OCS is RTM

Microsoft’s office Communications Server takes the next step forward

I know I’m a bit late, I’ve been well beaten by Arthur,  Johann, James and Eileen but I’ve had the cricket to think about and recover from and despair about  but anyway….  

It’s out – well sort of, both Office Communications Server 2007 and it’s Uber client office communicator 2007 have been released to manufacturing ( RTM). expect full MSDN versions over the next few weeks and full availability by the autumn.

the release includes :

• Office Communicator 2007 : the soon to be ubiquitous client
• Office Communications Server 2007 : the core server product  
• Office Live Meeting Console 2007 :  The web collaboration and presentation tool
• Communicator Web Access 2007 : think of this as OWA is to outlook CWA is to Office communicator 2007
• Microsoft RoundTable 2007 : Microsoft’s innovative 360° video and audio conferencing tool
• Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server : Microsoft’s IVR server suite

there have also been some disclosures about likely pricing  as well over on the Microsoft Presspass site Gurdeep Singh Pall VP of the UC groups is quoted :

As with Live Communications Server, the predecessor to Office Communications Server, customers need both server and client access licenses (CALs). There are two types of Office Communications Server CALs: Standard and Enterprise. The Standard CAL has the IM and presence capabilities including new group IM and rich presence features and costs roughly $21 for the average enterprise. The new Enterprise CAL provides all of the new conferencing and VoIP call management features and costs roughly $97 for the average enterprise. The Office Communications Server Standard and Enterprise CALs will also be included as part of the Microsoft Enterprise CAL Suite, a bundle of several Microsoft server CALs available at a discount.

the approach is very much one of evolution rather than revolution and that the average enterprise needn’t replace that aging TDM PBX to realise the advantages that  Unified Communications can bring. I’ve still to digest the interop white paper so I can’t really comment in too much detail on the practicalities of this.

This is the phoney war before the battle that will rage between traditional telecoms providers, the IP vendors (notably Cisco) and Microsoft. things are going to get really interesting over the next few months.

This is the biggy… Communication is so much more emotional and important than the choice of browser you make. There’s a whole lot more money to be made and lost ($45 Bn by 2010)  and it’s Microsoft Pitching into a Market that it’s relatively new to with a lot of established vendors who have their share of the billions to protect. 

I’m hoping that the customer is in a win-win situation however I am a bit wary that this period of upheaval is going to lead to a bit of blood letting and I hope  the collateral damage is kept to a minimum.

Technorati Tags: UC, Office communications server, Microsoft, VoIP, Cisco

E650 update

the continuing saga of Living with the Orange SPV E650

OK I’ve had the E650 for a few months now and I’m way way past the honeymoon period so I thought I’d give you a quick catch up on my current feelings on the device.

do I still love it ? well yes …… mostly

will I part with it ? not if I can help it

are there any problems with it ?   yes a couple

go on what are they then ?

well the biggest problem I’ve come across is the fact that any screen grabbing notifications such as low battery warnings disconnect your Bluetooth sessions, a royal pain when you are driving and involved in a conversation on your headset.  I have no idea why this happens it’s just a really bugging bug.

the second problem is purely aesthetic, remember the flappy flaps, they’re made of pretty soft plastic and  with use they deform and refuse to sit cleanly in their aperture. this is a real problem for the flap that hides the extUSB connector  which annoyingly is on the bottom of the phone and is in use a lot for charging, it now refuses to sit cleanly and really spoils the lines of the device. it’s going to come off when I get round to it.

Neither of these are major problems but they are worthy of mention as they are particularly annoying in a device that is otherwise so well designed.

Technorati Tags: E650, Orange, SPV, nitpicking

Orange Unique and Blackberry

Orange to launch the BlackBerry 8820 – UMA and email in a single device

Orange have announced that they will be launching the  BlackBerry 8820 will be at the end of July which   will replace the BlackBerry 8800 in Orange’s portfolio.

The 8820 is a revamped 8800 that offers all the  functionality of the 8800  and combines it with UMA  (The ability to use WiFi VoIP and Cellular in the same device). The 8820 therefor supports Orange’s  Unique offering where home workers can roam onto Orange’s Unique VoIP service via the Internet through their Orange Broadband connection when in their home location.

email on the go and UMA is a great feature, HP have combined the options in the iPAQ 514 Voice Communicator (still waiting HP!!) on the Windows Mobile 6 Platform so it’s good to see RIM following suite for those Blackberry users out there

Interestingly Orange Caveat the Unique service as follows  

Please note that the Unique/Homeworker proposition offers users the ability to continue to make voice calls when in the home, irrespective of GSM coverage, using WiFi/Orange Broadband. It may however be subject to busy periods as with all broadband connections. Customers are therefore advised to trial the solution before committing to large rollouts.

Which hints that they might be having capacity problems, I don’t use the service myself but would be interested in any Orange customer experiences of problems in this service.

I think the jury is still out on the whether UMA or Pico Cells will be the best technology to provide local roaming so any user experiences are of great interest to me.

remember Rabbit anyone ?

