| What is unified communications? |
| The communications divide |
| Microsoft has a better way: use software |
| Tearing down communications barriers |
Microsoft unified communications technologies offer customers choices in how their communications and collaboration software is delivered, managed, and maintained:
By uniting your existing communication systems and tools:
With the productivity tools your people use every day:
Using integrated servers plus services and client applications:
To deliver complete communications tools:
And delivers them across multiple convenient applications and devices:
The communications world is split in two—between the things you do on the telephone and the things you do on the computer.
The split exists because most real-time (synchronous) communications--like telephone calls and voice mail--depend on one network, while message based (asynchronous) communications--like e-mail--depend on a separate, incompatible network.
Real-time (synchronous) communications run on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Asynchronous communications run on packet-based networks like Ethernet (IP).
The split creates problems, lots of them. Phones aren't as intuitive as they should be: just try to start a three-way call without hanging up on someone. Computers can check your e-mail, but not your voice mail. And then there's the enormous cost of purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading two complex infrastructures.
To get your phones and your computers talking, you'd have to tear out your entire telephone system, dump your PBX, replace every desk phone, swap out every phone jack. In short, you'd have to start from scratch.
Microsoft unified communications technologies bridge the divide between computers and telephones with two integrated servers: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. They integrate with your company's existing phone system and deliver complete communications services using your existing data network.
No forklift required: Microsoft unified communications technologies maximize your existing infrastructure by integrating legacy PBX systems through a VoIP/PBX gateway.
With Microsoft unified communications technologies, the computers on your network gain the functionality of advanced VoIP phones. Users can click to call any contact in their address book. A simple phone call can become a conference call or a video conference, on the fly.
Microsoft unified communications technologies tear down the walls that separate tele-communications and computing. And they do it with software that leverages your existing telecommunications infrastructure.
Microsoft unified communications technologies are more than just VoIP. They break down all the traditional communications silos. Voice-mail and faxes move over the network like e-mail. They arrive in your Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 inbox where you can sort, prioritize, and forward them, just like any piece of e-mail.
And when you're on the road, you can dial in over any telephone to hear your e-mails and your calendars. You can even access your Microsoft Office Outlook directory and place calls from any telephone.