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Evaluation Guide
Summary: Designed especially for technology reviewers and new users, this guideprovides evaluation materials for the release of Microsoft Office Communication Server2007.
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Office Communications Server 2007 Evaluation Guide 2
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COPYRIGHT
This is a preliminary document and may be changed substantially priorto final commercial release of the software described herein.
The information contained in this document represents the currentview of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date ofpublication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing marketconditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on thepart of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of anyinformation presented after the date of publication.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKESNO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THEINFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of theuser. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of thisdocument may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrievalsystem, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for anypurpose, without the express written permission of MicrosoftCorporation.
Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks,copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subjectmatter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any writtenlicense agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document
does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights,or other intellectual property.
Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations,products, domain names, email addresses, logos, people, places, andevents depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any realcompany, organization, product, domain name, email address, logo,person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.
2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft, Windows Server, Windows Server System, and Active
Directory are either registered trademarks or trademarks of MicrosoftCorporation in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein maybe the trademarks of their respective owners.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 4Welcome ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4Whats New ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6Key Benefits .................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Software-powered VoIP Foundation ............................................................................................................... 15Streamlined Communications ......................................................................................................................... 17Operational Control ........................................................................................................................................ 19
Features at a Glance ....................................................................................................................................................................... 22Enterprise IM & Contact Management ........................................................................................................................... 22Presence .......................................................................................................................................................................... 23Multi-Party on Premise Conferencing ............................................................................................................................. 24Enhanced VoIP ................................................................................................................................................................ 27Office Integration ............................................................................................................................................................ 29Development, Management, and Administration .......................................................................................................... 30Communicator Web Access Comparative Table ............................................................................................................. 32Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 ................................................................................................................ 33Extensibility and APIs ...................................................................................................................................................... 33
Reviewing Office Communication Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007............................................................................ 35Enhanced Enterprise IM & Contact Management .......................................................................................................... 35Presence .......................................................................................................................................................................... 40Multi-Party on Premise Conferencing ............................................................................................................................. 47Enhanced VoIP ................................................................................................................................................................ 54Office Integration ............................................................................................................................................................ 60Development, Management, and Administration .......................................................................................................... 64Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 ................................................................................................................ 68Communicator Web Access ............................................................................................................................................ 69Communicator Extensibility ............................................................................................................................................ 69
Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 72Index ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 85
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INTRODUCTION
WELCOME
Welcome to the Evaluation Guide for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. This document is designed to help you understand the
features and capabilities of this solutionan enterprise-grade server and client which provides
the backbone for seamless, real-time communications and serves as a foundation for future
communications needs within an organization.
Over the last two decades, technology innovation has brought the world closer together and
has given people more ways to communicate with each other. These changes have brought
new heights in productivity and created a more mobile, global, and always-on world of work.
With this rapid transformation in the business environment, people need to manage more
communications in more, different places than ever before. Information workers (IW) and IT
professionals are each struggling to manage multiple systems for communications desktop
and mobile phones, email and voice mail, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), instant
messaging, and web- and videoconferencing. Todays communications technologies work well
independently, but we at Microsoft also feel that they should work together as a team so much
more effectively.
OCS 2007 is a unified communications server that
delivers enterprise instant messaging; audio, video- andweb-conferencing; and enhanced voice over IP. Office
Communicator (OC) is a unified client that delivers a
familiar, intuitive interface to users. Together these two
products streamline communications by giving people
the ability to click-to-communicate within Microsoft
Office system applications, such as Outlook, SharePoint,
and other applications, devices, and networks they know
and use today. Using a highly available, scalable architecture and familiar administration tools, OCS
2007 makes deployment, administration, and monitoring of real-time communications moreefficient. Moreover, OCS 2007 facilitates real-time communication across multiple geographies,
time zones and organizational boundaries, so that people throughout the organization can work
together more easily and make informed decisions more quickly.
OCS 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 allow people to quickly find and communicate with
other individuals and groups using a variety of methods. Since a persons availability and
Through 2010, 80% of business who
have deployed communications
enabled business processes will have
acquired significant competitive and
revenue differentiation because of
them.
(Gartner, May 2006)
Through 2010, 80% of business whohave deployed communications
enabled business processes will have
acquired significant competitive and
revenue differentiation because of
them.
(Gartner, May 2006)
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communications experience are tightly integrated with the Microsoft Office desktop, users can
communicate directly from within everyday desktop and business applications, workflows, and
processes. Therefore, an individual can easily communicate from anywhere, using tools that
share the same look and feel, user experience and work environment with the Microsoft Office
desktop.
To facilitate the use of this reference document, this guide is organized into the following
different sections:
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WHATS NEW
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 is the first Microsoft product to combine
Enhanced Voice over IP (VoIP), enterprise Instant Messaging (IM), presence, and Web
conferencing capabilities within a single offering.
Building on the success of Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005s rich presence and
instant messaging capabilities, the OCS 2007 offering delivers new functionalities in two major
areas:
Office Communications Server 2007 also offers some additional improvements, such as
enhanced presence capabilities, improved ability to interoperate with partner networks
(federation), and improved deployment and administration. At a glance, Office Communication
Server 2007 delivers:
KEY:= Feature Included
= Improved
= New
Live Communication
Server 2005
Office Communications
Server 2007
Enterprise-wide Presence
Enterprise Instant Messaging with
Enhanced Security
Enhanced VoiceConferencing
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ENHANCED VOIP
Microsofts Enhanced VoIP is a software-based solution that provides streamlined
communications to information workers, enabling them to initiate voice communications from
the context of the application they are working in (such as Microsoft Outlook), as well as make
and receive calls when traveling or away from the office by connecting to any network without
a VPN. For IT departments, this provides the future-ready foundation for evolving
communications needs.
Using Communicator 2007 as the preferred client
application, the solution provides a rich, integrated
communications experience for enterprise users.
Enhanced VoIP supports voice mail and auto-
attendant capabilities through integration with
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging.OCS 2007 also works with existing enterprise
telephony systems (PBX) either natively over SIP (session initiation protocolthe most popular
VoIP standard that enables two or more users to communicate to each other using a network
or the Internet), or via a media gateway and public switched telephone networks (PSTN).
Unlike existing corporate phone systems, OCS
2007s Enhanced VoIP functionality makes it
possible for remote workers at home or on the
road to make and answer voice calls using their
office extension without the need to set up a virtual
private network (VPN). Moreover, such voice
sessions are protected by the same encryption and
authentication technologies as OCS 2007 IM
sessions.
Gartner Research expects that by 2010,
80% of companies will have integrated
communications such as voice and
messaging into some business
applications or processes.
The corporate IM market is in the early
stages of deployment, but will reach 90
percent penetration (of those users with
commercial email accounts) by 2010,
with Microsoft having the largest
proportion of active users.
Gartner, Ma 2006
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Leveraging Office Communications Server 2007s Enhanced VoIPcapabilities enables users to:
Place calls from PC to PC, PC to phone, or phone to PC, simplifying the communications
experience.