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, 8820, RIM, UMA, Pico Cell, VoIP

 

open Source VoIP and Microsoft Unified Messaging

How to get Asterisk working with Exchange 2007

I’d alluded before about my dabbling with Asterisk as an open source SIP PBX and how I hadn’t mustered the energy to try and get Exchange 2007 which uses SIP over TCP to talk to Asterisk which uses SIP over UDP. at the time I was considering a patch,  well with one thing and another I still haven’t got round to it but I do get a emails  asking about it and I recently was directed to a very useful post by Ryan an antipodean IT pro who’s reluctantly dipping his data toe in the voice water. I came across Ryan’s post through Dennis over at MSGoodies.

The key is to use sipX which happily eventually acts as an intermediary with SIP over both UDP and TCP in it’s lexicon.  Ryan gives an excellent account of setting the whole infrastructure up within VMware so you can familiarise yourself with some of those novel VoIP protocols

maybe, just maybe, I’ll get round to trying it soon

Technorati Tags: SIP, Unified communications, VoIP, Asterisk, Exchange 2007

Extended interoperability for Office Communications Server 2007

Traditional telecoms players align themselves with Microsoft to provide integration

this from the Unified Communications Group Team Blog Russell Bennett the UC senior program manager has promoted an alliance between Microsoft and just about everyone worth mentioning to provide interoperability between OCS and existing PABXs

no comment from Mark as yet but I’d hope to see a UK perspective soon.

this is a commitment by some major major players of the telecoms world to provide seamless ( well as seamless as possible) interoperability with Microsoft Office Communications server.

you’d think as we’re all talking SIP these days this would be a given however as always interoperability is not always so straightforward, for instance OCS uses the SIP standard over TCP and a fair proportion of other equipment uses SIP over UDP to communicate. this isn’t an insurmountable problem however it is not conducive to an easy out of the box experience.

What these manufacturers are actually supporting is Microsoft’s interoperability specification for OCS 2007 which extends the basic interoperability afforded by SIP to include transparent support  of key features found in OCS  across platforms.

we should see the ability to transparently provide

• a common intuitive user experience
• multi media interoperation of voice, video, text messaging, web collaboration
• Ad-hoc multi-party, multi-modal conferencing  ( this will be a challenge I am sure)
• Integration with business applications
• Rich Presence, so full multi modal state information shared across platforms 
• Mobility
• Enhanced security

the  main press release includes pithy statements from the big players worthy of mention

• Alcatel-Lucent
• Avaya.
• Cisco.
• Ericsson.
• Genesys.
• Mitel.
• NEC.
• Nortel Networks.
• Siemens

Which is how Microsoft reach the the 80% figure of the installed base, I think this is too optimistic for me  the installed base is a notoriously treacherous place to make promises in, Cisco found that in the early days using trad telephony protocols like DPNSS   ( having had bitter experience of interoperability or lack thereof in the past we could be chasing wild geese for months).  On the brighter side native support of the interop spec is to be extended by the use of IP gateways from AudioCodes, Dialogic and Quintum although I am skeptical about gateway traversal of a lot of proprietary systems.

I’m sure these companies can provide interoperability moving forward but I’d expect existing kit to require upgrades ( usually costly) or those gateways’s already mentioned remember PBXs last for years, the established replacement cycle  was always 7 and sometimes longer years which is way way before SIP or even mainstream IP adoption so the chances of older kit being up to scratch is slim.

I am still unsure as to what the outcome of all this is as as I’ve said before OCS is potentially a direct competitor for a great deal of the high, value added applications that the trad telecom companies rely on for big chunk of their revenue, interop seems to open the door for third party developers to get in there with niche apps, I’d expect entry level costs to plummet.

I guess for most of these companies ( with the possible exception of Cisco) it’s  a case of having to offer interoperability or be left behind at the moment and assess the impact of the erosion of core revenues. I’m pretty sure most of the players concerned couldn’t take on Microsoft so I can see them rapidly moving to call routing applications that use the OCS core as a base for their own applications.

One of the most interesting aspects is the potential for vicarious interoperability between established systems using OCS as a mediator, although I am sure this will be a licensing minefield.

exciting times ahead….

Exchange 2007 and Windows Mobile 6 feature matrix

Windows Mobile 5.0 & 6 with exchange 2007 from an Exchange perspective

This Deep Dive into Windows Mobile 6.0 and Exchange Server 2007 from the exchange team blog is essentially a rehash of the Jason’s earlier post  but from an exchange perspective ( of course ).

The post has the benefit of showing just the WM6 and Exchange 2007 synergies and also of actually showing the comparative glory of HTML mail on a WM5.0, a  WM 6 and an Outlook client which is a useful illustration.

The biggest message to take away is that the deployment of an Exchange 2007 server in the Client Access Server (CAS) role (what we used to call a front end server)  is not enough to enable the advanced functionality.

The WM6 functionality is dependent on the version of exchange the mailbox server is running not the front end server. This is different from the Exchange 2000 / 2003 mixed environment.

