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

RIM announces new Blackberry Application Suite for Windows Mobile 6

Give them enough Blackberry flavoured Rope ?

this via the::unwired

Research in Motion (RIM) the makers of  Blackberry have announced Blackberry Application Suite  for Windows Mobile based devices. BAS is planned  to provide a rich Blackberry application environment on Windows Mobile devices.

BAS will appear as a standard app in the programs list and will extend access to Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) for corporates and Blackberry Internet Services to WM devices.

It’s a very interesting move and one that completes the move of Blackberry from the company that co-CEO James Balsillie   described as ‘a niche device player‘ back in 2005 to a software services company in 2007.

the  plan is that BAS will expand the penetration of Blackberry services to Windows Mobile devices which Microsoft must view as a massive fillip to WM sales as if you have Domino or GroupWise in the enterprise you can now have a slinky WM 6 device that adds easy application development  to your BES access.

over time all it can do is drive Windows Mobile Sales and as Jason intimates it’ll make the transition from BES to Exchange Activesync all the more attractive and a natural progression.

I can’t help feeling that Blackberry may have shot themselves in the foot.

technorati tags: Blackberry, BES, Windows Mobile 6

Living with the Orange SPV E650 part IV

another snippet for your delectation

I’ve just discovered quick shortcuts for emails :) well actually I knew about them before however I’ve just started using them, the mark read key is a godsend

When in an email account press and hold 0 for an aide memoire

When you’re in your email account just press and hold the relevant key to get the appropriate function.

You can use these both from the message list and when within a specific message.

a little aside on the HTML email access, the document that Jason posted to compare WM5.0 & 6 and when Exchange 2007 adds functionality suggests that you don’t need Exchange 2007 to get HTML mail – it appears you do :(

technorati tags: windows mobile 6, E650, shortcuts, tips

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

OWA, Vista, IE7 & me

Microsoft have broken OWA on Vista & IE7 , so here’s how you fix it

OWA (Outlook Web Access) has long been a tool for those of us that have a need to check emails on the move, get web access, get email. Lately OWA has been superceded in my armoury by Outlook Anywhere ( I prefer the Rich client experience) but I had the occasion to use it at the weekend when at a friends house. 

BTW OWA on Exchange 2007 is getting closer to the rich client experience, anyway.

My friend has taken the plunge and gone all vista-ified and lo and behold when using OWA on Vista and with IE7 because of the removal of DHTML editing (which OWA requires) you are presented with the following unedifying screen when you try and compose  or edit an email.

oops 

This happens with unpatched systems running Exchange 2000 or 2003.

I’d forgotten all about this as, as I said I tend to use Outlook Anywhere but the IE blog posted about this last year and it’s obviously becoming a recurrent problem as they’ve reiterated the post and detailed the solution more recently. 

To quote the post

The update does not require a reboot of the Exchange server and will fully enable OWA to work for clients using IE7 in Windows Vista. If you run into this problem, we highly recommend that you contact your Exchange 2000/2003 administrator to make sure they have installed this update.

I’ve already contacted the Exchange admin to rectify the problem this might help any of you people out there with a similar issue.

technorati tags: Vista, OWA, IE7, Exchange , Outlook Web Access

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta is here

the Beta of the replacement for LCS 2005 is available for public download

read all about it here on the Unified Comms blog – not got time to go into this at the moment ( deadlines deadlines) but will look at it in depth later.

Limitations of Microsoft Office Groove 2007

the Limitations of Groove or…….. times when Groove just isn’t groovy enough

sorry  had to do it 

Groove 2007 is my new favourite app but it has some limitations, this refers to a standalone installation of Microsoft Office Groove 2007, I’ll look at the benefits of Groove 2007 within the context of Groove Server 2007 and Groove Enterprise services later.

I’ve been wondering just how far you can go with Groove.

there’s not a great deal out there on Groove’s limitations, the FAQ  expounds it’s virtues there are a few limitations which I’ve discovered, thankfully not through trial and error

• Groove cannot synchronize any files that are larger than 1 GByte.
• Groove will stop synchronizing any file sharing workspace that has more  than 5000 files or which exceeds 2 GBytes in total.

in addition you can’t synchronise Hidden, System, Temporary, or Offline files, this last limitation caused me a problem recently, I needed to share historical documents with a colleague which only existed in an offline folder on my machine when I created the workspace.

I had to save it elsewhere and then upload the saved folder to Groove – I suppose it’s too much to expect Groove to synchronise an already synchronising  file so you do need to plan when you are going to build your Groove Workspaces.

you also can’t share a networked folder or any folder already being shared by another groove account.