Participate in IP voice sessions that traverse NATs and firewalls.
Place calls to other enterprise voice users, coworkers who are still hosted on a PBX, or
PSTN numbers.
Call the enterprise from anywhere an Internet connection is available, without incurring
long-distance charges or resorting to a VPN (virtual private network).
Keep their legacy telephone numbers.
Enjoy the benefits of voice mail and call forwarding on your PC
For the business customer, Enhanced VoIP provides benefits over and above user productivity
enhancements:
Businesses can leverage their existing server infrastructure reducing the requirements and
costs of additional hardware.
Least cost routing over PSTN gateways results in lower telephony costs.
Familiar tools allow central administration of VoIP and data systems, reducing
administrative overhead and complexity.
Integration with existing PBX solutions, networks, existing numbering plans, and
traditional desktop phones allows businesses to extend the life of the existing telephonysystems while improving its functionality.
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MULTI-PARTY ON PREMISE WEB CONFERENCING
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 introduces a new capability for enterprise users
both inside and outside the corporate firewall to create and join real-time conferences hosted
on internal corporate servers.
These on-premise conferences and meetingsincrease the flexibility of the organization to
collaborate more spontaneously, and can be scheduled or initiated on an ad-hoc basis. This new
functionality allows an organization to host Microsoft Office Live Meeting-style services as an
on-premise, server-based solution, which enables the enterprise user to host meetings,
presentations, training classes and similar gatherings using its own corporate network. These
conferences can include IM, audio, video, slide
presentations, and other forms of datacollaboration.
In addition, the in-house solution provides a flexible,
more secure, and productive conferencing for
Information Workers by offering:
Simplified scheduling tools.Tight integration via add-ins with Microsoft Office Outlook
gives users greater flexibility and more options when initiating, accepting and managingattendance for scheduled meetings.
Ad-hoc meeting support.Users can initiate an impromptu web conference directly from
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 and Microsoft Office System applications such as
PowerPoint, Excel
, Word, Project, Visio
and
Outlook.
Two-way VoIP audio support.Full-duplex
audio technology helps mediate the
conversation when several people talk at the
same time during an audio conference, so thatno persons voice is lost or overridden.
Microsoft RoundTable support.When
combined with Microsoft Office
Communications Server 2007, Microsoft
RoundTable delivers an immersive
By 2008, Web conferencing will beavailable to the majority of corporate
users as a standard facility, alongside
email, presence, calendaring, instant
messaging and other collaborative
facilities.
(Gartner, Web Conferencing Magic
Quadrant, September 2006)
Siemens: Companies may be able to
save U.S. $100 or more in a four-person
conference call through the elimination
of audio conferencing fees, document
collaboration session fees, and the time
saved in setting up.
(Tim Miller, Director of Product
Planning and OpenScape)
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conferencing experience with a 360 degree panoramic video display that extends the
meeting room across multiple locations with high quality video and audio.
External access. On-premise Web conferencing also can support a combination of
internal and external participants, with an edge server deployed for users outside the
organizations firewall.
Consistent meeting environment.On-premise Web conferencing uses the same
meeting console as the Microsoft Office Live Meeting service, providing a familiar
experience for participants and enabling IT departments to deploy only one console.
Multi-party audio conferencing and video conferencing. OfficeCommunications Server
2007 allows more than two people to simultaneously interact through voice and video
using the Office Communicator client.
Server to Service Continuum.Users employ
the Live Meeting client to meet online and
the Conferencing Add-in for Outlook to
schedule meetings on either the Office
Communications Server 2007 Web
Conferencing capability or the Office Live
Meeting service without having to learn
separate applications.
By 2008, Web-conferencing products willbe widely available and frequently used
by more than 40 percent of the
worldwide business user community.
(Gartner, Predicts 2006: Collaboration
Comes of Age, November 2006)
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INSTANT MESSAGING AND PRESENCE
The new Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
builds on the solid instant messaging and presence
solution of Live Communications Server 2005,incorporating enterprise-ready instant messaging and
presence features including the following improveduser-
focusedcapabilities:
Send group IMs to a Microsoft Exchange Server distribution group
Include Active Directory Service distribution lists in IM contact list.
Seamlessly transition from peer to peer 1:1 audio & video conversations to multiparty, server-
based conferences.
Integrate presence into Client and custom line of business (LOB) applications
User-level control of presence visibility by assigning contacts to one of several pre-defined
access levels, allowing them to decide how much information is made available to the
contacts.
Administrator control of custom presence states for the organization.
User-level sharing of rich presence information automatically based on the content of their
Exchange calendar or whether they have an Our of Office (OOF) message set.
Office Communications Server 2007 supports federation between organizations using OCS2007, with partner presence systems, and with public IM systems (AOL, Yahoo and Windows
Live). In addition, a specification has been published to allow any presence server to federate
with Office Communications Server.
The corporate IM market is in the early
stages of deployment, but will reach 90
percent penetration (of those users with
commercial email accounts) by 2010,with Microsoft having the largest
proportion of active users.
(Gartner, May 2006)
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KEY BENEFITS
The business world has changed substantially in only a few short years. The use of varied
communication methods has led to communication chaos. Phone tag with landlines, cell
phones, voice mail jail, and email overload have created a disconnected communicationssystem, where the information worker is often
frustrated and unable to keep track of all the
information received and needed and the act of
communicating with other people is too often an
interruption rather than a progression of the work
process.
The way in which business people communicate and
collaborate has seen rapid changes recently, with new demands and capabilities today that a
few short years ago were hardly a consideration. Communicating right from the context of the
work the information worker is doing and contacting the right person using the right method
streamlines communications, increases productivity, and reduces time-to-decision.
Delivering these benefits today, rather than waiting for long, staged rollouts of communications
technologies (such as forklift replacements of PBX systems) is required to gain business
advantage while organizations cant afford to invest in technologies that will become obsolete
as communications moves towards a software-based infrastructure.
As part of people-driven business success, Microsoft is looking to help people communicate and
collaborate with their co-workers, partners and customers more effectively. This is especiallytrue in a New World of Work. Microsoft software is built to help simplify collaboration in One
World of Business, help ensure systems and people are Always On and Always Connected, and
help streamline processes and create Transparent Organizations.
Microsofts Office Communications Server 2007 solution enables an integrated user experience
through communications convergence. Office Communication Server 2007 with its main client
Office Communicator 2007 combines voice capabilities, multiparty video, audio and Web
conferencing, presence status and control, enterprise instant messaging, and speech-enabled
interactive voice response application development into one familiar experience within the
applications, devices and networks already known and used.
The average Information
Worker gets 51 messages a day
in up to 7 different places.
Harris Interactive Online Survey
June 2006
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Office Communication Server 2007 delivers the end-to-end software solution and tools to help
the IT Administrator bring to life the work style for the New World of Work, providing
employees with the necessary communications tools and access to the information and
resources they need, while helping the organization build a strong foundation for the future.
