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Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Lync Mini-review

November 16, 2010

Rich Tehrani and I were in NYC recently checking out Microsoft's latest UC offering, Microsoft Lync, which officially launches this week. I've been busy testing it out using some virtualized images Microsoft gave me, so haven't had time to write-up my initial impressions from the demo Rich and I had in New York. But no worries, Rich has an excellent write-up worth a look.

As a teaser, here's a snapshot of me testing Lync with Rich with Mary Jo Foley of "All About Microsoft" ZDNet fame in the background:


I hope to write a full review of Microsoft Lync soon. Although the virtualized images Microsoft sent me expired and want me to "Activate Windows" now. Doh!




Texas Instruments TNETV1072 processor Supercharges voice experience Optimized for Microsoft Lync

October 26, 2010

Texas Instruments claims that their TNETV1072's C64x+ digital signal processor (DSP) core provides "exceptional high-definition voice and wideband acoustic echo cancellation capabilities offering richer voice quality to its users." The chip is targeting and is specifically optimized for Microsoft Lync. It appears Aastra and Polycom are both taking advantage of this chip in their IP phones. Check out the full news announcement:

Offering richer voice capabilities, Texas Instruments’ high-performance TNETV1072 processor enables an enhanced voice experience Optimized for Microsoft Lync

TI’s TNETV1072 processor powers the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 IP phone platform, providing customers with VoIP capabilities and integrated desktop functionality

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) continues to build momentum in the unified communications (UC) space as it announces that  its TNETV1072 high-performance processor powers IP phones Optimized for Microsoft Lync.  TI’s processor enables the enhanced voice experience with UC functions, including presence, in advanced endpoints such as the Aastra 6721ip and 6725ip and the Polycom® CX500, CX600 and CX3000 IP phones.


Nine Technology Targets Online Backup to MSPs

October 19, 2010

At ITEXPO I met with Gene Fay, Senior Vice President for Nine Technology, an online backup and recovery service designed for MSPs to brand and resell. Nine Technology’s "Powered by Nine" data backup and restore solutions enable managed service providers (MSPs) to offer cost-effective and secure online backup and recovery services for desktops, laptops and servers.

One of their main claims to fame is their patented global deduplication process. It uses "block level" global data deduplication and compression to minimize data size, number of files and bandwidth utilization. Gene Fay claimed that their partners have done some testing and Nine Technology is 5-15x faster at recovering files than the popular Mozy or Carbonite solutions.

Some new features recently announced include:
  • Seeded initial backups shipped to the data center
  • Semi-continuous data protection
  • Granular SQL server backups using VSS snapshots
  • Automated self-service branding of partner client software
  • Web-based restore processes
  • Updated, easier-to-control GUI
The "seeded" initial backups are a key feature, since many organizations have terabytes of data that would take a long time to backup even over a fast WAN Internet connection.




Do IT Smarter MSP Provider

October 5, 2010

Goodbye Microsoft OCS Hello Microsoft Lync!

September 13, 2010

Last week I wrote an article titled "Microsoft Lync 2010 - New Product? Or New OCS Name?" based off of a couple new downloads on Microsoft's site I found via Twitter. When I saw something called Microsoft Lync on Twitter I was intrigued. After reading the description of the downloads last week, I wrote, "I'll be damned if that doesn't sound exactly like the feature-set of OCS/MCS or whatever the heck the new name will be called." Certainly the name made sense, since I thought it was a combination of "link" with a "c" for communications.

Microsoft Lync 2010 - New Product? Or New OCS Name?

September 9, 2010

Today, Microsoft released some downloads for "Microsoft Lync 2010". Microsoft Lync 2010? What the heck is that? Is that the new name of the yet unreleased Communications Server "14"? I thought it was going to be called MCS (Microsoft Communications Server).