Be very careful here as I also hear from our deployment teams that the Exchange 2007 CAS in an Exchange 2003 environment is over complex and doesn’t quite do what it says on the tin, at least not without a bit of tweaking.

there seems to be an error as I can definitely make use of Fetchmail ( inline message fetch ) to download the remainder of the message from within the message on my E650 which is connecting to a Exchange 2003 production environment.

technorati tags: Exchange, Windows Mobile

Microsoft and Orange Announce Software as a Service collaboration

innovative SAAS  (or is it CAAS) service for hosted Unified Communications and Collaboration

               

this announced by France Telecom today (Monday) a service in which Microsoft and Orange Business Services have teamed up to provide unified communications and collaboration tools to multinationals:

the full transcript :

Orange Business Services and Microsoft today announced “Business Together with Microsoft”, an innovative collaborative solution to accelerate the use of unified communications in companies. “Business Together with Microsoft” also helps companies keep up with the latest market requirements for fast communication, constant contact with colleagues, customers and partners, and efficient information sharing.

“Business Together with Microsoft” lets companies radically improve the communication habits of their employees. It gives access to a range of tools that they can use either when mobile or from their workstation. They can take advantage of new services, with total security, from any terminal that is equipped with a compatible web browser. Through a single Windows Outlook interface, they can access their mailbox, view voice messages as emails, read faxes, make voice over IP calls, and access their contacts and calendar. They can also communicate in real time through audio, video, web conferencing or instant messaging.  In addition, they can also manage and share documents and calendars. An encrypted link to their mailbox gives them access to powerful search functions.

Orange Business Services tailors “Business Together with Microsoft” to meet individual customer needs. The complete range of services includes consulting and audits, migration to IP, integration, managed IT infrastructure and applications services, and outsourcing.

“There is a huge demand for collaborative solutions in today’s working environment,” says Laurent Kocher, vice president, Global Services, Orange Business Services. “Cooperative work between employees in different locations across time zones is expected to make up more than half of a typical office employee’s work time by 2015. Companies need to provide staff with the tools to respond quickly to constant demands for attention and an efficient way to manage multiple types of contact”.

“Business Together with Microsoft” is currently available for multinational companies across the world, and is based on the complementary nature of the new generation of software launched recently by Microsoft: Office Communications Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront and Office SharePoint Server.

“Business Together with Microsoft” leverages the complementary skills and expertise of the two companies: Orange Business Services in the area of messaging, IP convergence and network-related services; Microsoft in unified communications and collaboration solutions.

It’s an interesting alliance, Microsoft and Orange have been working closely together for some time and this is the first public tangible product to appear.

Reading between the lines it appears to be an Outlook Web Access portal providing access to Sharepoint for collaboration and the UC features of Exchange 2007 with Office Communications Server 2007 providing a VoIP portal, I suspect to Orange SIP trunks.

A packaged unified communications Inbox with Presence, Instant messaging, collaboration  and VoIP calls from wherever you can get access to a browser a very useful suite of applications

An interesting and maybe risky combination as OCS 2007 is still in beta, nevertheless an interesting proposition for the multinational with many mobile workers.

We are going to see a lot more of this,  in my opinion SAAS is about to explode.

I think it’ll have more impact and be much more interesting amongst the smaller business community, imagine if you could have access to all this big company technology with small company agility and no headaches of management……. watch this space…….

I’d  be very interested to see the appetite for managed hosted services out there amongst the smaller business community, if you have an opinion why not share it?

Is SAAS finally coming of age?

technorati tags: SAAS, Unified Communications, Orange, Microsoft

Work Wise Week part deux

today the Stern report…

The stern report is concerned with climate change and the impact that  emissions have had do have and will have on the climate and global economy over the next 50 years.

published last year the key recommendations of the Stern report are:

· Three elements of policy are required for an effective response: carbon pricing, technology policy and energy efficiency.

· Carbon pricing, through taxation, emissions trading or regulation, will show people the full social costs of their actions. The aim should be a global carbon price across countries and sectors.

· Emissions trading schemes, like that operating across the EU, should be expanded and linked.

· Technology policy should drive the large-scale development and use of a range of low-carbon and high-efficiency products.

· Globally, support for energy research and development should at least double; support for the deployment of low-carbon technologies should be increased my up to five times.

· International product standards could be introduced.

· Large-scale international pilot programmes to explore the best ways to curb deforestation should be started very quickly.

· Climate change should be fully integrated into development policy, and rich countries should honour pledges to increase support through overseas development assistance.

· International funding should support improved regional information on climate change impacts.

· International funding should go into researching new crop varieties that will be more resilient to drought and flood.

the key areas that will impact on our workstyle are the likely introduction of emission taxation and carbon pricing both of which will be positioned to reduce the overall  carbon impact of our daily lives. inevitably emission taxation will be directed at travel to curtail the CO2 produced by the internal combustion engine and this will have the effect  of encouraging us all to consider our travel requirements and  look for more intelligent means interact with others rather than the default drive a 100 miles for a meeting approach too common today.