Weyerhaeuser Company: We can use instant messaging whether were buried in a
pricing spreadsheet or working on a presentation. Its a tremendous time saverto be able to
keep our focus on a particular topic while sharing that information in real time.
BDM/IW - Tracey Reuck, Senior Infrastructure Consultant
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Office Communications Server 2007 Key Benefits:
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SOFTWARE-POWERED VOIP FOUNDATION
Organizations must adapt to the changing nature of business communications and technology
to remain competitive. Unfortunately, managing new functionalities requires forklift upgrades,
new tools, unfamiliar desktop software, and high resource costs.
Office Communications Server 2007 delivers enhanced VoIP on a software-powered platform
that works with the existing messaging and telephony infrastructure. Because of this,
customers can realize both a faster deployment than other PBX implementations and the
addition of new, innovative VoIP and Video/Web Conferencing Capabilities at a lower cost,
while enjoying a fully integrated experience with other applications.
Build on Your Existing Telephony Infrastructure
Office Communications Server 2007 uses standards and published interfaces to interoperate and
integrate with the existing telephony infrastructure
- Published and supported interfaces enable software-powered VoIP to be implemented
alongside the existing PBX infrastructure
- Enables software-powered VoIP capabilities to communicate with users on PBX, PSTN,
and mobile endpoints
- Call Management capabilities (forwarding, simultaneous ring, etc.) can be used with
PBX/PSTN/mobile endpoints
- Remote call control (RCC or 3rd
Party Call Control) enables users to access telephony
capabilities from their desktop
Deliver VoIP, Conferencing, and IM Infrastructure on The Active Directory service
Office Communications Server 2007 is built on The Active Directory service, leveraging a single
directory for communications management
- Minimizes deployment and management costs by consolidating directory management
- Built on a common Microsoft Windows infrastructure to leverage the organizations
existing investments and skills
- Familiar user interfaces and administration promote faster user adoption and IT rollout
of new capabilities
- Provides a foundation for the organizations communicationstrategy that integrates
with collaboration and productivity tool investments
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Implement an Extensible Infrastructure
Office Communications Server 2007 provides an extensible infrastructure for integrating with
business process and user needs of today and tomorrow
-Published and supported developer interfaces for extensibility and interoperabilityenable integration into existing applications and business processes
- Broad device support enabled by published protocols enabling customer choice, value
and optimal end user experience
- Software driven innovation enables high value capabilities today and ensures greater
innovation and flexibility for future extensibility
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STREAMLINED COMMUNICATIONS
Managers today want flexibility to be productive at work, home, and while traveling. However,
in order to achieve increased productivity, the individual worker must be able to access all of
his/her communications in a familiar environment across a range of devices and on the Web.
Office Communications Server 2007 integrates with business applications like Microsoft
Outlook to provide streamlined communications experience, bringing email, instant messaging,
conferencing, and voice communications together. Moreover, with OCS 2007s integrated
presence technology, a user can easily find the right person he/she wants to contact and
communicate according to the availability and communication media preferred by the
participants.
Find the Right People, Right Now
With Office Communications Server 2007, users can find the right person, right now
- Allows for immediate, visual representation of Presence
- Presence status can be controlled directly by the user or automatically based on Outlook
calendar, login status, or other sources of information
- Users can individualize access levels for different contacts
-Saves time and improves productivity by ensuring you can reach the right person, rightnow using the optimal method of communication
Click to Communicate within Office Outlook and the Applications You Use Most
Office Communications Server 2007 helps improve users productivity by enabling streamlined
communications from within the applications they use most
- Whether making a phone call right from Outlook or identifying the availability of a
business documents author, users can find who they need and communicate using the
best method- Context and content can be shared right from within the communications experience
- LOB applications can also be extended to access the streamlined, rich communications
capabilities for your users
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Work Together in Real-Time in the Office and on the Road
Office Communications Server 2007 improves users ability to communicatefrom multiple
devices when needed.
- Allows for security enhanced VoIP, IM, and Conferencing on any network without
requiring a secure tunnel (VPN connection) into the corporate network
- Provides access to rich presence and communications capabilities from various devices,
whether your PC, a Windows Mobile device, or via a Web browser.
Deliver VoIP Capabilities That Users Actually Use
Office Communications Server 2007 can deliver software-powered VoIP to the users today.
-Provides high quality VoIP right from within Microsoft Office applications so users cancommunicate with a single click from their PC
- Enables rich communications with other Communicator 2007 users by enhancing a
phone call with IM, video and a subject and other information
- Call management capabilities such as call forwarding, hold, dynamic routing, and
simultaneous ringing on all commonly used phones are easily configured by users
Deliver Advanced Web/Audio/Video Conferencing
Office Communications Server 2007, users get rich Web based conferencing with integrated
audio and video
- Provides a rich experience for ad-hoc collaboration and meetings
- Enables the real-time sharing of documents, applications, and media with integrated
voice and audio
- Meetings easily scheduled from within Outlook and Communicator right from an
active conversation or a meeting request
- Enables external participant access
- Uses the same client as the Office Live Meeting Service for a consistent experience
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OPERATIONAL CONTROL
IT pros face a proportionate increase in security and compliance requirements with the addition
of new vehicles for communication. Both the implementation and ongoing management of
these systems and policies add complexity and support costs.
Office Communications Server 2007 allows for the implementation, management, and
integration of enhanced VoIP, Web conferencing, and IM within a single solution, to provide IT
professionals with the operational control they need to contain costs while delivering valuable
communications services to the business.
Enterprise Class Compliance and Security
Office Communications Server 2007 helps simplify compliance with internal and regulatory
controls by allowing you archive and manage all forms of communications
- Provides a platform for supporting retention policies and to adapt to rapidly changing
communications policies and regulations
- AD-based user authentication
- HTTPS external access with complete media encryption for a more secure
communications from all endpoints across managed and unmanaged networks
- Built in archiving for IM text
-Meeting content archival for Web conferences
- Call detail records stored for VoIP communications
- Ability to restrict user functions, link and document exchange, and external access
according to corporate policy
- Built-in filtering and SPIM control
Professional Grade Reliability and Scale
Office Communications Server 2007 allows the implementation of Enhanced VoIP, presence, IM,
and Web/audio/video conferencing on a platform built for professional use
-Built on a platform with proven scale for enterprise communications on the PC
- Provides IT control over failover, redundancy, and scalability across your organization
- Adaptive audio and video codecs (RTAudio, RTVideo) enable quality of experience on
LANs, WANs, and the Internet without requiring complete network overhauls
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Centralize Provisioning and Simplify Management
Office Communications Server 2007 enables more efficient deployment of innovative
communications technologies
- Built on the Active Directory service for a single user directory for all communications
- Enables provisioning of Presence, software-powered VoIP, Web conferencing, and IM
from a single infrastructure
- Managed and monitored with familiar IT tools like MMC and MOM
- Features can be added together or individual based on the needs and preferences of
your users and organization
- Communications can be federated with other organizations using Office
Communications Server 2007 and public services
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PARTNER ECOSYSTEM
Creating a partner ecosystem for voice endpoints and network infrastructure is a key
component of Microsofts goal to bring software economics to business communications.
