Fonality's trixbox Unified Agent Edition (UAE) can automatically match all inbound and outbound calls with the corresponding record in salesforce.com's AppExchange, and call data is captured and logged eliminating manual entry. This is a big step for Fonality in taking their Asterisk-based IP-PBX from simply an enterprise phone system to a "true" call center platform that can compete with Avaya, Nortel, Interactive Intelligence, and other major call center platforms.

Fonality, today announced the collaboration of the trixbox Pro Unified Agent Edition and salesforce.com's AppExchange.

Fonality's trixbox Pro, Unified Agent Edition (UAE) is immediately available for test drive and deployment from Fonality Australia. It's unclear whether trixbox UAE is available in the U.S. or elsewhere as well. I'm looking into it. Relatedly, go check out my in-depth trixbox Pro 2.0 Call Center Edition (CCE) review I wrote yesterday.

In the meantime, Fonality UAE features:
- Performance Management:
- Automatic Call History provides a detailed history of who employees are calling and the duration of each call.
- Integrated Call Recording allows any call to be recorded from the PBX system and attached to the corresponding record in Salesforce.com.
- Lead Management Reporting provides reports on how many calls were required for conversion, lead activity, etc.
- Agent Activity Reporting ranks agents based on activity and productivity.
- Outbound Call Reporting shows which reports are busiest on the phone, how many calls have been made to leads and customers.

Agent Productivity:
- Click to Call allows any number is Salesforce.com to be automatically dialed with the click of a mouse.
- Improved Screen Pops address the problem of multiple matching records. A screen is automatically launched for immediate note taking, and then can be attached to the proper record after the call.
- Deal Size Alerts pop-up on a rep's desktop and display the name, company and size of the opportunity before the phone starts ringing.
- Account Ownership Routing automatically directs incoming calls go to the account owners

I was watching the Republican National Convention (RNC) speeches last night, toggling between CNN and FOX News, when a major rain storm hit Connecticut causing a lengthly loss of satellite signal. It was the middle of Rudy Giuliani's hard-hitting speech when I lost all of my TV channels. I have to get my nightly politics "fix" or I'm a grumpy blogger in the morning.

The highly-anticipated speech from Governor Sarah Palin was still to come and it looked like I wasn't going to be able to watch it live. Sometimes CNN offers live streaming coverage, so I headed over to CNN.com and sure enough they were offering a live streaming video feed. But alas, it didn't work. Only the audio worked and I got a green box for the video feed. Perhaps their web servers were overloaded by others doing the same thing I was? There was a lot of media 'buzz' surrounding last night's convention speeches, in particular Palin, so I'm sure lots of Internet users were watching via their PCs.

Next, I headed over to FOXNews.com but couldn't find the live feed link. Then I remembered I recently installed TVUPlayer from TVU Networks, a P2P TV channel streaming application and I recalled that FOX News was one of the channels it supported. I fired up TVUPlayer, and clicked on FOX News. It gave me a warning that the channel was experiencing technical difficulties, and prompted 'are you sure you want to continue". This was an error I had never seen before. I clicked continue and it started to stream, but it was very choppy. CNN's video streaming is screwed up, FOX News video streaming is choppy what's going on here? I have to wonder if CNN & FOX News experienced a higher streaming demand last night. Whether it was pro-Palin supporters or simply people curious to check out Palin, something was going on last night. I've never had streaming issues from two major websites simultaneously.

Anyway, I gave up on FOXNews.com and went to the channel list in TVUPlayer to look for another news channel. Interestingly, only FOX News and a local ABC News channel was listed in the channel line-up. No MSNBC or CNN or Headline News. Cable news networks that don't permit live streaming are missing out on a huge audience and shooting themselves in the foot if you ask me. You can sell commercials/ads in live streaming feeds or simply use the same TV commercials. Regardless, you can monetize and more easily track the number of Internet users streaming your video feed than using the antiquated Nielsen Ratings system, which is based on "sampling" data.

