Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 provides an effective way for an IT pro to gain control of their organization's communications while delivering streamlined capabilities with a professional-grade server infrastructure. Taking advantage of the extensibility features of Office Communications Server 2007 allows organizations the flexibility to deliver compelling solutions to their users. IT pros also benefit by building their communications platform on a familiar infrastructure, common management tools, and a server architecture that provides the security and compliance control they need.
Centralize Provisioning and Simplify Management
Office Communications Server uses standard protocols and an architecture that includes "edge" server roles and media relay functionality to allow users to experience "anywhere access" to all of the communications types offered by the solution without requiring a VPN connection back to the corporate network.
Office Communications Server In-Band Provisioning allows for central configuration for a number of user options. These are then sent to the client "in-band" at sign-in and cannot be overridden by the user, which allows detailed control of what a user can do.
If customers have multiple VoIP gateways deployed in their organization, Least-Cost Routing can help ensure that calls are terminated to the PSTN in the location that will allow for the lowest termination cost.
All administration of Office Communications Server is carried out through an MMC snap-in, in common with other Microsoft products.
Office Communications Server has a specific Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) pack to make operational monitoring of the server as easy as possible.
Help Enable Enterprise-Class Compliance and Security for All Your Communications
Authorization controls restrict access to certain numbers, such as only local calls.
Office Communications Server has archiving functionality so that IM conversations can be saved in a SQL database to help meet compliance regulations, legal discovery rules, and internal record-keeping requirements.
Office Communications Server can produce Call Detail Records (CDRs), which provide administrators with a way to collect data on IM, conferencing (Web and audio/video), and voice calling.
Specific content can be filtered from IM messages, such as blocking file transfers of certain extensions, including meeting handouts for conferencing.
As well as allowing users to communicate with other users inside one organization, Office Communications Server provides the ability to more securely share presence information and communicate with users in other organizations, and those connected to public IM networks.
Provide Professional-Grade Reliability and Scale
Office Communications Server can be deployed with many components installed on the same physical server in smaller environments where few servers are required, or it can be scaled out.
In addition to the high availability that the architecture of Office Communications Server can provide, administrators are also provided with the flexibility to dedicate certain servers to perform discrete functions, such as audio/video conferencing or Web conferencing.
Adaptive audio and video codecs (RTAudio, RTVideo) allow quality of experience on LANs, WANs, and the Internet without requiring complete network overhauls.
Co-Existence Scenario
Co-existence is when an incoming call is forked between the PBX phone and the user's logged-in Office Communicator endpoints. Both the PBX phone and Office Communicator "co-exist" on the user's desktop.
To keep the features of PBX and enjoy the streamlined communication capabilities of Office Communications Server, add Office Communications Server software-powered VoIP to some or all users. Then configure call routing on the qualified IP-PBX between the user's legacy phone and Office Communicator.
Standalone Scenario
In the standalone scenario, various users within an organization replace their legacy phones with Office Communicator or an Office Communications Server IP phone. This way, users who are configured to use Office Communications Server will make and receive calls with Office Communicator, and users who are configured to use the PBX will make and receive calls using the PBX. Each group continues to have a smooth calling experience, including extension-based dialing capability. This scenario works especially well for mobile employees.
Implementation
Either scenario is implemented using products qualified under the Open Interoperability Program.
The standalone scenario can be implemented using either a SIP/PSTN gateway or a direct SIP connection to the PBX. The co-existence scenario is implemented using a specification called Dual Forking, and can be deployed with or without Remote Call Control (RCC).
Remote Call Control, first made available as a part of Office Live Communications Server 2005, continues to be supported with Office Communications Server 2007 R2. RCC allows Office Communicator 2007 to control a user's PBX phone line and indicate their presence based on the status of their phone. Users can answer their PBX phone with Office Communicator and update their presence to "In a Call." Although you can deploy RCC outside of the co-existence scenario, end-users lose many capabilities of Office Communicator, including robust media support and many remote-worker features.