Microsoft has created a partner ecosystem that leverages SIP standards and published
interfaces, which provides an open architecture that the worlds leading communications
companies, including Nortel, LG-Nortel, Polycom, Alcatel, Mitel, NEC Philips, and Siemens can
integrate and interoperate with.
The strong ecosystem for IP phones, headsets, USB handsets, voice gateways and other PC
peripherals creates the opportunity for thousands of companies worldwide to integrate VoIP
into their existing infrastructure, and provides the flexibility to work with preferred products
and vendors.
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FEATURES AT A GLANCE
ENTERPRISE IM & CONTACT MANAGEMENT
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Contact Card New Users can easily view detailed information about
their contacts, including a link to their SharePoint
My Site, and immediately start conversations with
them through any of the available communication
options (e.g. IM, call, email).
35
Contact Grouping Improved Users can group their contacts based on the
contacts availability, the contacts presence level,
whether the contact is tagged, or by group.
35
Contact Search-
Users can search for anyone in the global address
list of an organization or their Outlook contacts,
view the results, and continue typing to narrow
the results while viewing the contacts presence.
35
Corporate
Distribution List
Integration
New Users can search corporate distribution lists
alongside individual contacts and can add them to
contact lists, view and converse with list
members.
36
Customized
Contact Groups-
Users can create personal groups to better
organize their contacts.
36
Drag and Drop Improved Users can easily modify their contact lists, initiate
conversations and add additional contacts to
conversations, all using a comprehensive and
intuitive drag-and-drop capability.
37
Emoticons-
Users can convey emotions in IM conversations
using special, expressive characters.
37
File Transfer-
Users can send and receive files from within IM
conversations.
37
Group IM Improved Users can initiate and hold IM conversations with
up to 100 other people, including individuals,user-defined groups, and corporate distribution
groups.
37
Ink IMs-
Users can use a Tablet PC to send handwritten
ink IMs.
38
Integration with
Web ConferencingImproved Users can escalate from an IM conversation to a
web conference.
38
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Missed IM
IndicatorNew Users are notified via an icon when they have
missed IM conversations.
38
Most Recently
Used (MRU)
Contacts
New Users can quickly view the 10 most recent
contacts with which the user has held IM
conversations in a separate, dynamic list.
38
Rich Content inInstant Messages
New Users can choose the font, style, and color of theirIMs and can paste formatted text and pictures
from other applications into their IM
conversations without losing the formatting (e.g.
paste an Excel spreadsheet, bullets from a
PowerPoint slide).
39
Roaming Contact
List-
As contact lists are stored on the server, a user
can log onto different PCs and avoid the effort of
recreating contact lists.
39
Typing
Notification
-
Users can see when a contact in an IM
conversation is currently typing a response.
39
PRESENCE
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Automatic
Presence StatesImproved A users presence state is automatically updated
to In a Meeting based on his personal calendar
stored in Exchange. Users can also choose to
expose additional details about each meeting to
their contacts. A users OOF message is
automatically updated based on his personalcalendar stored in Exchange to contacts that view
the users status additional details about each
meeting to their contacts.
40
Contact Tagging Improved Users can tag contacts to receive a notification
whenever the tagged contacts presence changes.
Tagged contacts have a special indicator and
when the resultant notification appears, the tag
can be removed.
41
Customized
Presence States
New Users can publish presence states that are custom
defined, usually by administrators in anorganization.
42
Do Not Disturb Improved Users can set a Do Not Disturb state that stops
all notifications and incoming communications,
except for those from designated users.
42
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Federated
Presence Indicator
- Users can easily see which of their contacts are
from a federated relationship with another
organization, or with a Public IM network.
42
Rich Presence
States
Improved Users can publish states beyond the usual Online,
Busy, Away, or Offline. They can select Do Not
Disturb, Be Right Back, and customize their notesto provide additional information.
43
Location Display New Users can publish details of their current physical
location.
45
Presence Levels New Users can control what information about
themselves is exposed to their contacts by setting
presence levels (logical groupings of the users
information) for each contact which range from
sharing a lot of information about the user and
their state to blocking contacts.
45
Presence Note New Users can create a custom text note in addition totheir presence to provide contacts with more
details about their current activity and view the
presence notes of other contacts.
46
MULTI-PARTY ON PREMISE CONFERENCING
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Web Conferencing
1:1 Chat New Users can send and receive text messages to each
other.
47
Active Speaker
DetectionNew Users can see the active speaker through an
indicator; if a video stream is also present in the
conference, they can see the active speaker.
47
Alternate
Participation
Location
New Users can choose an alternate location from
which to join a call, e.g. home phone, mobile
phone, SIP phone, or another number.
47
Annotation Users can annotate slides and share themultimedia changes automatically. 48
Anonymous
ParticipantsNew Conferences can be conducted with users who
are inside or outside the firewall, across federated
links or are anonymous.
48
Application
SharingNew Users can share the display and control of an
application with other users.
48
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Audience Polling New Presenters can poll the audience for responses to
specific questions, and instantly share the results.
48
Audio
Conferencing
Provider
Integration
New The audio portion of a web conference can be
conducted using the conferencing services of an
audio conferencing provider and the bridge can
be controlled from the meeting console.
47
Client Side
RecordingNew Using the Live Meeting client, users can create
recordings of meetings as they take place,
including audio and video that may have been
part of the meeting.
49
Dynamic Content
SharingNew Users can share dynamic content such as a
Windows Media file or a Flash resource with
other attendees.
49
Handouts New Participants can share files in their native formats
among meeting participants.
49
Invite AdditionalParticipants
New Conference participants can easily inviteadditional users to an existing conference.
50
Presenter
Conference
Controls
New Conference leaders can lock the conference,
selectively mute or eject participants, or end the
conference.
50
Meeting Security New Meeting organizers can restrict the attendance of
web conferences based on Active Directory
authentication.
50
Multi-Party
Audio/Video
Conferencing in aWeb Conference
New Users can hold 1:1 or multi-party IP audio and
video conversations whilst in a web conference.
50
Questioning New Audience members can add questions to a queue,
and the presenter can respond to them in an
orderly manner.
50
Rich Conference
RosterNew Users can see details about participants, such as
active modes, leader status, and the active
speaker.
51
Microsoft
RoundTable
Integration
New Users can create an immersive meeting
experience with panoramic video and active
speaker detection for meetings with remote
participants by using the Microsoft RoundTable
device in conjunction with the Live Meeting client.
51
Shared Notes New Attendees can share notes with other meeting
participants.
51
Snapshot New Users can share static images of their Desktops. 51
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Static Content
SharingNew Users can share such static content such as a
Word document or a PowerPoint presentation
during a web conference.
