Want your own little UC sandbox where you can learn how to develop speech and UC applications using Unified Communications Managed API (UCMA) without the hassle of setting up your own OCS 2007 R2 & Exchange Server 2010 beta environment?
Microsoft has banned several applications for it's new Windows Marketplace for Mobile app store, including VoIP. Guess Apple isn't the only VoIP crippler in town. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Google Android to surpass BOTH Apple and Microsoft within the mobile phone space. After all, Google's philosophy is do no evil. Microsoft is playing catch-up to Apple and they could have potentially garnered more new mobile customers by allowing VoIP applications. When will the mobile phone software vendors get it that they should develop products that customers want to buy? Forget about ticking off the carriers. With SIM cards and prepaid cards that are industry-standard, Microsoft could bypass the carriers by allowing customers the "choice" of using VoIP over a pre-paid voice/data card and buying the phone online from Amazon or elsewhere. Screw the Verizon and AT&T retail stores that won't carry phones that support VoIP over 3G! Sure, most people don't use prepaid cards, however, technically savvy folks that want VoIP over a 3G data connection would kill to have a good smartphone that has this capability. Microsoft could build an avid/loyal core customer base, which would eventually force the carriers to respond.... when carriers like AT&T pull crap like forcing Apple to only allow VoIP over WiFi and not over a 3G data connection, it's no wonder why mobile VoIP growth will be stunted by anti-competitive tactics. Then you have countries like Canada which outright block Skype on the iPhone. Fortunately, avid mobile phone users aren't taking this lying down. For instance, you can jailbreak your iPhone and run VoIP over 3G no problem.
Why do we have to put up with this crippleware? I get that AT&T is a business and needs to make money. If they're worried that flat-rate data plans that run VoIP over it will drastically hurt their voice revenue, then change your business model! Keep the flat-rate data plan, but install packet-inspection technology that detects voice packets and charge a few cents for VoIP calls. If the flat-rate data plan's business model is outdated, which it seems to be, then change it.
It's time for one of the mobile software operating system creators - Apple, Google, or Microsoft to throw down the gauntlet and not kowtow to the carriers. Stop kneeling before Zod. C'mon Microsoft, you used to be Superman, invincible to all comers. Now you're playing it safe and being beat by the likes of Apple and Google. Where are you Superman?
Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 users were having communications issues with AOL's AIM when federating using PIC (Public IM Connectivity) and using a Windows Server 2008 (x64) Edge role server - Windows Server 2003 (x64) is unaffected by this problem. Microsoft's Scott Oseychik just issued a fix that solves the problem. The fix involves changing the Windows Server 2008 Edge role to initially establish the SSL dialog using the TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 cipher suite. 
Polycom and Microsoft today announced that "as part of Microsoft's vision to broaden the availability of Microsoft RoundTable, Polycom has licensed the right to distribute RoundTable, effective April 13, 2009." The product, renamed the Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station, will be available through Polycom and its channel network.
Finally a software tool called AudioRoute that can be used to route Windows Mobile audio from the earpiece speaker to the backspeaker and vice-versa. This is especially needed for VoIP applications on Windows Mobile phones.
I never thought the day would come when someone would come up with a solution. According to Teksoft, "After several years of tests and many questions in the development forum, we've finally did it: a tool to route the audio to the earpiece speaker is available, and we've released it as freeware." Woohoo! Now I can register my SIP client on my Windows Mobile to my Asterisk-based IP-PBX and make/receive VoIP calls.
| Code: |
audioroute.exe -earpiece audioroute.exe -backspeaker etc. |
Office Communications Server 2007 Mediation Server uses a plus sign (+) to prefix E.164 numbers in the Request Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for outgoing calls. Unfortunately, some IP-PBXs don't comply with RFC 3966 and do not accept numbers that are prefixed with a plus sign (+).To make sure that OCS 2007 operates correctly with non-RFC 3966-compliant PBXs, Microsoft released an update for Mediation Server (R1), which is described in KB articles 952780 and 952785. After installing the update, it's necessary to create a configuration file - MediationServerSvc.exe.config - with the following content:
"1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <configuration> <appSettings> <add key="RemovePlusFromRequestURI" value="Yes" /> </appSettings> </configuration>
According to the TechNet article, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 introduces two new Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) settings for Mediation Server. The first new setting specifies how Mediation Server processes E.164 numbers in outbound calls. The second new setting enables Quality of Service (QoS) marking on Mediation Server.
By default, E.164 numbers in the Request Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for outgoing calls are prefixed with a plus sign (+). Most Private Branch eXchanges (PBXs) process such numbers without problem. Certain PBXs, however, do not accept numbers that are prefixed with a plus sign.
To ensure interoperability with these PBXs, Mediation Server has a new WMI Boolean setting called RemovePlusFromRequestURI, which has two values: TRUE and FALSE. If your PBX does not accept numbers prefixed with a plus sign, the value for the WMI setting should be set to TRUE, which causes Mediation Server to strip the plus sign from a Request URI for outbound calls. The default is FALSE, which causes Mediation Server to pass the outgoing INVITE's Request URI, To URI, and From URI unchanged.