Anyway, then I saw C-SPAN and C-SPAN-2 in the channel line-up. Nobody watches C-SPAN, so surely their servers will have plenty of bandwidth available! I launched C-SPAN and the video quality was superb. I was able to catch the second half of Rudy's speech and the beginning of Sara Palin's speech live on my computer. Phew! Gotta love the Internet! After about 30 minutes, the storm died down and I got my live TV satellite signal back and I switched back to my TV.

I suppose I could have watched the speeches on Youtube when they get posted, but it's just not the same thing as watching an event live. I for one cannot wait for the day when I can stream live any TV channel over the Internet. I might even be willing to pay a few cents for the privilege.

Qik, the popular live streaming mobile phone video app, is now available on a variety of new Windows Mobile enabled phones including select HTC devices.

New support includes:
• HTC Touch Dual
• HTC Touch Diamond
• HTC TyTn-II
• AT&T Tilt
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Qik added mobile video blogging to the Apple iPhone just last week. I was actually going to use Qik on my Verizon XV6700 HTC Apache Windows Mobile 6.1 device to live video blog Internet Telephony Expo in 2 weeks - but it isn't supported. While the HTC Apache isn't specifically listed, I'm going to try again in a few minutes to see if it works. Many HTC devices have the same core software. Will let you know how it goes. [crossing fingers]

If I can't get Qik to work, I may just use Livecast on my Windows Mobile at ITEXPO. It works just fine. Although not as well known as Qik, the performance was surprisingly good. I'll have to compare Livecast with Qik once I get Qik working.

Fonality is one of the premiere providers of Asterisk-based IP-PBX solutions. Fonality offers three products: PBXtra, trixbox CE (community edition), and trixbox Pro (commercial/reseller edition). trixbox Pro. which is their commercial edition runs on Fonality's "hardened" PBXtra technology, which Fonality claims has 5 thousand installations and over 325 million calls to date. trixbox Pro is a hybrid-hosted solution, which means you get 24/7 monitoring, phone mobility with no NAT traversal issues, and automatic software updates.


                                        trixbox appliance

Ratings Score Installation Documentation Features Usability Performance Overall

trixbox Pro comes in three editions. The trixbox Pro family starts with Standard Edition (SE), which is free.The remaining two editions, Enterprise Edition (EE) and Call Center Edition (CCE), are available at a low monthly cost or for a lifetime fee. TMC Labs checked out Fonality's flagship product, trixbox Pro Call Center Edition (CCE) which has all the features of trixbox Pro SE and trixbox Pro EE, plus additional call center functionality. trixbox Pro Call Center Edition scored very well in my ratings. It's lowest rating was still a very good 4 stars for 'Performance'. The reason for this not achieving 4.5 or a 5 star rating was that their hosted web interface can be occasionally slow.

trixbox Pro CCE is based on Asterisk and includes an easy web-based user interface, web-based voice mail, exportable reporting, click-to-call,  mouse-driven operator panel, Outlook integration, real-time resource graphs, system alerts, auto-card configuring, seamless VoIP trunking, and more. trixbox Pro CCE is designed for companies with 2 - 200 agents and includes ACD and IVR capabilities with unlimited queues, skills-based routing, real-time queue statistics, graphical reports, and web-based recording access.

One of the most powerful features included in trixbox Pro CCE is HUD Pro, a communications software application which features enhanced presence, on-the-fly recording, call barge, call monitor, CRM integration, and one-touch agent login. Each extension has up to 6 icons at the bottom. Depending on your permissions, you can click on one of these icons to call their voicemail, record, barge, email, call their alternate number (mobile phone), or chat.

Here's a screenshot of HUD during an internal extension call.



You'll notice there are different colors to indicate presence and color coding of calls.

Green - Inbound/outbound call
Orange - Queue call
Purple - Intraoffice extension call
Grey - Unregistered

HUD also features drag-and-drop call control, which not only lets you drag calls to someone's extension, but if that person is out of the office, you can drag the call to the mobile phone icon which will transfer the call to their mobile phone. One neat feature is that HUD can launch a Web browser to a custom URL when your extension rings. This can be used to look up inbound callers in your Web-based CRM software or even direct the search query to Google, AnyWho reverse number lookup, etc. HUD Pro also features secure chat for intraoffice instant messaging.

