For more than two decades, Microsoft has been “hanging around” the telephony business. In the early 90’s, Microsoft was a key player along with Novell in TAPI and TSAPI forging new concepts in CTI-Computer Telephony Integration. It should come as no surprise that they now plan, not to be just another player but to be the dominant provider in the telephony business or how it’s now referred as the UC/UM-Unified Communications/Messaging business. Rather than deal with the dinosaurs trying to get them to understand what needs to be done, Microsoft will simply “assimilate” telephony into Microsoft Office® and eliminate the need for a separate PBX or other type of telephony altogether. Of course, this won’t happen overnight but most often Microsoft enters an industry not to be another provider but the dominate one. As one management expert said, “why play if you don’t play to win.”
For more than three decades, there has been development on integrated PC-phones. It has been obvious to everyone, why have two devices when one will do. Why hasn’t it happened and why are we still waiting are compelling questions. The answer lies, in my opinion, not in technology but in distribution. Until recently and still for most businesses, you bought your telephone system from an interconnect company and your computer from a computer VAR. Neither needed to or wanted to know about the other as both were interested in gouging the customer on wiring, backup, moves-changes, additional equipment and support. With Microsoft’s OCS-Office Communications Server, customers can buy it all from one company, the Microsoft VAR. There is also great incentive for the Microsoft VARs to “assimilate” telephony by selling OCS. OCS gives the VAR even greater control over the customer. It is like adding “pie” to the happy meal. The customer benefits from “one-stop shopping” which, according to all the research we have conducted, is what they really want anyway. Customers get one bill, one sales rep and a lot less hassle. And, Customers don’t have to make two phone calls to get help. They also save money by eliminating often high maintenance costs and really expensive move-change charges. In addition, user finally gets a telephone that is “assimilated” into the computer and eliminates, for many, the deskset completely. Savings include the cost of the deskset, extra wiring, support, training (they never got any so its one less thing to figure out how it works) and other costs even office space.
What all this means is that the old-time interconnect company, the PBX, hybrid key systems and even hosted VoIP is finally going away. Many of them hate IP systems, never wanted to learn IP and keep thinking it’s a fad that will go away. Those that sell only hosted VoIP will also disappear as customers want single vendor for all their communications and computing needs. This also means huge opportunity for those who finally want to see the telephone finally get “assimilated” PC and the benefits of “unified” communications or messaging finally arrive. With browser-based hosted OCS communications bringing unified communications to any device, hardware dependence is also reduced. In subsequent articles I will address this concept and how finally AI-artificial intelligence systems can finally be integrated into communications.
In my humble opinion, OCS is the most significant event since the digital PBX and while the PBX will remain for sometime to come, its days are numbered. Now is the time for all parties to get knowledgeable about OCS and where this is going and how to prosper from it or begin looking for a new job.
And, yes the reference to being assimilated comes from the Borg in StarTrek® where all knowledge comes from, of course. Microsoft® is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.
Introduction to OCS Telephony Features - "Look Mr. Bell, finally no phone at all." Here is an introduction to OCS Telephony Features.
Called UM-Unified Messaging or UC-Unified Communications, the essence of the concept is the "toolbar" or the "ribbon." It provides a number of benefits to the user, including the ability to see if they have new voicemails, either from the main Office Communicator window or by looking at the icon in the “notification area” at the bottom of the screen. Communicator also has the ability to divert calls to Exchange Unified Messaging, either dynamically or on a static basis, as well as allowing users to connect to the Unified Messaging service to change their greeting or access other voice functionality.
Users can “deflect” (dynamically forward) incoming voice calls to another device such as a cellular phone, their home phone or their Exchange Unified Messaging inbox.
Certainly one of the coolest features is "click-to-call, not dial at all." Calls can be initiated directly from the contact list in Communicator, or in other applications where presence information is shown. The "ribbon" in Outlook 2007 has a “Call” option within it so an email can be replied to with a telephone call. If any web pages or other documents have a “tel:” (SIP) notation within them, users can click on these links and automatically initiate a call.
Multi-party calls can be conducted using Office Communicator. These can have a combination of users who are using their PCs or traditional calls too. Users who are not using PCs or wish to join the conference from a regular phone can easily be dialed out by Office Communicator and Office Communications Server. Conference calls can be conducted on an ad-hoc basis or they can be scheduled from Outlook via an add-in. If starting a conference from Communicator, a user can click on the group they want to start the conference with and then start the conference with a single click.
Office Communicator can be used to make and receive phone calls to and from any phone connected to the PSTN network (assuming appropriate infrastructure is in place inside the organization to connect Office Communications Server to the PSTN network) as well as conducting voice conversations with other PCs.
Simultaneous Ring - "Call Forking" - When a call comes in to a user who is enabled for Enhanced VoIP with Office Communicator, all of their Communicator endpoints will “ring.” In addition to this, the user can also have one additional PSTN device configured to ring at the same time.
Tabs in Conversation Windows
If you want to see a glimpse of what is to come, here is a feature that integrates any kind of information together for "context-enhanced communications."
Conversation windows can be extended to include data and information that contain actionable items during a call, like here, where a call with a help desk shows the options relevant to support the Communicator user.
Another example of "context-communications" is Contextual Tabs.
Tabs can be extended to show contextual information and data based on the identity of the current user, like in this sample, where the address information of the selected content is matched up against a local.live.com search.
Feature Administration
Features can be added/deleted easily. For example, the action menu can be extended to include other applications in order to create easy access from within Communicator. For example, the LiveMeeting menu has been added to the Communicator Actions Menu.
At the end of the tutorial is a list of more than 100 other telephony features with no doubt more on the way.
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OCS Training
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OCS Essentials - Fundamentals of OCS - 101 (onsite)
SIP & Microsoft OCS-Office Communications Server with Virtual OCS Lab Training Course - 5-Day Onsite and Virtual Lab
An executive and operational guide to SIP-Session Initiation Protocol & Microsoft OCS-Office Communications Server/Communicator available in classroom (onsite) format of five (5) days or custom version. This course is designed to help enterprise technical-executive managers, channel partners and others better understand SIP-Session Initiation Protocol and Microsoft's OCS-Office Communications Server. A complete detailed course outline and objectives is available at:
OCS Essentials - Fundamentals of OCS - 101 (online)
This is the online version of OCS 101 available for $499 per student or less.
A complete detailed course outline and objectives is available at:
OCS Complete - Advanced OCS 201
Advanced Microsoft OCS-Office Communication Server Implementation Training Course - 5-Day Onsite and "Hands-On" Lab
OCS Essentials 101 is recommended prior to this course. An advanced technical and operational guide to Microsoft OCS-Office Communications Server/Communicator available in classroom (onsite) format of five (5) days or custom version.
Virtual OCS Labs Office Communications Server “Hands-on” Online Labs
TECHtionary.com today announced “Virtual OCS Labs,” its “hands-on” online sequel to its highly successful OCS-Office Communications Server Essentials 101-Introduction and 201-Complete courses. Virtual OCS Labs provides the means for customers to “get OCS smart” from their own location with the benefit of a “over the shoulder” instructor online remotely in real-time, via webseminar or optionally, instructor onsite.
Call Tom Cross 303-594-1694 or cross@gocross.com for more information and scheduling.
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