To reduce costs home and location independent working will be crucial tomorrow’s workforce will require the ability to work anywhere and employers will positively encourage workers to reduce the impact of their travel on the bottom line.

We’re a way off in today’s Britain, however the technology exists today to allow home working there’s just a lack of wherewithal and a distinct resistance to change that must be addressed prior to the inevitable changes in the taxation regime.

technorati tags: flexible working, Stern report, work wise week

Wardriving revisited

The state of Wireless Security in the UK ( well Nottingham)

I’m always talking about web ubiquity and I’ve been doing some work on this recently for a couple of customers considering HSDPA access as a mobile working solution, the results have been a little disappointing and far short of my expectations but more on that later.

Peter Cochrane is always admitting stealing WiFi talking about using open WiFi access and it’s been a while since I’ve looked at the state of WiFi security.  

I’ve recently discovered WiFifofum2 which is an improvement over my old favourite Ministumbler as it allows you to use your built in WM WiFi  stack and record the location of the Access Points it discovers. a couple of years ago I used to stumble quite a bit to gauge the growth of WiFi and I used to get about 20 APs on the way home.

tonight I did the same stumbling albeit with a different device and software and I found 167 different Access points, a selection from Nottingham below :

in 2005 Security was woefully neglected with the vast majority of APs having no encryption, today….. it’s a bit better but still awful,  of 167 APs found 46 (that’s over 25%) had no encryption whatsoever.

Some Access Points may have had MAC address lists ( I don’t know I deliberately don’t connect) which will deter the casual WiFi thief but it’s still very very worrying.

whilst great for somewhat ethically dubious web ubiquity it’s not good for the AP owners or law enforcement if something nefarious happens. 

I’m off on a long journey tomorrow so I’ll do a bit more stumbling to see if the Notttinghamshire folk are typical or just downright irresponsible.

I’d be interested in other peoples experience

technorati tags: WiFi, WEP, WPA, Security, Web Ubiquity

Mini Unified Communications : Cisco enter the fray

Cisco bring unified comm’s to the smaller business – the proper way ? well maybe – Microsoft Take Note!

The Unified Communication 500 series brings Cisco Unified Communications Manager to the small business, in a markedly different strategy to Microsoft’s Response Point UC 500 is actually a numerically restricted version of full Communications Manager Express delivered on dedicated hardware.

The UC 500 is designed to be purchased as fixed configuration units with 8 IP endpoints as standard supporting either 4 x analogue or 2 x ISDN Basic Rate trunks and SIP trunking. each UC 500 has 4 FXS ports for analogue  devices like faxes or modems. the unit has an expansion port for additional trunks if necessary – no PRI support is available in this release.

The UC 500 can be extended to 16 endpoints by addition of a Catalyst Express 520 POE switch, a planned release in Autumn 2007 will extend the capability to 50 endpoints, I suspect leveraging the existing Catalyst Express 500 range.

 

the key features are :

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express is a Cisco IOS® Software solution embedded in the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series appliance that provides call processing for Cisco Unified IP phones. Simple to deploy, administer, and maintain, Cisco Unified Communications Express is a reliable, feature-rich telephony solution.

Cisco Unity Express

Embedded Cisco Unity Express enables voicemail, desktop messaging, and Automated Attendant services for increased customer service and rich employee communications experience.

Cisco Unified CallConnectors for Desktop Applications

The Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series integrates with common Windows desktop applications to give small business owners access to productivity gains once available only to large businesses. With Cisco Unified CallConnectors, customers can integrate their Cisco Unified IP phones with common applications including Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or Salesforce.com CRM.

Integrated Network Firewall and Security

Security is a fundamental building block of any network, and Cisco products play an important role in embedding security at the customer’s access edge. The Cisco IOS Firewall is a stateful-inspection firewall available with the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series. Built from market-leading Cisco PIX® Firewall technologies, Cisco IOS Firewall is supported on the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series platform as a base feature. Cisco IOS Firewall is an ideal single-box solution for protecting the WAN entry point into the network.

Virtual Private Networking

VPNs carry private data over a public network and extend remote access to users over a shared infrastructure. VPNs maintain the same security and management policies as private networks and are the most cost-effective means of establishing point-to-point connection between remote users and a central network. VPNs have been the fastest-growing form of network connectivity, and Cisco takes this approach to a new standard by making VPN functions an integral part of the Cisco Unified Communications offering. The Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series includes built-in hardware-based encryption acceleration that offloads IP Security (IPsec), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Data Encryption Standard (DES), and Triple DES (3DES) encryption and VPN processes to provide increased VPN throughput with minimal effect on the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series CPU.

LAN Switching

The Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series has an integrated managed Ethernet switch that provides 8 ports of 10/100 Power over Ethernet (PoE) optimized for integration with the Cisco Smart Business Communications System. Additionally, the system capacity can be expanded by connecting the recommended Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch. The Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Switch provides 8 additional ports of 10/100 PoE and it ships with a predefined software configuration to work immediately with the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business.