For users that use Outlook Contacts, there is a TAPI plugin that lets you simply right-click on a Contact and initiate a call. They have also extended TAPI so that you can call directly from your Inbox or any other Outlook email folder. What's even cooler is that trixbox Pro takes care of dialing the "9" and it automatically takes your phone off-hook (speakerphone mode) so you don't have to even touch the phone. The off-hook speakerphone mode actually works throughout HUD. So you can also double-click an internal extension from within HUD and your phone will go off-hook automatically. Similarly, you can highlight a phone number anywhere on your computer, and then "drag" that number into HUD and HUD will dial the number. I should mention that currently trixbox Pro supports this off-hook feature on Polycom and Aastra phones.

trixbox Pro has some other interesting tricks up its sleeve. For instance, it has a Firefox plugin called FONcall which automatically highlights a phone number on a web-page. You simply click it and it initiates the call - once again automatically taking your phone off-hook.

Similar to an Outlook toast popup on an incoming email, HUD also displays a toast alert in the lower right of your screen on an inbound or outbound call. This allows you to direct callers to voicemail, record, or other functions without having to open the main HUD interface. The feature-rich HUD Pro client is certainly a competitive advantage Fonality has over many other Asterisk-based solutions. Though, Fonality does offer a free version HUD Lite which has a slimmed down feature-set and which works on most Asterisk flavors. HUD Lite for instance, doesn't have on-the-fly recording, recording of others, log in & out of queues, call barging, call monitoring, and some other features. Thus, the powerful functionality in HUD Pro is a compelling reason for prospective buyers evaluating various flavors of Asterisk.

trixbox Pro supports your traditional telephony features such as auto-attendant, IVR, and voicemail. Similarly, from your desktop phone you get your traditional features such as call parking, call transfer (after a flash hook), and call conferencing. All of these work as expected. trixbox Pro also supports Ring-All (Blast Group) and similarly the ability to intercom page an extension or a group.

For trunk support, trixbox Pro supports analog, T1/E1, and now BRI. The user-friendly web-based administrator supports plug-and-play detection of your telephony hardware, which is typically Sangoma hardware in trixbox Pro. I liked the ease at which I was able to detect and configure the T1/E1 card and the two analog cards in the machine.

Faxing is also supported on trixbox Pro. While faxing on Asterisk-based platforms often gets a bad rap, (due to timing/clock syncing issues) Sangoma has recently built some very good analog hardware to solve this problem. Actually, the developed a simple bridging cable that connects from the T1/E1 card to the analog hardware to keep the timing in sync. Presto, bango! - reliable faxing on an Asterisk-based platform!

trixbox Pro has extensive BLF support, although only for Aastra phones. You can easily drag-and-drop users into your BLF area on any Aastra model with BLF support. Fonality also added automatic detection and support for the Aastra 536M and 560M sidecars to extend the number of BLF keys available on your Aastra phone.

Another key feature is the built-in conference bridges. The 5 built-in conference bridges each support an unlimited number of internal participants and as many external participants as you have inbound phone lines.

Mobility features are very strong in trixbox Pro. Each user can logon to their own personal web control panel and specify rules for how/when/where they are contacted as part of their FindMe feature (see screenshot below). FindMe supports presence detection (via HUD) to know when you have walked away from your desk and thereby ring your cell phone. Further, it features a "white list" to only allow specific people to access "findme", as well as a VIP list (spouse, important contacts) that can reach you regardless of the schedule or your HUD presence status. Very useful feature to help stay in touch with your important contacts while respecting the times you don't wish to be contacted.

Part of FindMe, the Boomerang feature allows you to send a call that has been forwarded to your cell phone right back to any extension on your PBX. Simply press some touch-tones on your cell and the call can be redirected to your assistant or back to your own desk. You can also record calls on your mobile using Boomerang - a powerful feature. Call screening is included and one of my favorite features. The caller is prompted for their name and once again you have the choice to accept or reject the call.

Telecommuters/Home workers Support
Telecommuting support in trixbox Pro is very good. trixbox Pro's hybrid-hosted approach means no more pesky VoIP over NAT firewall issues. I was able to take an Aastra phone I auto-provisioned in the office home with me, connect to my home broadband connection, and simply change the DNS setting on the phone to the external DNS entry of the trixbox server and voilà, I was able to make & receive calls to my extension. No need to poke any holes in the corporate firewall or my home firewall. Nice and simple.