51
Web Slide New URLs can be shared with participants in the
meeting and viewed via a browser embedded in
the console.
52
Whiteboard New Users can start a whiteboard session during a web
conference to share ideas or diagrams.
52
Multiparty Audio/Video Conferencing (using Communicator client)
Dial-Out New Users can be dialed out at any PSTN phone
number to join a conference.
52
Escalation to Web
ConferenceNew Users can easily escalate from an IM/audio/video
conversation or conference to a web conference.
53
Leader Conference
Controls
New Conference leaders can selectively mute or eject
participants, and lock or end the conference.
53
Rich Conference
RosterNew Users can see details about participants including
active modes, leader status, and who is the active
speaker.
53
Transition from
1:1 to MultiParty
Conversation
New Users can add participants to a 1:1 conversation
(IM, Voice, Video), automatically transitioning
from a peer-to-peer session to a server based
conference without further configuration.
53
Single-Click
ConferencingNew Users can select a range or group of contacts and
easily initiate an IM, audio, or video conference.
53
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ENHANCED VOIP
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Call Authorization New Only allow authorized users to initiate certain calls
(e.g. international calls).
54
Call Context New Voice calls can be given an importance or a subject
that would be displayed to another Office
Communicator user.
54
Call DeflectNew
Users can deflect (dynamically forward) incoming
voice calls to another device such as a cellular
phone or voicemail.
54
Call EncryptionsNew
Calls can be encrypted to help ensure privacy
(SRTP).
54
Call Forwarding New Users can forward calls using rules (e.g. all calls, iftheres no answer, based on presence, based on
Outlook working hours).
55
Call HoldNew
Users can put calls on hold and then retrieve them
from hold.
55
Call LogsNew
Maintain call logs for incoming, outgoing or recent
calls.
55
Call Sensitivity
ControlNew
Users can control the sensitivity of calls, preventing
others from being added to the call.
55
Call TransferNew
Users can transfer calls either using single-step or
consultative transfer.
56
Call WaitingNew
When on a call, users are notified of any waiting
calls.
56
Click to CallNew
Users can initiate calls directly from existing address
lists or other applications where presence
information is shown.
56
Conference CallNew
Users can initiate multi-party calls or dial out from
an existing call to include other contacts. Thesecalls can be initiated on ad-hoc basis or can be
scheduled using an Outlook add-in.
57
DTMF Digit
GenerationNew
Users can use a dial pad to generate DTMF digits
whilst on a call (for example, to navigate touch tone
interfaces).
57
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Inbound and
Outbound CallingNew
Users can make and receive voice calls from their PC
to another PC or to and from a regular PSTN
telephone number.
58
Multiple CallNew
Whilst on one call, a user can initiate a second call
and the first is automatically put on hold.
58
Reverse Number
LookupNew
When an incoming call is received from the PSTN,
the number is compared with those in the corporate
address list and the users Outlook contacts. If a
match is found, the contacts name is displayed.
58
Simultaneous Ring
(aka Call Forking)New
A call can simultaneously ring all registered
endpoints plus an internal, external, or mobile
phone number.
59
Unified Messaging
IntegrationNew
Unified messaging capability from Exchange Server
2007 can be integrated.
59
USB Device
Integration for
Voice Calls
NewCommunicator is designed to integrate with USB
devices to provide a rich calling experience. This
includes interacting with the state of hook-switches,
advanced audio configuration options and
displaying call information on devices with a display.
59
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OFFICE INTEGRATION
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Conference
Scheduling via
Outlook
New Users can create a meeting request in Outlook,
and choose to make it an audio, video, web, or
PSTN conference
60
Contextual Integrated
PresenceImproved Throughout the 2007 Office System, information
about users presence is displayed using icons
consistent with those found in the Communicator
client. Whenever these icons are displayed a drop
down menu can be accessed which provide a
variety of communications options including the
ability to initiate an Instant Message or a Voice
call.
61
Conversation History
Stored in OutlookNew Users can save and view a history of all their
conversations, through any communication
method, in Outlook. If a user made notes in
OneNote related to a particular conversation, a
link to those notes is also stored in the
conversation history.
61
Missed Conversations
Search Folder in
Exchange/Outlook
New Users can see all their missed conversations from
any communication method in Outlook
61
OneNote Integration New Users can initiate OneNote during a phone call tomake notes, and automatically populate the page
with the names of the contacts in the call.
Conversation histories stored in Outlook can link
to OneNote pages.
62
Reply to Email with
Real Time
Communication
New Users can easily initiate conversations with
contacts from the Outlook 2007 ribbon and from
within emails. If a conversation is initiated from an
email, the subject of the email is automatically
applied as the subject of the conversation
63
Reply to Email withVoice Call
New Users can easily reply to email messages with avoice call (to a PC or to a phone) directly from
Outlook.
63
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DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT, AND ADMINISTRATION
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Anywhere Access New Protocols under the ICE framework and edge
server roles allow the deployment of OfficeCommunications Server to enable users to access
all forms of rich media no matter where they are
(e.g. hotel, office) without having to establish a
VPN connection.
64
Archiving-
Archive IM conversations for regulatory
compliance, legal discovery rules, and internal
records
64
Automatic Server
Location-
Users home server can be automatically located
with the sign-in name.
64
Call Authorization New Controls to restrict access to certain numbers, e.g.
international calls.
64
CDR New Call Detail Records (CDRs) provide a way to collect
both IM and meeting data, and generate reports
on usage characteristics.
65
Client GPO Support Improved Configure OCS client using Group Policy Objects
(GPO).
65
Client Version Check New Control and restrict which OCS client versions can
connect to the server.
65
Communicator Web
AccessImproved Access the features of OCS remotely via an AJAX
client on a web browser.
69
Customize Action
MenuNew Administrators can extend Action Menu to include
custom actions such as launching a user-specific
application.
65
Customize Help Menu-
Administrators can define custom help links for
users.
66
Administrative
DelegationNew Administrators can set permissions at various
hierarchical levels inside the OCS administrative
interface to allow for delegation of control.
64
In-Band Provisioning Improved Distribute settings to OC clients centrally and
synchronously.
66
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Intelligent IM Filtering Improved Specific content can be filtered from IM messages,
such as blocking file transfers of certain
extensions.
66
Least Cost Routing New Automatically route calls to the optimal gateway
to avoid call tolls.
66
Local Dial Plans New Calls will take local dial plans into account, and
integrate with PBX dial plans for calls routed
through the PBX.
66
Microsoft
Management Console
(MMC)
Improved Manage users, servers, and global settings easily
using MMC.
67
MOM-Based
Management (MOM
Pack)
Improved OCS-specific MOM pack for robust and central
performance monitoring.
67
Multiple Points of
Presence-
Users can be logged into multiple devices
simultaneously.
67
Redundancy and
FailoverImproved The different roles of OCS can be deployed on
multiple servers at the same time: if one server
fails, another one can take over. This helps to
eliminate single points of failure. When used with
SQL Server to provide the back-end database,
clustering can be used to ensure that in the event
of a hardware or software failure, service to usersis not interrupted.