Microsoft Releases some Updates for Office Communications Server 2007 R2

July 23, 2010


Microsoft just released some patches/updates to Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

First up is KB 968802, which includes the following updates:
  • Update for Application Host 967832  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967832/ ) Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 R2 Application Host: April 2009
  • Update for Application Sharing Server 977347  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977347/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Application Sharing Server: April 2010
  • Update for Administration Tools 977344  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977344/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Administration Tools: January 2010
  • Update for Audio/Video Conferencing 2028578   (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028578/ ) Description of the cumulative update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Audio/Video Conferencing Server: July 2010
  • Update for Core Components 983471  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983471/ ) Description of Cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Core Components: July 2010
  • Update for Communicator Web Access 983469  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983469/ ) Description of the cumulative update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Communicator Web Access: July 2010
  • Update for Conferencing Attendant 2028574  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028574/ ) Description of the cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Conferencing Attendant: July 2010
  • Update for Conferencing Announcement Service 969823  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969823/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Conferencing Announcement Service: July 2009
  • Update for Monitoring Server 971298  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971298/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Monitoring Server: July 2009
  • Update for Mediation Server 977937   (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977937/ ) Description of the cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Mediation Server: April 2010
  • Update for Outside Voice Control 980372  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980372/ ) Description of the cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Outside Voice Control: April 2010
  • Update for Response Group Service 2284304  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2284304/ ) Description of Cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Response Group Service: July 2010
  • Update for Standard/Enterprise edition Server 983472  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983472/ ) Description of cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2: July, 2010
  • Update for Standard/Enterprise edition Server Back End 2032834  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2032834/ ) Description of the cumulative update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 database: July, 2010
  • Update for Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Core Redist 64-bit 982170  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982170/ ) Description of the cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Core Redist 64-bit: July 2010
  • Update for Web Conferencing Server 2028582  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028582/ ) Description of the cumulative update for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Web Conferencing Server: July 2010
  • Update for Web Components Server 967830  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967830/ ) Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 R2, Web Components: April 2009

The second update released is part of KB 2032881:

This update package also includes the following previously released updates: 
  • 981415  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981415/ ) An Invalid Chat Room URI exception is generated in an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server SDK-based application
  • 981445  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981445/ ) Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server takes a long time to process changes
  • 981446  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981446/ ) Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server cannot log some PART or JOIN events if an abnormal drop from Group Chat Server occurs
  • 981448  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981448/ ) Active Directory processing changes takes a long time on an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server
  • 979105  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979105/ ) A synchronization operation between the Active Directory directory service and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server fails
  • 979106  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979106/ ) Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server does not apply the correct group membership for some users
  • 972951  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972951/ ) A compliance server reports incomplete or inaccurate information about user JOIN and PART events in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server
  • 972944  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972944/ ) You may experience performance issues on a channel server in Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Channel Server
  • 973384  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973384/ ) The Group Chat service does not work after you restart a computer that is running Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server
  • 973385  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973385/ ) Users in a secured organizational unit (OU) named "Blocking Inheritance" cannot use the Group Chat Admin Tool
  • 973386  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973386/ ) A compliance XML output file is not generated by a compliance server in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server






Microsoft Kinect Adds Video Chat

June 14, 2010


Project Natal for the XBOX 360 has just been renamed to Microsoft Kinect. Personally, I prefer the old name. In any event, Microsoft also announced a VoIP & video conferencing app simply called Video Chat. Great, get rid of a cool project name and then offer the lamest name for a video chat application ever! Offering a video app is a natural extension for this video camera device.

With this news of bringing videoconferencing to your TV, it would appear Microsoft isn't going to take Skype trying to take over the living room TV lying down.


Silverlight on iPhone?

May 27, 2010

ZDNet's Microsoft blogging guru (guru-ess?) Mary Jo is reporting on a rumor of Silverlight coming to the Apple iPhone. This is based on a WSJ report that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may make an appearance at the upcoming Apple World Wide Developers Conference. Some are speculating that Ballmer will announce some kind of add-on for Visual Studio 2010 to support development of iPhone apps using Microsoft's tool suite. But Mary Jo, who often has inside sources at Microsoft writes:
While that's possible -- after all, there's an add-on for Visual Studio 2010 that supports Windows Phone 7 development - I'm thinking something else may be afoot.

Sangoma and HP Partner on UC Platform

May 12, 2010

I saw a release a couple of weeks ago about Sangoma entering into an OEM relationship with a "major computer and networking equipment supplier", which really piqued my interest since I'm a Sangoma telephony card fan. The release however doesn't name the company.

However, it got me thinking that there are not many companies that sell computer AND networking equipment. The only two companies that came to mind are Intel and HP (which now owns 3Com now). I doubt Intel would ink a deal with Sangoma since Intel already tested the telephony waters with Dialogic which they bought & then sold.

That leaves HP.

I did some digging and a source told me that they saw a Sangoma logo on some HP hardware at the last VoiceCon show.





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