Features:

• Outlook Integration
• Voicemail
• Voicemail-to-Email
• Hot Desk
• Music-on-Hold
• Scheduler
• Night Mode New!
• Custom CTI (AGI)
• Analog & IP Phones
• Call Forwarding
• Name Directory
• DIDs
• Unlimited VoIP Accounts
• PSTN Fallback
• Branch Office Support
• Web-based Control Panel
• Powerful Reporting
• Hands Free Auto Phone Provisioning
• FAX Support
• BLF Support
• BRI Detection
• E1 Support
• Live Backup Server
• Multiple Deployment Management
• Conference Bridges
• Routing by DIDs
• Paging / Zone Paging
• Intercom / Zone Intercom
• Voicemail Groups
• Advanced Call Forwarding
• Call Return
• Call Out
• Custom Caller IDs
• SMS/Pager Voicemail Notify
• Alerts & Notifications
• Trunks Status Pages
• Real-Time System Graphs
• FindMe
• Boomerang Mobile Integration
• Call Screening
• Music-On-Hold (Unlimited)
• Historical System Graphs
• Unlimited Call Queues
• Full Featured A.C.D.
• Skills-Based Routing
• Graphical Queue Reports
• Barge Report
• Agent Call Recording
• Agent Variable Log-off
• Agents on Cell Phones
• Agents Shared across Sites
• Real-Time Queue Stats

HUD features:

• Operator Panel (w/ BLF)
• Call Parking Area
• Drag & Drop Call Control
• Color-Coded Call Status
• Drag & Drop to Voicemail
• Extension Sorting
• Enterprise Instant Messaging
• Outlook Integration
• Presence Management
• Click-to-Call Mobile Phones
• Click-to-Email
• Desktop Alerts
• Interactive Desktop Alerts
• Group & User Permissions
• Extension Grouping
• Extension Search
• Extension SearchQuickMenu
• Shortcuts (Hotkeys)
• On-the-Fly Recording
• Queue Status
• Agent Login/Logout
• Call Barging (active)
• Call Monitoring (passive)
• Web Access to Recordings
• Advanced CRM Integration

Some important new features in trixbox Pro 2.0 worth highlighting:
First, calendar-based scheduling has been added allowing you to have your call menu do something specific, such as special holiday greetings. trixbox Pro has had very good auto-provisioning already, but they've improved it in 2.0. I was able to connect several Aastra and Polycom phones on our network and trixbox Pro auto-detected them and auto-assigned them an extension in sequential order. Hands free phone auto-provisioning is supported on all supported Aastra models and Polycom models with firmware 2.2 and above.

Resellers will especially like the single-screen management for all of their customers. From one Admin web interface you can switch between installations with two clicks of the mouse in the lower-right corner of the Admin Panel.

Room for Improvement:
The call recordings (screenshot of interface below) within the web-based interface should have a memo text field to allow users to add recording details, such as caller's name, topic discussed, etc. If you keep a lot of recordings, this will make it easier to reference them in the future.

I'd like to see standard-based videoconferencing support in HUD Pro. If Counterpath can offer a slick videoconferencing app (eyeBeam softphone) based on SIP and other industry standards, then surely so can Fonality. In addition to video, perhaps collaboration capabilities (WebEx, Microsoft Live Meeting) would be a nice addition. This would negate the need for a separate collaboration platform, the associated licensing fees, and duplication of the same employee information which must also be maintained due to employee turnover.

One last suggestion would be to email the call recordings automatically, similar to the voicemail-to-email feature. You can of course access the recordings via the web and download & save to your local PC, but an automatic email option would be nice.

Conclusion
I was very impressed with the ease-of-use of the admin interface, and I especially liked the strong mobility features. Users will like the web-based visual voicemail and voicemail-to-email features. The web-based GUI is one of the best you'll see on any Asterisk-based platform and it makes extensive use of AJAX and tool-tips. Lastly, HUD's motley of features, including desktop call control, presence, and on-the-fly recording make trixbox Pro a compelling choice when deciding which IP-PBX to purchase.