67
Roaming
Configuration OptionsImproved User settings are automatically migrated from the
desktop to other endpoints.
67
Scalable Deployment
OptionsImproved Via a range of different configuration options,
Communications Server allows for more servers to
be added to a deployment to meet the needs
customers have for scale.
68
Secure Federated
CommunicationImproved Communicate more securely and share presence
with users in other organizations and on public IM
networks.
68
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COMMUNICATOR WEB ACC ESS COMPARATIVE TABLE
Feature Communicator
2007
Communicator
Web Access
Zero-Download
Browser based Ajax
application
Non-Windows
Compatible
Web AJAX API
Rich presence
IM
IM Conferencing
Federation
PIC
Call Forwarding Rules
Notification Alerts
Toast Call Deflection
Web UI Controls
Audio/Video
Conferencing
VoIP Soft-Phone
Windows-Based API
For more information on the web access interface of Office Communicator, please see page69.
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MICROSOFT OFFICE COMMUNICATOR MOBILE 2007
Core capabilities of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007
Rich Presence
Instant Messaging, multi-party IM
Enterprise address book search
Similar call handling control functionality to Office Communicator
Optimized on-the-wire traffic for mobile environments
Works with OCS 2007 with no infrastructure changes
EXTENSIBILITY AND APIS
OFFICE COMMUNICATION SERVER
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Unified
CommunicationsManaged API
New Managed API for creating and deploying highly
scalable real time communications applications.
-
COMMUNICATOR WEB ACCESS
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
Communicator
Web Access AJAX
Service
Improved An AJAX service on the Web Server that can be used
to build cross platform Web clients or
Communicator functionality into web basedapplications.
-
CWA JavaScript
LibrariesImproved Libraries that allow developers to integrate
Communicator Web Access functionality into their
Web apps
-
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OFFICE COMMUNICATOR
Feature New /
Improved
Description Page
ActiveX Controls in
TabsNew Tabs can be extended with ActiveX controls -
Tabs for Call Data New Tabs can be extended to include data and
information related to the current call (e.g. for
billing applications).
69
Customize Help
ContentImproved Surfacing custom help menu on OC UI (restricted to
intranet of secure zone URLs)
-
Customize
PresenceNew APIs to define, set and access granular presence
states with admin level control
-
Tabs in
Conversation
Windows
NewExtensible conversation window, which can host
applications as well as controls whereby the URL to
host is sent in a SIP INFO message
70
Extensible Actions
MenuNew Allows to plugging in LOB applications menu items
that can be invoked depending on the context of
the task on which the employee is collaborating.
70
Automation API New Allows other Windows applications access to all
capabilities of Communicator from within those
other applications. An employee does not need to
leave the application to invoke Communicator
functionality.
71
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REVIEWING OFFICE COMMUNICATION SERVER 2007 AND OFFICE COMMUNICATOR
2007
ENHANCED ENTERPRISE IM & CONTACT MANAGEMENT
CONTACT CARD
In Office Communicator 2007, the contact card replaces the Communicator 2005 details pane.
The contact card provides important information about a contact and acts as a launch point for
key tasks, such as sending an email message to the contact or viewing the persons SharePoint
mysite.
A persons contact card provides details about thecontacts availability and activity. Depending on the
access level that a contact has granted a particular
user, he/she can see details of the contacts schedule
as well as any personal note the contact has written.
The contact card also provides a launch point for
connecting with another contact, including the ability to start an instant messaging session, call
the contact, schedule a meeting, email the contact, or share a SharePoint link.
CONTACT GROUPING
Users can choose to group their contacts in a variety of ways. This includes having them
organized into groups (user-defined or from the corporate directory) or by the contacts
availability, presence level or whether or not they are tagged.
CONTACT SEARCH
Communicator provides a search text box that you can use to locate contacts or distribution
lists searching a variety of fields in the directory. Communicator searches Active Directory and
Outlook contacts if Outlook is configured as the personal information manager for
Communicator. It searches the Windows Address Book if the Address Book is configured as the
personal information manager. While searching, the user can view the effects and continue
typing to narrow the results, speeding up the process. Once a contact or group is found in the
search, the user can view the presence and choose to add the contact or group to their own
contact list, or start a conversation with the group or individual contact.
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CORPORATE DISTRIBUTION LIST INTEGRATION
The feature allows the users to search for corporate
distribution lists along with individual contacts and
then add them to their contact lists, view their
members, and start conversations with one or more
of their members.
Corporate Distribution integration provides:
Integration with company distribution lists
(Exchange DG in the corporate directory)
Elimination of the need to create groups
manually to mirror DGs
The ability to either add the group to the
contact list or use it in real-time to start
communications.
CUSTOMIZED CONTACT GROUPS
As well as being able to use corporate distribution lists inside Office Communicator, users can
continue to create their own personal groupings of contacts. This might be for ad-hoc groups
of people across an organization, or perhaps for federated contacts from other organizations or
public IM providers.
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DRAG AND DROP
Drag and Drop capabilities are provided through a number of different Office Communicator
scenarios. Drag and Drop can be used to manage contact lists, initiate conversations and add
people to conferences, for instance, when users want to go from a 1:1 IM, Voice or Video
conversation to a multiparty conference. The user only has to drag the additional participants
into the conversation window, and a multi-party session is automatically initiated.
EMOTICONS
In Office Communicator 2007 users can use
smiley, frowning faces and other expressive
images to represent an emotion. These
symbols are called emoticons, and can be
inserted to add a more personal touch to the
instant message and convey more emotion
than text alone
FILE TRANSFER
Within an IM conversation, users can transfer documents by simply right-clicking on the
contacts username and selecting Send a File. The recipient can accept the transfer to save
the file locally, and either user can cancel the file transfer at any time.
GROUP IM
In the latest version of Office Communications Server 2007, the users can initiate and hold IM
conversations with up to 100 other people, including individuals, user-defined groups, and
corporate distribution groups.
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This allows users to easily start a conversation with multiple people or to add people to an
existing conversation.
With the new Distribution List integration feature, users can add Microsoft Exchange Server
distribution lists as contacts. Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client allows expansion of
distribution lists through a Web service exposed on the server. This expansion allows users to
invite one or more individual members of the group to an IM session. Although groups of up to
1000 members can be expanded, IM sessions can include no more than 100 members.
INK IMS
Tablet PC users can use ink for Instant Messages, without having to change to a different
input method for this type of communication.
INTEGRATION WITH WEB CONFERENCING
When in a conversation, users can escalate to a web conference (hosted either by the web
conferencing capabilities of Office Communications Server 2007 or by the Office Live Meeting
service) at the click of a button. All participants in the conversation can then be automatically
added to the web conference, where they can take advantage of web conferencing capabilities
to continue their communication.
MISSED IM INDICATOR
If users receive an IM when they are not at their PC, they are notified of this by an icon in Office
Communicator, and if configured, by a copy of the missed IM in their Outlook mailbox.
