sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Outlook 2007 ip phone system.

I heard a nasty roomer today.

The new Outlook 2007 enterprise edition was going to have the ability to function as a VOIP system.

I have not had a chance to verify this but has anyone heard anything on it.

It sound like we are going to be getting a lot of IT pros trying to setup a phone switch.

Brian.

Shamelessly ripped off from the TMC net website...


"Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
June 26, 2006
On May 30th, I speculated that Windows Live Meeting 2006 was coming - the next version after Windows Live Meeting 2005. I was close -- Microsoft actually "skipped a year" and released Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, a unified communications client that works in tandem with Office Communications Server 2007, which was also announced today. This solution delivers a presence-based, enterprise VoIP “softphone” for secure, enterprise-grade instant messaging that allows for intercompany federation and connectivity to public instant messaging networks such as MSN, AOL and Yahoo! It also enables one-to-one and multiparty videoconferencing, audioconferencing, and webconferencing. Office Communicator 2007 will be available in desktop, browser-based and Windows Mobile-based versions.

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standards-based protocol to enable presence-based VoIP call management, as well as VoIP communication. Unfortunately, it appears as though this solution is strictly targetting the enterprise and completely ignoring the consumer market. Although it does support SIP, it will not support all SIP based VoIP networks, but instead only connect to Microsoft's proprietary (and commercial) Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 platform.

Sure, Microsoft has partnered with public instant messaging networks such as AOL and Yahoo! to offer IM connectivity, but what if I want to have my employees use my own SIP registrar server or SIP-based IP-PBX in combination with just the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client? Unfortunately, you can't. Stupid Microsoft does it again… When will they get it that with so many open-source solutions out there you can't get away with this proprietary stuff - proprietary solutions are so 1990s. Perhaps Microsoft should go read my recent perfect unified communications client article?

Although the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client CAN connect to an IP-PBX, it has to FIRST go through Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 as an intermediary. I should point out that Microsoft's smartphones (Windows Mobile 5.0) has still been fairly slow to take off as compared to Treo and other smartphones, which are often used for business applications such as email access. If Microsoft wanted to give its smartphones a shot in the arm, Microsoft should have included support in the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client client for ANY SIP-based IP-PBX without the need for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 platform. Sure, it's nice to have all the tight integration and ease of management, but hasn't Microsoft realized that most organizations are not 100% Microsoft shops? What if I want to use Microsoft's client with the popular Asterisk IP-PBX and without the commercial Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 software? Can't do it.

But if you are a 100% Microsoft shop - or at least your communications servers are - then here's what you get with today's announcement. First, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging will make it possible to view voicemail from traditonal PBXs and IP-PBXs in an Outlook inbox. Microsoft demonstrated an application where a user late for a meeting that is scheduled in an Outlook calendar can phone the Exchange server and tell the system to notify other participants that he or she is running late. The system, using voice recognition to interpret the message generated an e-mail notification. Another application is TTS (text-to-speech), which will enable users to have e-mail read to them by telephone. Of course, this is nothing new to the Asterisk community, which can even have the weather read to you.

Another application is Microsoft Office RoundTable, an audio-video collaboration device with a unique 360-degree camera. When combined with Office Communications Server 2007, according to Microsoft, "RoundTable delivers an immersive conferencing experience that extends the meeting environment across multiple locations. Meeting participants on site and in remote locations gain a panoramic view of everyone in the conference room as well as close-up views of individual participants as they take turns speaking."

Microsoft launched joint ventures with Motorola Inc. and Germany's Siemens AG. Microsoft will supply its Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for use in Motorola HC700 series mobile computing devices and the new sexy Motorola Q smart phone. Also, Siemens HiPath 8000 softswitch real-time telephony will be integrated with Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is scheduled to be released in late 2006 or early 2007. Microsoft Speech Server 2007 will be available in late 2006. Communications Server 2007, Communicator 2007, Communicator phone experience, Live Meeting, RoundTable and the IP-enabled business desktop phones featuring Communicator phone experience will complete Microsoft’s unified communications solutions and are scheduled to be available in the second quarter of 2007."

I looked at a demo of this system recently. The new server software requires 64 bit hardware which will keep IT guys (like me) out of the phone game for a while until new hardware purchases are in the budget. The unified messaging features are pretty slick. I'll be installing it on a test basis in a new office in the next 90 days or so, so we'll see. I'm planning to spend around $Xk to handle approx. 20 users and bring the email hosting in house.

price edited out. No pricing in the open forum.

We tend to shy away from posting prices to prevent price flaming wars. That price is higher than many standard UM servers can do today for over double the users.

In five years or less IP Phone system will be dirt cheap. 100 user software with tech support from china for 49.95. In fact you wont even need an IP phone. Just your cell phone when your away from your computer.

Who is in my instant messaging group on line same idea with group features of a phone system. I even bet the phone companies sell off all their old copper lines and switches to someone else to run for basic service in most of the rural areas of America like what is happening now in Northern New England.

Old switches of the past connect numbers,wires and subscribers. Networks now connect anything. Will there be secure and unsecured network levels for the type of subscriber service that you feel comfortable with? Will the network become fragmented with performance levels of security for a given price? Basic phone service came long before the internet what comes long after the basic internet?

Good points Station Specialties.

Gives people good things to think about.

Thanks ALL One, A bit consuming but it's an interest of any phone guy who had to spend hours to make sense out of old 1a2 key and then Japanese phone system manuals when key systems had no displays and now we have wonder what is next. All in a relatively short time of 25 or so years.

Things are now moving along 10 fold every few years and maybe Alexander Bell envisioned this.

Why is it that we are most dependent on our current electronic evolution. We are now in the Ga-git Era and it is all quite addictive technology that somehow is going to improve our life if not control it.