Perhaps the only caveat with trixbox Pro as compared with other Asterisk-based solutions is the trixbox pricing. Many Asterisk-based solutions are extremely inexpensive, some under $1000. trixbox Pro does offer a relatively inexpensive monthly option. For instance, for trixbox Pro Call Center Edition (CCE) that I tested, it's $11.39/month per extension for 26-50 extensions. However, the lifetime fee is $159.99/month per extension which works out to be $14,259.50 for a 50 extension IP-PBX. That's not 'terribly' expensive, but it is more than some competing Asterisk-based solutions, though still much less expensive than many Nortel, Avaya, or Cisco systems.

I'm sure Fonality would argue their main competitors are not other Asterisk solutions but the "Big 3" (Avaya, Nortel, Cisco). Further, in my past discussions with Fonality, they've told me that they believe they add a lot of value to the "core" Asterisk that gives it a much stronger feature-set than other Asterisk-based systems. In testing trixbox Pro I would agree that it has many features I have not seen in many other Asterisk-based systems, including HUD Pro, call screening, call recording (some others do have this), strong call center functionality (queues), easy-to-use web-based admin, etc.

I recently saw a demo of Digium's latest version of Switchvox down at Digium's headquarters and did notice there are features in Switchvox that trixbox Pro doesn't have, like Web 2.0 features. I plan on doing a review on Switchvox in the near future. It'll be interesting to compare the two. Overall, I think trixbox Pro is one of the most feature-rich IP-PBXs I've reviewed and I would not hesitate to recommend it to companies looking for an easy-to-use and easy to maintain IP-PBX.

Fonality, a provider of IP-PBX systems based on Asterisk, has just secured a $12 million financing round led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Growth Fund with participation from existing investor Intel Capital. Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a well known venture capital firm backing more than 600 companies including industry-changing companies such as Hotmail, Overture, Four11, Baidu, and fellow VoIP company, Skype.

I spoke with Fonality CFO Dan Rosenthal who explained that Fonality has had  16 successive quarters of growth, and that the main goal of this funding was to grow the distribution channel and accelerate growth. As part of the financing deal, DFJ will become part of Fonality's board. Dan said, "We're growing at a pretty good clip. Growth takes cash. We've got relationships with big partners such as Dell,  PCMall coming down the line. In order to really accelerate our growth we want to make sure we've got the bulk and the balance sheet to support that growth."

Dan also mentioned they are focusing on OEM distribution. He pointed to Dell's deal earlier this year with Fonality and stated that other major co-branded and OEM branded products in lots of different places were forthcoming. PCMall being another example that Dan mentioned.

According to Fonality, they will use this additional capital to continue expanding its share of the $7B domestic telephony market and take a position in the $25B global telephony market, with a special focus on affordability and mobility for businesses with 5 - 500 people per location.

"Fonality's model has always been to free people from the prison of their cubicles, and to do so affordably," said Fonality CEO Chris Lyman. "But, with the rising price of gas and the increased adoption of high quality broadband, our vision of 'your office is the world' is nearly upon us. This investment by DFJ and Intel Capital, two top-tier investment firms, gives us the freedom to further accelerate our growth and acquisition strategy."

Randy Glein, managing director of DFJ Growth Fund, has joined Fonality's board of directors. "Fonality is the right solution at the right time," said Glein. "The company has developed a powerful, affordable communications platform for small and medium-sized businesses, allowing Fonality-enabled businesses to compete more effectively in the global economy. Fonality combines the benefits of open source development, rich proprietary features, and professional support to help its 5,000 customers take advantage of the latest communications innovations very affordably. Fonality supports workers wherever they are and lets them communicate inside and outside their organizations with easy-to-use software available everywhere, on any device."

Earlier this year, the company launched a relationship with Dell to sell Fonality products online at Dell.com and via Dell telephone sales. Fonality currently has 140 employees, offices in three countries, and operates four global data centers.