MOST RECENTLY USED (MRU) CONTACTS
The Office Communicator contact list has a special group called recent contacts, which is
dynamically constructed out of the last ten users with whom the user has had a conversation.
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RICH CONTENT IN INSTANT MESSAGES
Users can choose the font, style, and color of their IMs and
paste formatted text and pictures from other applications
into their IM conversations without losing the formatting(e.g. paste an Excel spreadsheet, bullets from a PowerPoint
slide).
In addition, users can specify font type and font
characteristics, such as bold, underline, italics, and color.
Users can also insert emoticons, or information copied
from other Microsoft Office applications. Material copied
from applications such as Word and Excel retains
formatting, making it easier to share information.
ROAMING CONTACT LIST
When a user connects using Office Communicator, using any PC, their contact list will
automatically roam around with them, avoiding the user needing to recreate the contact list.
TYPING NOTIFICATION
Users can see when a contact in an IM conversation is currently typing an IM, lending a more
natural flow to the interaction.
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PRESENCE
AUTOMATIC PRESENCE STATES
Office Communicator 2007 automatically updates the
presence state of a user to accurately reflect what that
user is doing. This is done by aggregating information from
various sources which include the users calendar, their Out
of Office OOF message, and status of their PBX phone(if
integrated) or whether or not they are involved in a voice
or video conversation. These states are fairly granular,
making distinctions between, for instance, whether a user
has just blocked off time in their calendar to work on
something (shown as Busy), or whether the calendar
entry is a meeting with invited attendees (shown as In a
Meeting). This approach is also applied to voice
conversations, differentiating between a 1:1 conversation
(In a Call) and a conversation with more than two people
(In a Conference). Additional information about the
details of a meeting can be revealed to contacts assigned
to the appropriate presence level (specifically Team for this case).
The detail and amount of presence information displayed are dependent on the access level
setting of each contact. When a user adds a new contact to the contact list, an alert appears on
the new contacts desktop. The person being added can then set the level of presence
information he/she would like to make available to other users, and can also add the person to
their own contact list.
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CONTACT TAGGING
Tagging allows the users to tag contacts so they will receive a notification whenever the
tagged contact becomes available or signs out. Contacts that a user has tagged have an icon
displayed next to them in the contact list. When the resultant alert appears, this shows details
about the contact including the contacts name and title and presencestatus. By clicking on the
alert, the user can start communicating with the person and edit the tag.
This feature provides easy communications management, enabling the user to receive instant
notifications on status changes instead of requiring the user to repeatedly monitor the status
his/herself.
It is also possible to tag inside other Office applications wherever the users presence is shown,
without having to go into Communicator 2007.
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CUSTOMIZED PRESENCE STATES
Administrators can now define customized presence states in Communicator
2007which are specific to their organization, such as In a Client Consultation
or In Court. This allows users to provide more relevant information about
their state to others.
DO NOT DISTURB
Users can set a Do Not Disturb state that stops all notifications
and incoming communications except for those from users assigned
to the Team presence level. This presence state allows the user to
communicate that they are in their least interruptible state and will
actually block messages from being received from all contacts
except those assigned to the team presence state.
FEDERATED PRESENCE INDICATOR
Office Communications Server 2007 provides support for working with contacts that are
located outside your enterprise. This connection between organizations is called federation.
Federated contacts can be any of the following:
Individuals within one organization that has a federated relationship with another
enterprise.
Individuals connected to a public instant messaging service (e.g. AOL, Windows Live, and
Yahoo).
In all these cases, an indicator shows that the contact is form a federatedrelationship with another
organization, or with a Public IM network.
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RICH PRESENCE STATES
With Flexible Presence States the enterprise users can publish states beyond the usual
Online, Busy, Away, or Offline. They can select Do Not Disturb, Be Right Back, and
customize their notes to provide additional information.
Presence status is indicated graphically by an indicator to the left and a text string to the right
of the contactsname. Some presence states can be set either by the user or by Office
Communicator; other presence states can only be set by Office Communicator (such as
indicating that a user is in a voice conversation). This release of Office Communicator also
introduces the concept of releasing information about a contacts ability to communicate; thus
if a contact is in a meeting but not interacting with their PC, that will be indicated via the
presence indicator. Further details on these states are displayed below.
Table 1 describes each presence indicator and the accompanying status text.
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Table 1 Presence states set by the user or by Communicator
Icon Status Text Description
AvailableThe contact is online and can participate in conversations. Can be set manually by
the user.
Busy
In a Call
In aConference
In aMeeting
The contact is available but engaged in another activity. Activities include:
In a Call The contact is in a phone, voice, or video conversation.
In a Conference The contact is in a multiparty conversation using phone, voice,video, or application sharing.
In a Meeting The Office Outlook calendar shows that the contact has ascheduled meeting.
This presence level can also be set manually by the user.
Do NotDisturb
The contact is available but does not want to be interrupted. This status is displayedfor the following reasons:
The contact has manually set his or her presence status to Do Not Disturb.
The contact is displaying a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation or isrunning another program in full-screen mode.
Away The contact is probably not available. This status is displayed for the followingreasons:
The contacts computer has been idle for more than the idle time period setting15 minutes by default.
The contacts Office Outlook calendar or Out of Office Assistant indicates that heor she is out of the office.
The contact is temporarily unavailable. As soon as activity is detected on thecontacts computer, Communicator 2007 automatically resets the presence statusto the appropriate state.
The contact has manually set his or her presence status to Away.
Inactive This contact may be available, but their computer has been idle for more than theidle time period setting five minutes by default. Status set by Communicator.
Inactive This contact is engaged in another activity, but their computer has been inactive forthe idle time period setting 15 minutes by default. Status set by Communicator.
Offline The contact is not available. This status is displayed for the following reasons:
The contact has manually set his or her presence status to Appear Offline.
Communicator 2007 is not running on the contacts computer, or the contact hasnot signed in.
The contact has blocked you from seeing his or her presence status.
Presenceunknown
Communicator 2007 cannot determine the status of the contact. This status is usuallydisplayed because the contacts presence status is stored in another computersystem, such as that of an organization that is not a federated partner.
Offline This indicator is displayed in your contact list next to the name you have blocked. Tothe person you have blocked, you appear to be offline.
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LOCATION DISPLAY
Users can now set a location (such as Office, Home or
a custom defined location) to inform other contacts of
their location. This information is only shared with
contacts with the appropriate presence level.
PRESENCE LEVELS
Office Communicator exposes the concept of
presence levels to users. This allows a user to
control how much information about their current
state another user can see, whether by blocking
contacts or exposing detailed information. The
screenshot shown here describes these different
levels. Each
presence
level is bydesign
associated
with a
particular
amount of
informatio
n about a user. Contacts assigned to one level might
see only the users name, job title, company, and
email address, while contacts assigned to anothermight see the users home and mobile phone numbers.
