consider when deploying Microsoft's Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007
- Innovative Communications Alliance (Nortel – Microsoft)
- An Excellent site to provide OCS info - www.OCSpedia.com
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/en/us/capabilities.aspx
- ^ a b http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/en/us/user-interfaces.aspx
- ^ http://www.microsoft.com/uc/products/roundtable.mspx
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3A_9omjWsE&feature=related
- ^ http://www.polycom.com/products/voice/conferencing_solutions/microsoft_optimized_conferencing/cx5000.html
- ^ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb970310.aspx
- ^ http://www.snom.com/sv/products/software/snom-ocs-edition/
- ^ http://technet.microsoft.com/UCOIP
- ^ http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2008/oct08/10-14OCSR2video.mspx
- ^ http://www.ocspedia.com/Misc/OCS_2007_R2_Press_Release.htm
- ^ http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2009/07/01/537.aspx
- ^ http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/oct08/10-14OCSR2PR.mspx
- ^ http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/vol6/article1/article1.html
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