Regular readers of the VoIP & Gadgets blog will recall I've written about Flashphone several times. In theory, Flashphone, like Phweet (a Flash-based VoIP app) should work on Aircell's airline Internet service. Until of course, Aircell blocks it of course. (See Andy's post about doing VoIP over Aircell)

The most recent Flashphone news was the addition of flash-SIP/VoIP-to-video calling. Now today, Flashphone has released an Adobe AIR version of Flashphone. Many Flashphone users (about 75000 now) use Flashphone's browser-based SIP softphone since it requires zero installation. However, if you are using flashphone to receive incoming calls, having a browser VoIP app isn't always convenient.

That's why Flashphone created an AIR version of Flashphone. Flashphone writes, "Now you can install it in few click with Adobe AIR runtime (if it's not installed yet) and get real SIP softphone which works in the same way like browser-based one, but you can minimize it to system tray and be sure that you are online and ready to receive calls. Sure there are lot of things to improve in this version, so we are expecting feedback from our users."

Here is the Adobe AIR Install badge:

 

Garrett Smith from VoIP Supply emailed me this morning expressing his excitement that "A VoIP pure play keeping up with a who's who of America's top retailers." Specifically, the company Garrett works for was named to CRN Magazine's Fastest Growing retailers listing VoIP Supply's retail business amongst the big boys like Best Buy, New Egg and PC Connection.

Out of the 15 companies listed, only one company posted better growth numbers then VoIP Supply.

A hearty congrats to VoIP Supply team! I'm sure I'll see some of you at Internet Telephony Expo (ITEXPO) in a couple weeks. I'm sure Garrett, who blogs for SmithonVoIP will be at Andy Abramson's Bloggers' Dinner that Andy puts together each show. I'll have to raise a toast to VoIP Supply's success.

Obviously, VoIP is growing like gangbusters for VoIP Supply to beat out other retailers. Relatedly, Rich 3 days ago pointed out that VoIP jobs salaries grew dramatically in Q2 this year.

Rich writes:

OnForce Inc., is an online jobs mart where employers and workers meet on the Internet and agree on an hourly rate and a recent report from the company shows growth in VoIP rates have increased from 1.5 to 1.95 between Q1 and Q2. This basically means VoIP jobs are now paying twice the average of all IT jobs.

Get this... Jobs in the field of printers and point of sale systems (cash registers, etc) command 1/3 the salary of those in VoIP!

If you are in the VoIP space, your time is now. Sure these salary levels may not be this high forever but it is great to see demand and salaries increase so rapidly in a time where news in other markets is generally not as good.

If you are looking to get into the VoIP market or enhance your skills, the time is now. Don't wait... Don't delay.

There are many certifications you can look into and many are very good but only one is offered by TMC -- the company which publishes the only VoIP-related magazine -- Internet Telephony and puts on the world's only IP Communications event ITEXPO...

And of course that would be TMC University. Frankly, you cannot find a better certification anywhere IMHO and as you may have noticed it is tough to be humble when you think your product is so great.

Well said, Rich. And with ITEXPO just 2 weeks away, it's not too late to sign up for some of the training and certification classes. Rich lists a bunch of the classes you can take at the show to polish your VoIP skills & to get in on this fast-growing & lucrative VoIP action.

Well if the cat wasn't out of the bag already over the naming convention (OCS 2007 R2 vs. OCS 2009) for the next release of Office Communications Server 2007, we can put that to rest. It will be indeed be called Office Communications Server 2007 R2. In fact, just a few days ago, Microsoft shipped the beta for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, "in record time after shipping OCS 2007 last year."

Kintan Brahmbhatt, a Program Manager at Microsoft writes, "It is a great achievement for the team. Today brings back memories from my earlier days, when Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 had recently shipped and we were all gung ho about Office Communications Server." Kintan goes down memory lane showing a video with Scoble (when he was still with Microsoft) along with some of Microsoft's Real Time Collaboration gang - Dhigha, Mallika, Kyle and Kintan. Check out the video & news about OCS 2007 R2 beta here: http://www.kintya.com/blog/2008/08/office-communic.html

I'm happy to see Kintan involved with OCS since back in the early days of OCS. I wonder if Kintan was with Microsoft when Microsoft launched technologies formerly referred to by the code name "Greenwich", which was part of the Microsoft Real-Time Communications Server (RTC Server) 2003. I was one of the early RTC Server beta testers 5 years ago. It only did SIP/VoIP and IM and not video, and was the precursor to Live Communications Server 2005 -- if I recall correctly. Of course, LCS 2005 later evolved to become OCS 2007.