There are a few tips for keeping your Groove Workspace running nicely,  bear in mind a beefier system will help but much like walking in the wilderness keep the Groove party moving at a speed that suits the slowest members.

• Don’t flood the workspace by adding large numbers of files at once, the update grinds, and I mean really grinds if you add loads of files,  you can go and make a cup of tea, the single multiple upload seems to take far longer than the combined duration of the same uploads when completed individually.
• try to keep the number of files down in a workspace, there’s an overhead as Groove has to check multiple files for changes over and over again.
• the number of files multiplied by the rate of change is a good indication of how the workspace will perform lots of files with little change will perform better than a few files with lots and lots of changes – due to the overhead of updates  
• keep Groove running, there seems to be a lag when you start the launchbar before the synchronisation stabilises.

if you have members of your workspace that don’t need to be appraised of every update in all or any part of the workspace as it happens you can encourage them to use manual updates, to do this right click on a file folder in the files tool and select properties

then click the downloads tab and select manual download

• 

you can do this folder by folder or by a folder tree as folders inherit the download properties of their parent.

reducing the number of people automatically downloading means the Groove clients reduce the number of updates they have to do, keeping things zipping along.

Microsoft say that

Any team of information workers that needs to collaborate on a project can derive value from Office Groove 2007. Team sizes typically range from 2 through 30 members for maximum productivity and effectiveness

Groove hits the mark in this environment and as a solution to the problems surrounding ad hoc collaboration it seems to me to be a winner.

 technorati tags: Groove,  Microsoft, collaboration

collaboration with Sharepoint, Live Meeting, Groove and Office Communicator

Know your tool and what to use it for

Steve has posted with a link to a handy slide deck showing a very generalised list  of the strengths and weaknesses of a range of Microsoft collaboration products.

I’m really loving Groove, it’s a great ad-hoc tool for collaboration, and causing mayhem in my internal IT team through the viral nature of it’s propagation. you create a workspace send out the invites and there’s immediately half a dozen helpdesk calls asking for the trial to be installed. absolute Genius.

Steve’s post made me consider the fact that Groove has no Voice capabilities which seems strange, it  would surely be simple to integrate this into the application, maybe it’s down to worry  about Groove eroding the USPs of other apps? not sure, it seems like an oversight… going to do some digging.

Comfortable Communications

the next generation … rule the nation … with communication

if you can name the song and artist parodied above you deserve another none existent prize :)

I am constantly amused by my wife’s reluctance to use the telephone, it stems from her family not installing one until her mid teens. blame the delightful Cumbrian habit of visiting people rather than using an apparatus to communicate.

more on my crusade for actual messaging (AM) later

I’m convinced that corporate communication media are determined by the pre vocational activities of the users. let me give you a few examples.

In my parents life before work they would have routinely written letters to friends this would be their media of choice , at work they would still write letters they  would be using the telephone but they wouldn’t trust it – everything needed to be confirmed in writing

In my life before work I would use the telephone to call friends, I was the first person in my circle of friends to own a mobile phone, consequently I prefer the telephone as an immediate form of communication.  in my early work life we had that curious diversion called fax but we only used that to confirm things or pass on details too difficult or voluminous to efficiently communicate by voice alone.

by the way In my opinion this is the way email should be used (email bombardiers take note) email tends to be the medium most other people rely on, it’s a great way for people to absolve their responsibility;  a way  for your average ctrl+F merchant to absolve themselves of duty by stating but I’ve emailed him  with that info. 

In some ways the fact that everyone knows I can get email anywhere makes things worse not better I  tend to see email abused rather than used properly,  introducing terrible inefficiently but I’ll let  Itzy provide some tips oh how to do things better and maybe grab my attention. 

If you want to communicate information to the masses, blog, it’s far more efficient at the end of the day as you avoid invisible duplication of responses  

my little sister (nearly 16) uses the phone , her mobile is on all the time, she is constantly contactable by me.  but she prefers IM, she uses it on her mobile, at home in her bedroom and pretty much anywhere she can log on to it.  she uses presence information and social networking through her myspace site unconsciously, I know if I want a response to hi kidder what have you been up to? that extends beyond I dunno stuff  I have to use windows live messenger

This is her medium of choice, in a few months her generation will be working and demanding their unconscious medium be available to them.

funnily enough she’s not too comfortable with video, it’s still a conscious effort to use it, maybe we’ll have to wait another generation before we’re routinely using video communication, maybe I’ll have some grey hairs by then?