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MS Office Live Communications Server 2005: Unifying IP Telephony
TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist
Microsoft has been integrating business desktop phones with the rich collaboration environment on the PC to then allow customers to more effectively communicate in real time. Microsoft is working with this group of companies to enable SIP-based interoperability between voice communications systems and Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 and Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile, the PC and mobile phone unified communications clients for Live Communications Server. The systems will enable business customers to launch and answer PBX and IP-PBX phone calls and view phone presence state from within Office Communicator. They will also allow customers to switch back and forth seamlessly between instant messaging (IM) and voice sessions.
"Our vision for unified communications breaks down today's silos of communication and brings them together into an intuitive experience that puts people at the center," said Zig Serafin, general manager of the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. "By ensuring interoperability with business-grade communications capabilities from leading providers, we can extend the power and flexibility of software to improve phone-based communications."
According to the companies' news release, Microsoft's interoperability with these companies' technologies is based on "the industry-standard SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). SIP is a signaling protocol for VoIP, telephony, conferencing, presence, events notification and instant messaging." The companies are using the SIP and SIMPLE protocols to enable the federation of telephony, presence info and IM that can be encrypted and authenticated.
Microsoft teamed with Alcatel to integrate the company's OmniPCX, the Alcatel OmniTouch and MyTeamwork and the Alcatel Genesys Enterprise Telephony Software (GETS) interface with Live Communications Server and Office Communicator to deliver voice collaboration for enterprise users.
Mitel teamed with Microsoft to integrate its Live Business Gateway with the MS Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Office Communicator. The Live Business Gateway allows Microsoft apps to access Mitel's IP-based call control devices and apps, and allows Office Communicator to connect external users to the enterprise through the public network, while calling upon telephony and presence features from within Mitel apps including Mitel Customer Interaction Solutions and Mitel's NuPoint Messenger IP.
NEC Presence software will now interface with Live Communications Server and Office Communicator to deliver telephony collaboration for enterprise users. The combined system will enable users to collaborate with colleagues, access availability and presence info, and manage phone calls among computers and desktop phones, using either existing PBX or next-generation IP nets.
The Microsoft-Nortel Converged Office system integrates Nortel IP telephony systems with Live Communications Server 2005 to provide SIP-based, business-grade desktop call control. The integration between Office Communicator and Nortel Communication Server (CS) 1000 enables end-users to determine when colleagues are available and access communications from the desktop phone or from Office Communicator.
Siemens and Microsoft will deliver a suite of enterprise- grade, presence-enhanced calling, video and Web-based conferencing, and collaboration systems to customers throughout the world. The companies decided to integrate voice, video, IM and Web-based conferencing into a suite of tools that will enhance worker productivity and team collaboration.
Today's news is huge. Microsoft is surely dealing with the biggest names in IP-based telephony. Having such great interoperability between communication platforms, instant messaging (IM) software programs, PBX, IP-PBXs, and other telecommunication equipment in the enterprise makes deploying new IP-based technology upgrades or adoption of new ones a breeze. Having such a huge company such as Microsoft invest its time and resources in our industry really shows off the promising future of IP-based services.
Microsoft Corporation
Alcatel
Avaya Inc.
Cisco Systems
Mitel Networks Corporation
NEC Corporation
Nortel Networks
Siemens AG
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page
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