Wireless Mobility Services

The Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series supports an optional integrated wireless LAN (WLAN) access point for secure WLAN connectivity. Small businesses can easily extend access to data applications as well as WLAN telephony. Wireless services allow greater mobility for employees, partners, and customers, resulting in increased productivity.

 

The UC 500 has a fully enabled default configuration with basic dial plans and IOS firewall support as standard ( this is common in this market where up to 75% of deployed systems are in their default configuration)

The UC 500 supports a wide range of endpoints including the full range of existing Cisco IP handsets and two dedicated UC 500 handsets designed to provide key and lamp working common in this market place

Microsoft take note this is the way to do it – UC 500 is to UCME and UCM what Response Point should be to OCS. UC 500 has all the capabilities of UCME and has lovely open connectivity into third party applications.

There is however one question about this device…… why do it?

To be honest I think UC 500 in it’s current format dilutes the Unified Communications Manager Message, commodotises it.   at 16 endpoints the small business might be better placed looking at a hosted solution which provides much easier remote management and support and access to more advanced features.

There is a massive move to hosted voice and IP Centrex, frankly why waste your time with your own kit when you can rent services easily which provide all the features you need. this is Cisco’s attempt to capture the small business before they get away.

As a 50 user system the argument is slightly different and a box of that size is probably a worthy addition to the portfolio on technical merit.

technorati tags: Cisco, Unified Communications, VoIP

Microsoft Announce Unified Communications endpoints

9 vendors unite with the giant to produce UC hardphones

This via the Unified Communications Team Blog

Yesterday Microsoft announced a pretty ( and some not so pretty ) mixed bag of handsets designed to compliment Office Communications Server 2007 – available as part of the beta program the endpoints are either standalone IP endpoints with Communicator built in  (my preference) or as USB handsets that are driven by Office Communicator on the desktop.

These are the first handsets to use the new unified comm’s interface

which closely mimics Office Communicator 2007 there’s a great video over on Channel 10 which at 6:19 in shows you the Polycom x700 in operation, including the touch screen in action, a bit salesy but worth the watch.

You’re about to think you’re seeing double, here’s the Polycom version of the IP endpoint in all it’s glory:

and here’s the LG / Nortel

(rofl)

and here’s the USB equivalents:

(the right order this time )

polycom :

and LG Nortel:

Polycom do extend the range with a wirefree device the CX400, shame it’s USB though and desktop , I’d much prefer a true WiFi device. 

the CX400 screen displays communicator information so it’s a cut above the normal USB handset but as I’ve said I’d much prefer a true WiFi device.

there are more devices on show at the UC image gallery.

to my mind the USB devices are just pretty much more of the same, Communicator interaction is a great enhancement but the addition of Communicator Client to a IP Hardpoint in the The LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540 and the Polycom CX700 really wins for me.

Like most people I’d rather not have to turn my PC on to communicate, call me an old stick in the mud but I’m a two device man in this environment.

technorati tags: Unified Communications, Office Communications Server 2007, IP phones

Outlook Anywhere and Cellular Networks

a little grumble about a lack of configuration options

this issue was brought to my attention because I use Outlook 2007 to collect RSS feeds, not for reading, I tried that and hated it the problems as I see it are

• no native aggregation, and feeds plus is broken
• standard outlook folder view with separate properties for each folder
• alphabetically arranged folders only
• when it imports from IE7 it doesn’t preserve your Feed categories

It seems that even some softies use other applications by preference

On the other hand the search facilities in Outlook 2007 make it worthwhile capturing the feeds and once I’d worked out how not to have each new item show as a new message in unread mail I can put up with it for the search alone.

The problem I have is the order that and way that Outlook Anywhere retrieves data, it downloads RSS feeds first, then downloads folder contents  alphabetically  and there’s no way to change this order or tell outlook to only download certain folders.

It’s not normally a problem on fast networks however using Outlook Anywhere over cellular it’s a pain to wait for hundreds of feeds to download  then the alphabetically ordered folders above my inbox before I get the mail I need all at a blistering 36 kbits.

You can reduce the downloaded volume  by only downloading headers  on slow networks  however the 384 kbits or 1.8 Mbits that data cards erroneously report to Windows seems to suggest to Outlook that you’re on a fast connection so you have to manually alter the settings to headers only  

it’s also costly, I don’t want to download the hundreds of emails I get through distribution groups when I’m not directly addressed at 85p a Mbyte

I could use Outlook Web Access however in Cellular environments when moving, such as in the passenger seat of a colleagues car or on the train  web sessions are difficult to maintain and Outlook Anywhere’s background drip feeding and invisible reconnection are ideal.

Has anyone discovered a way to resolve this client or server side?