The TechNet article also discusses compatibility with PBXs that do not support the plus (+) sign.
UCSpotting's excellent article explains all this, and includes a nice VBscript for how to change the boolean value (true or false). Check it out!By default, E.164 numbers in the Request URI of outgoing calls from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 are prefixed with a plus sign. Most PBXs process such numbers without problem. Some PBXs, however, do not accept numbers that are prefixed with a plus sign and do not route those calls correctly.
Additionally, the From headers of inbound calls from some PBXs does not conform to RFC 3966 because they are not prefixed with a plus sign. Microsoft Office Communicator cannot resolve these numbers to the correct user.
To assure interoperability with these PBXs, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has a new Mediation Server setting for WMI called RemovePlusFromRequestURI. This setting can be set to YES or NO. The default value is NO.
- If a PBX downstream from the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Mediation server does not accept numbers prefixed with a plus sign, set the value of RemovePlusFromRequestURI to YES. This causes Mediation Server to remove the plus signs from the Request URIs of outgoing calls. It also causes the plus signs to be removed from the To and From URIs.
- If the downstream PBX accepts numbers prefixed with plus signs, leave the value of RemovePlusFromRequestURI set to its default value of NO. This causes Office Communications Server 2007 Mediation Server to pass Request URIs, To URIs, and From URIs unchanged (that is, with plus signs).
"Office Communications Server 2007 R2, debuting just one year after the Microsoft unified communications launch, highlights the pace of innovation that is possible with software," said Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft. "This new release puts Microsoft on a rapid path to deliver voice software that does much more than a network private branch exchange (PBX) and with much less cost."
Interesting quote, eh? Does this not sound like Microsoft is sounding the death knell for the network PBX (IP-PBX)? This is an interesting turn of events. Microsoft hasn't been pitching OCS 2007 as an IP-PBX replacement, but rather as something complementary. In fact, I remember talking with Microsoft about this last year (2007) and they went out of their way to explain that OCS 2007 is not an IP-PBX replacement. Also, Microsoft has many IP-PBX partners in the OCS 2007 arena, including Mitel, Nortel, and others. Slip of the tongue? Or is Microsoft going full-out into the IP-PBX arena? Certainly, the fear by many IP-PBX vendors is that one day Microsoft will offer a full-fledged software-based IP-PBX replacement, but I don't think that day has come yet - even with the new features in OCS 2007 R2.
Not only do they state they will eliminate the PBX, but they declare the next version name of OCS (OCS 2010), which as far as I know Microsoft hadn't announced yet. Many UC/VoIP experts predicted that eventually Microsoft would attack the IP-PBX space alone, but one has to wonder if alienating their IP-PBX partners is such a good idea. One of their strongest OCS partners is Nortel, who is experiencing financial difficulties and is probably not in a position to pressure Microsoft to back off. Mitel is another strong partner as well that could be impacted by Microsoft's decision. Of course, Nortel and Mitel could still go after the SIP-based IP phone space within the OCS arena, but the IP phone market is much more of a commodity with a much lower margin than a full-fledged IP-PBX. Of course, there's always the high-end media phone market with large margins. For instance, Polycom recently announced their VVX1500 media phone, which created some buzz.You will deploy Office Communications Server 2010, which expands on the communications capabilities delivered in OCS 2007 R2. This release is designed to remove the need for PBX equipment within your organization and replace it with an integrated communications system that dramatically reduces management costs and gives end users innovative tools to communicate and collaborate across geographic boundaries from their office, home or on the road.
What happens when you string together 24 256GB Samsung MLC SSDs - you get 6TB of storage and 2GB/sec throughput. Sweet mother of ---! When you've got millions of dollars at your disposal, and access to some of the industry's best hardware engineers, what do you do? Well, if you're Samsung you make a YouTube video showing the speed, capacity and reliability you can get by stringing together 24 solid state disk drives behind a RAID controller to create "the world's most powerful consumer computer". The result: 6TB of storage and 2GB/sec throughput that is able to load 53 programs 18 seconds. Whoa.
OCS 2007 R2 won't replace your PBX just yet. However, their latest R2 version adds the ability to do direct SIP trunking, thus bypassing the need for an IP-PBX.
Fortunately, Mike Stacy an OCS 2007 guru, over at Evangelyze Communications has some products that enhance OCS 2007 R2 functionality. One such product is SmartSIP which launches tomorrow. According to Mike, the first dot release due next month will add the capability to use standard SIP phones with OCS. Currently, you have limited options namely Tanjay or Snom phones, but with SmartSIP you can use a Polycom IP phone, an Aastra IP phone, or dare I say, a Cisco IP phone connected to OCS 2007 R2. 
With the Cisco SIP firmware load of course.
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