Users control this by assigning people on their contact list to one of the different levels. The
assigned level can be changed at any time. When a user adds a contact to their contact list, this
contact receives a prompt (shown in the screenshot) allowing them to choose that presence
level at that time.
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PRESENCE NOTE
A user can create a custom text note to provide contacts with more details about their current
activity and view the presence notes of other contacts.
The user simply has to click under his/her name and type a note that other users can see by
hovering over the users name in their contact list.
The user can remove the note by simply deleting the message.
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MULTI-PARTY ON PREMISE CONFERENCING
WEB CONFERENCING
1:1 CHAT
When participating in a Web Conference, users have the ability to have a 1:1 chat with any
other individual who is in the meeting allowing them to clarify information or ask a relevant
question without disturbing the flow of the meeting.
ACTIVE SPEAKER DETECTION
When video is integrated into a web conferencing session, users will see an image of the person
who is actively speaking displayed in the video window. The A/V MCU detects who is
speaking and then sends the appropriate video stream to all participants with video enabled.
ALTERNATE PARTICIPATION LOCATION
When participating in the audio portion of a web conference, users can choose an alternate
location from which to join a call, i.e. home phone, mobile phone, or another phone number.
AUDIO CONFERENCING PROVIDER INTEGRATION
The audio portion of a web conference can be conducted using the conferencing services of an
audio conferencing provider. This audio bridge can then be controlled from the meeting
console allowing the leader to mute or eject people.
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AUDIENCE POLLING
Presenters can display a poll to the attendees in a web conference, see the results of that poll in
real-time and share those results with the attendees.
Polls allow presenters to receive instant feedback from their audience in real-time. Polls can becreated in advance using Microsoft PowerPoint or during the meeting by clicking the poll
button. The poll will be instantly displayed or hidden (based on the presenters preference) and
audience votes are tallied dynamically. At the end of the session a polling report can show how
specific individuals voted as well as aggregate totals.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULING VIA OUTLOOK
As well as being able to initiate a web conference on an ad-hoc basis, users can also schedule a
conference directly from Outlook using an add-in. When other users can join the conference by
clicking the link inside the emailed conference invitation.
CLIENT SIDE RECORDING
Using the Live Meeting client, users can create recordings of meetings as they take place.
These recordings include all content shared inside the meeting, including audio and video
streams.
DYNAMIC CONTENT SHARING
Attendees of a web meeting can also share dynamic content, such as a Windows Media files or
a Flash resources, with a very simple upload and play process.
HANDOUTS
A meeting presenter can upload and share files between meeting participants. These files can
then be easily viewed in their native format.
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INVITE ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS
When a web conference is in progress, more attendees can easily be invited to join unless the
leader has locked the conference.
PRESENTER CONFERENCE CONTROLS
Conference leaders have a set of additional controls for the conference in progress. They can
lock the conference, selectively mute or eject participants, or end the conference, thus
removing all participants from the meeting.
MEETING SECURITY
Meeting organizers can restrict the attendance of web conferences based on Active Directory
authentication. All messaging and media are encrypted.
MULTI-PARTY AUDIO/VIDEO CONFERENCING IN A WEB CONFERENCE
During a web conference, multi-party audio and video can be provided, using the Audio/Video
MCU supplied with Office Communications Server or potentially an MCU from an independentsoftware vendor (ISV). When using the Communications Server MCU, Active Speaker
Detection ensures that all participants can hear each other speak: the MCU detects which
participant is speaking and then sends an image of this participant to all others in the
conference. Alternative layouts may be available if an alternate MCU is used.
QUESTIONING
Audience members can add questions to a queue, and a presenter can respond to them in an
orderly manner using the Question Manager. Presenter can answer the questions in private
(just to the person who asks the question) or publicly (to everyone).
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RICH CONFERENCE ROSTER
The conference roster provides information about who is participating in the conference, how
each user is participating (connection method, audio/video capabilities), and identifies the
leader and active speaker.
MICROSOFT ROUNDTABLE INTEGRATION
Users can create an immersive meeting experience with 360 panoramic video for meetings
with remote participants by using the Microsoft RoundTable device in conjunction with the Live
Meeting client. When this device is used, remote participants see a rectangular panoramic
video display showing all of the participants in the room where the Microsoft RoundTable
device is located, and an enlarged view of the individual currently speaking. The participants in
the room with the Microsoft RoundTable will see the image of the remote participant if they
are the active speaker and have a webcam. If another Microsoft RoundTable device is part of
the meeting, then the panoramic video from that room will also be displayed. These panoramic
video displays will also be included in any recordings.
SHARED NOTES
During a meeting, attendees have the ability to share notes with other participants, noteswhich can be used to make meeting notes or to record action items.
SNAPSHOT
If a presenter wanted to share a particular part of an application on their PC, they can take a
snapshot of the area and display this to all other meeting participants.
STATIC CONTENT SHARING
When in a meeting, users can share static content such as a Word document or a PowerPoint
presentation. If a PowerPoint presentation is being shared, full support is provided for any
animations included in the presentation.
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WHITEBOARDING
Users can start a whiteboard session during a web conference to share ideas or diagrams.
Changes to the whiteboard are automatically displayed and the contributor identified.
A whiteboard is a blank page that allows presenters to draw, add text, and highlightinformation by using the annotation tools. For example, organizers can quickly create a flow
chart to illustrate a point, insert a whiteboard and then use the annotation tools to draw
squares, lines, and a host of other figures. The slide can be saved for future reference. In
addition, new enhancements will add the ability to cut and paste, modify line or object
attributes, employ right-click menus, customize with advanced text tools, use smarter selection
model and grouping, and will allow the use of flow chart tools.
WEB SLIDES
The URL for a website can be shared with participants in the meeting which they can view via a
browser embedded in the console.
Web slides lets presenters take their audience to any live Web site on the Internet to give tours,
point attendees toward surveys or online information. Each attendee can independently click
on links, fill out forms, or use interactive media. Organizers can preview and add web slides to
presentations quickly and easily, just by entering the address of the Web site (URL).
MULTI-PARTY AUDIO/VIDEO CONFERENCING
This section refers to features available when conducting an audio or video conference from
the Office Communicator client.
DIAL OUT
If a user wants to join an audio conference using a telephone rather than their PC, they can
choose to be reached at a convenient number using the dial out capability.
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SINGLE-CLICK CONFERENCING
Users can select a range of contacts, or a group from
their contact list or another Office application. audio
conference with those users which could easily havevideo included too.
TRANSITION FORM 1:1 TO MULTI-PARTY
CONVERSATION
Users enjoy seamless transition from 1:1
conversation to multi-party conversation.
When users are in a 1:1 conversation (IM, voice,
video) and add one or more additional participants,the conversation is automatically transitioned from a
peer-to-peer session to a server-based conference.
This is done seamlessly from the perspective of the
user, leaving them with a consistent experience.
RICH CONFERENCE ROSTER
Users can see details about participants in a conference, includin