Since Office 2003 SP1 and through Office 2007 Microsoft have greatly improved performance over low bandwidth and inconsistent networks, the kind of networks moofers use all day long, however I’d like a little more flexibility please, more control to keep me efficient and help me keep my costs down.

technorati tags: outlook anywhere, outlook, 3G, HSDPA,

Broadband broken? – call a judge

a firm of mortgage advisors whose broadband was cut off by accident sued BT to get it back on again.

this from thinkbroadband via the Greater Merseyside Digital Development Agency.

the essentials of the story are that a BT engineer accidentally cut off a Mortgage Advisors Broadband and when BT suggested that they could not reinstate the line the company took them to court for breach of contract.

It’s an interesting proposition as I suspect it was a BT OpenReach engineer that caused the cafuffle in the first place and that the company had a contract with BT retail through BT Business Broadband so good luck to them in their compensation claim.

the widespread adoption of broadband as a cheap and plentiful source of Internet bandwidth is going to throw up a lot more of these problems.

The company I work for has deployed several thousand broadband connections both as public Internet BT Business Broadband connections and as wholesale IP Stream services and we’ve had some horror stories. the worst of which involved a customer having intermittent service disruption for several months. 

the moral of this story –

if your business relies on your Internet service buy an Internet service your business can rely on.

Multimegabit leased line Business strength services are surprisingly cost effective these days and you don’t leave your customers fighting over the limited upstream bandwidth ADSL afford them.

The problem stems from marketing, the cheap cheap cheap for more more more message really deforms customer expectation however with a little bit of thought it’s easy to realise that you can’t go to the le Mans 24 hour race in a Ford Focus and sue Ford when you don’t win.

the concept of Business  continuity with broadband is a little hopeful as well as it’s normally beyond the ken of the average customer to successfully manage the multitude of parties necessary to ensure that Business is even reasonably continuous.

the simple message is that if you want a business class service expect to pay a business class price which is more likely to be £1000 a month rather than £30. FGS most companies spend more than that on Coffee for the kitchen.

technorati tags : broadband; business continuity

Lest we forget – part I

an occasional series exposing just how spoilt we are today

I’m a big fan of the blog of James and Kevin it’s a great resource for the latest and sometimes greatest  (?) in mobile technology – I certainly get freebie envy as they seem to be inundated with stuff.

The blog has a great example of an enticing strapline (using mobile devices since they weighed 30 lbs) and inspired by this I’ve decided to get on with showing my pile of rubbish accumulated mobility solutions. 

I’ve also been inspired by the fact that some of the internal IS guys were whinging they could only get 17 Mbits from their broadband – me I remember leaving the PC on dialed in overnight to download the 17 Mbytes of Mozilla when I moved from CompuServe to Pipex and the web proper… oooh they don’t know they’re born :|

like most geeks I accumulate old technology but to my wife’s eternal gratitude I’ve been disposing of bits and bobs ( I kept the CPU and BIOS ROM of my first IBM compatible PC – I couldn’t part with all of it ) I have however been backfilling the mobile solutions I have used over the years similar to the way I have been backfilling my vinyl on MP3.

I call it my trailing edge technology – it has to have been the pinnacle or close to it when launched but has bounced off the leading edge and is tumbling of the trailing edge when I catch it :)

so first is an occasional series 1994….. the Toshiba T1910CS and the Motorola 3200 GSM :

The Tosh sports a 386sx 33 processor and a whopping 110 Mbytes HDD, 8 Mbytes of RAM it’s runs Windows for workgroups 3.11.

the Motorola 3200 is a single band GSM phone with a capacious 100 alpha numeric memories – no data capabilities and a battery life (from memory) of 12 hours with at most 60 mins talk time , it can RECEIVE point to point short message service messages (texts to you and me) but not send them :)

I’ve seen this described as the first GSM phone – certainly in the UK it was preceded by a Panasonic model whose name escapes me. and yes it is active on Cellnet – it  requires an old SIM with a squarer smart chip – the newer SIMs with oval chips with rounder edges require less power and this phone doesn’t recognise them.

The whole kit and caboodle – excluding accessories weighs in at 8 lbs (17.6 kg)  spare batteries  would add a touch more so we could be pushing 20 kg -  the 3200 is mine IIRC it cost about £300 at the time, the Tosh cost me a sandwich and a can of pop.

technorati tags: mobility, flexible working, vintage technology

HTC announce official Windows Mobile 6 Upgrades for their range

Upgrades Will be available from June with the associated lag for operator take up  This via solopalmari (great Italian practice) HTC have announced the official upgrade policy for their range of handhelds  the statement indicates that the following HTC devices will be supported by official Windows Mobile 6  upgrades:

HTC Advantage,

HTC Tytn,  

HTC P3300

HTC P4350. 

HTC S620

Some of our operator-branded devices. that use of the word some worries me …… the official statement is as follows

Windows Mobile 6: upgrade strategy statement

Microsoft recently unveiled Windows Mobile ® 6, which offers improved usability and more PC-like functionality than previously available. Enhancements include the ability to view emails in rich HTML format, and to manage emails quickly and easily through new shortcuts and new calendar views.

The HTC S710 is one of the first Windows Mobile® 6 devices to ship, and will be followed by a range of products based on the new operating system in the coming months.