If memory serves me correctly, RTC Server didn't do well in the market and perhaps didn't even actually launch out of beta. RTC Server was more of an IM/presence platform and didn't have strong PBX integration. I do recall that the ability to enter in SIP credentials was removed from Windows Messenger, which was annoying since I wanted to deploy it at TMC. It appeared Microsoft was giving up on SIP and any sort of open SIP-based communications platform.

It was then in January 2006, that the Exchange and RTC (Real-Time Collaboration) groups were merged together that indicated to me that Microsoft wasn't giving up on unified communications and that they were truly serious this time. Microsoft has had many stops & starts in VoIP - from Netmeeting to Windows Messenger with support with SIP providers (Net2Phone) to RTC Server. It appears with OCS 2007 (which I've reviewed) and now OCS 2007 R2 beta Microsoft finally got it right. I'm looking forward to checking out OCS 2007 R2 in the near future.

Via Kintan's MSDN blog.

Update:
I should mention that this beta release is only available for customers/partners that were accepted for the OCS Technology Adoption Program. There is unfortunately no Public Beta available.

In late July, 3CX launched a new SIP-based VoIP client called 3CX VoIP Phone, with a fully-featured dialpad, and it allows for easy call transfers. It also features history of calls, the ability to put calls on hold, and the ability to accept, reject or ignore calls. Best of all 3CX VoIP phone is completely free and works with most popular IP PBXs and VoIP providers. It even sports multiple SIP profiles support for registering with multiple SIP accounts.

As I wrote back in July, 3CX VoIP Phone features strong Microsoft Outlook integration. Users can launch calls directly from their contacts' list within Outlook by just right-clicking on the name of the person they wish to call.

Other features of 3CX VoIP Phone

• Supports several SIP profiles
• Shows personal call log/history - ideal for salespeople
• Message Waiting Indication (MWI)
• Supports G.711 (A-Law and u-Law), GSM, iLBC and Speex codecs
• STUN support for NAT/firewall traversal
• Installation provided as MSI for easy deployment

The new 3CX VoIP Phone can be downloaded here: http://www.3cx.com/VOIP/voip-phone.html

It was just announced on the Office Communications Server Team blog that the next release of OCS 2007 (rumored to be called OCS 2007 R2) will support 64-bit operating systems only. Customers who are using 32-bit hardware systems to run OCS 2007 will have to upgrade to x64 systems to install and run the next release of OCS.

From Microsoft:

As a part of the broad initiative across Microsoft to support 64 bit versions across many of its product lines, the next release of OCS will support 64-bit operating systems only. This decision will help meet customer demand and is a natural progression of the product that aligns with the same approach taken by the Exchange team (with Exchange 2007) and the SharePoint team (with SharePoint 2007) to support 64 bit operating systems only.

For the next release of OCS, Microsoft will support deployments on 64 bit operating systems - Windows Server 2003 x64 (R2) and Windows Server 2008 x64.

They based their decision to go 100% 64-bit in part based on customer feedback, as they explained here:

Based on customer feedback, Microsoft's goal with the next release of OCS is to simplify deployments by reducing the number of servers needed for deployment. Customers are also telling us they are pushing the limits of existing hardware with their "mission critical" communications solutions.

OCS 2007 Video Call

There was a bit of a backlash from customers when Microsoft announced that Exchange Server 2007 would be 64-bit only, but I think that mentality has eased a bit over the last year. More IT departments are deploying 64-bit servers these days, so it's much less of an issue. Plus, OCS 2007 servers are installed by companies that are on the leading-edge of technology. After all, OCS 2007 is only 1-2 years old. Plus like Microsoft says, when you consider that enterprise communications are mission critical, why would stick with 32-bit when 64-bit works much more reliably?

I'm sure there will be those that disagree, but I for one am happy Microsoft is jumping in with both feet into the 64-bit world.