Microsoft Response Point Service Pack 1 Now Available

At this very moment at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston; Microsoft Corp. announced that Response Point Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available. At the heart of this announcement is support for SIP trunking. SP1 is a significant feature update to Microsoft Response Point, easy-to-use and -manage phone system software designed for small businesses with one to 50 employees.

With more than 1,600 trained channel partners, Response Point moves to the lead as a key new player in the IP telephony marketplace. Current Response Point customers and partners in the U.S. and Canada can download SP1 for free at http://www.microsoft.com/responsepoint.

"Small businesses want the same powerful, productive and cost-saving features that big businesses enjoy, but tailored to their needs," said Xuedong Huang, general manager of Microsoft Response Point. "By aligning with industry-leading vendors, SP1 delivers improved performance with many new features like voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calling, in a complete phone system that can help small businesses and channel partners grow their businesses."

Response Point SP1 builds on the overall ease of version 1 and enables small businesses to immediately take advantage of powerful new features, including session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking for VoIP calling; click-to-call functionality for any contact using the Assistant software; a call history log; and the ability to select music for parked calls and hold time. SP1 is a simple, free download that takes a matter of minutes for a customer or partner to install.

The key point is that Microsoft's telephony solution will be fueling the acceleration for SIP solutions and growth in SIP trunking. However, SIP is more than a different way of processing calls, it's a major revolution is all kinds of communications. If you want more, then go here and I will help you understand why it's so important http://www.techtionary.com/sip/

Response Point Seminar
If you are interested in Response Point, this system will be covered as part of a day-long event focusing on Response Point and OCS-Office Communications Server - Microsoft's enterprise telephony solution. This class will be held on September 16, just before the opening of IT Expo - http://www.itexpo.com.
In the session on ResponsePoint, I will explore the various components in the Response Point system which includes:
• Base Unit - IPX PBX software, voice mail and VoIP gateway
• SIP phones
• Management & Client Software - MAC functions, Outlook integration
• PSTN gateway

Registration for the course and the entire conference is now open. For information and registration go to:
http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/west-08/tmc-university-microsoft-ocs.htm