HTC is also offering WM6 upgrades for the most popular devices in its current range. This includes recently launched “messaging” products, which will enjoy the greatest benefits of Windows Mobile 6, such as the HTC Advantage, the HTC TyTN, the HTC S620, and the HTC P4350.

The upgrade will also be available for the award-winning HTC P3300, plus some of our operator-branded devices. The upgrades will be rolled out from June, in line with our operator partners’ strategies. You’ll be able to find the latest releases as they’re made available at: http://downloads.europe.htc.com

FAQ:

Why have these devices been chosen?

We have chosen devices with a particular focus on “messaging”, where users will enjoy the greatest benefits of Windows Mobile 6 (the HTC Advantage, the HTC TyTN, the HTC S620, and the HTC P4350). The upgrade will also be available for the award-winning HTC P3300. 

Will other devices be added?

Potentially. We’re in constant discussions with our operator partners, and if they’re seeing significant demand from their customers for a specific device then we will always consider it. 

When will the upgrade be available?

The upgrades will be rolled out from April. 

I’ve heard that [operator] is not offering the upgrade. Why is that? Can their customers get the upgrade from HTC direct?

It’s really up to the operators to decide how, or indeed whether, to offer the upgrade, so you’d need to speak to them. HTC is only directly offering upgrades for its own brand devices.

Will consumers have to pay upgrade license fees?

 No – the usual licence upgrade fees are being waived.

How much of a difference will users notice with the new operating system?

Windows Mobile 6 delivers the ability to view e-mails in their original rich HTML format with live links to Web and Sharepoint® sites, which means text and images are displayed as they would be on a PC, and are available from a corporate e-mail server such as Exchange Server 2007, from Web-based accounts such as Windows Live™ Hotmail or from a myriad of other popular service providers. Windows Mobile 6 also includes Windows Live for Windows Mobile, which provides customers with a rich set of Windows Live services. For example, now through Windows Live Messenger, people can chat with more than one person at one time, express themselves through animated figures, quickly send a file or image, or record and send voice notes.  The newest version of the platform offers the most genuine Microsoft Office system experience in the mobile versions of Office Outlook®, Office Word, Office Excel® and Office PowerPoint® by bringing capabilities once available only on the PC versions of these products to the small screen. This allows users to neatly view, navigate and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets in their original formatting, without affecting tables, images or text, and to view PowerPoint presentations on their device. All Windows Mobile 6 powered devices include Direct Push Technology for up-to-date e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars, tasks and contacts through Microsoft Exchange Server. Windows Mobile 6 also offers a set of important device security and management features that include the capability to remotely wipe all data from a device should it be lost or stolen, helping ensure that confidential information remains that way.

as always the adoption of it on any MSP device (like my m3100) is down to the MSP themselves – here’s hoping Orange see sense, it’ll keep me and Rob happy at least

technorati tags: HTC, m3100, Windows Mobile 6 , Upgrade 

The official response to Response Point

what the Unified Communications team really think ( well officially anyway)

I’ve  blogged ad nauseam about my disappointment with Response Point’s route to Market and the missed opportunity I think it represents ( Premature maybe I know as it’s not even this side of the Atlantic yet) and mused about what the UC teams’s position may be on the whole thing.

Eric Swift Senior Director of the Unified Communications group has made this statement. to summarise the position is that the two products are targeted at different customers:

• RP to small businesses that want to simplify the voice experience by replacing their existing telephone system or installing a new one based on Microsoft Software – a fairly narrow church I would think
• OCS is designed to enhance the communications capabilities for larger organizations by working with the telephony and networking infrastructure they have, while using the power of software to provide next-generation communications capabilities to users.

as I’ve made clear the lack of LCS / OCS integration absolutely bamboozles me so I’d hope the statement would shed some light on the roadmap that might lead to integration of RP within the UC portfolio. Unfortunately it doesn’t. the closest we have to a comment comes via Oliver Rist over at Infoworld who has attributed  to Jeff Smith the suggestion that :

Response Point wasn’t going to integrate with Small Business Server 2007 when/if that platform shows up post-Longhorn — even though the Exchange 2007 folks are making a big deal about Exchange’s capability to act as voicemail and call aggregator. Apparently, that’s a Response Point 2.0 goal

Eric Swifts statement does nothing to reduce the confusion:

What about the roadmap for the two products?  Will they come together?  The next steps will be based on the evolution of this dynamic market and the feedback we get from customers.  The teams are working closely together so that both the small and large business customers gain the benefits of software-powered VoIP regardless of the offering built for them.

 

Apparently it’s up to us……. you know my position MICROSOFT RESPONSE POINT MUST INTEGRATE WITH OCS ! ( or LCS or a similar component in the Longhorn SBS variant) and provide unified comm’s on a Microsoft platform to the smaller business.

 

Come on people – get with the program

 

Orange E650 available to purchase on Orange Consumer website

but……. instantly out of stock

the E650 is here – on the orange consumer website true to form for brand new customers only. :(

it’s instantly out of stock so I assume back orders have to be fulfilled (unless it’s a bit of creativity to hit the mid April Launch promised)

oh well I spose all you loyal Orange customers out there with access to the same deals as everyone supposedly will just have to wait.

I hate it when they do this.

technorati tags: E650, Orange

Orange SPV E650 Hands on – first impressions

initial feelings about the new Orange Handset

I’d have to say I’m very impressed, the overall feel of the device is one of very high quality and the matt black finish is great – I suspect it’ll withstand a few bangs.

Call quality is spot on – much better than the c500 and better than the c600

The keyboard action is great – didn’t really get the semi automatic until I tried it – essentially you give it a little push and it does the rest – accompanied by quite an annoying tone which I will kill when I find out where it lives. the board is very usable, smaller keys than the m3100 but even so perfectly adequate even for my spade like fingers.

The screen is fantastic a good 25-30% brighter than the c600 and appears significantly bigger so big in fact I can’t stop pressing it as it really looks like it should be a touch screen. The devices are comparable in footprint although the E650 is slightly thicker, wider and weightier but still passes the shirt top pocket test

The biggest surprise so far is the expansion MicroSD slot is external and Orange have included a 128 Mbytes card in the bundle.

I’ve set up the Bluetooth PAN as suggested by Jason  however  the much vaunted WM6 is much better at juggling connections feature didn’t work, when a call was received I could take it and the PAN seemed to stay connected but I couldn’t access the Internet properly until I disconnected and reconnected the modem on the device – more of this later.

I’ve actually got a massive smile on my face – it’s a great bit of kit looking forward to putting it through it paces.

[EDIT] actually on reflection the best surprise is that when you go to install an app you have 52 Mbytes  to spare on the phone itself – a massive massive improvement on previous SPVs

technorati tags: E650, Orange, SPV

E650 has arrived

brace your selves for a review

I don’t do unboxing shots – they’re a bit lame IMO but as proof it’s here :

pic quality a bit off as I’m using my m3100 camera

it definitely is not UMTS it is EDGE though

technorati tags: SPV E650, Orange, Windows Mobile 6

BT Introduce BT Business Anywhere

BT Fusion 0.5 ? -  great idea but perhaps a little confusing for the average bear?

this via Jason Langridge’s Blog and despite his reassurances I’m yet to be convinced as to how uncomplicated this service would be in realworld usage

what is it?

from the BT  Broadband Office website:

BT’s Office Anywhere brings you a big advance in multifunctional technology. With a BT Office Anywhere handset you can work as effectively when you’re out and about as you can at your desk.

• Office Anywhere brings you advanced phone and data services using a single device. You have real-time access to email, calendar, contacts and documents
  
• The handsets emulate a Windows PC experience, including web surfing with Internet Explorer and instant messaging
  
• A single cost-effective subscription gives you inclusive mobile minutes, inclusive data allowance, and you can make unlimited hour-long VoIP calls to UK landlines from office, private or public WiFi hotspots at no extra charge
  
• a high-specification multifunctional handset with preloaded Microsoft software

in English that’s an HTC S620 Smartphone running Windows Mobile 5.0 with push email (hosted by BT or your own Exchange 2003 SP2) and an integrated VoIP dialer to make calls when in range of a Hotspot

the blurb implies that the dialer logs on to BT Openzone Hotspots automatically which is great but you’ll need to manually log on to another providers service either pay as you go or if you have an Openzone account (an extra) at a roaming partner (say T-Mobile or the cloud ). Openzone accounts are an additional £5 for 500 minutes or £25 for 4000 minutes.

the unlimited VoIP calls are  a less rigorous version of our old favourite unlimited* in that you can only average 4 hours a day over a month to any one number or get hit with an additional ppm charge ( unlikely any but a very few users will  get affected by this I would have thought)

I’d like to see how handoff works between hotspots (if at all) and I am sure there’s no handoff from WiFi to Cellular which is a feature of UMA services

It’s a good hybrid but it needs to be really easy to use, ideally the device needs to do the thinking for the user, I don’t mean any disrespect to the users however all they will want to do is make a phone call with as little fuss as possible.

 

as I commented on Jason’s original post :

in my experience you’ll find geeks using it (but we can do something similar with existing tools); technoambivalents not bothering with that process and just staying cellular and technophobes running screaming from the handset.

all that said It would be a very good solution for lazy mobile users in the office as you could install a BTO hotspot and allow VoIP calls that way.

I’m disappointed with the tariff structure,  ideally I’d want an unlimited data tariff (for emails) to go along with bundled minutes and free VoIP, I think having options for the amount of data you need to use as follows :

	Lite (10MB)	Professional (30MB)	Unlimited
BT Office Anywhere with 250 inclusive minutes	£39.50	£47.50	£54.50
BT Office Anywhere with 700 inclusive minutes	£60.50	£68.50	£75.50

confuses things a little  but I can understand why they do this BT have never being innovators in tariffs really as they have to be wary of the regulator.

technorati tags: BT Business Anywhere, HTC, FMC, VoIP, BT