Yesterday at the VoiceCon trade show in Amsterdam, before an audience of telecommunication and IT professionals, Microsoft representatives demonstrated the new version of their unified communications package dubbed Office Communications Server 2007 R2, which delivers new functionality that extends software-powered voice over IP and real time presence options.
"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.
OCS 2007, is an enterprise real-time communications server that allows instant messaging, real-time presence, file transfer, audio-video conferencing and web conferencing functionality. OCS also supports what is known as federation, which allows companies to enable interoperability with other corporate IM networks. There are also feature packs which allow communication between OCS and AOL, MSN, and Yahoo.
Some of the key features of OCS 2007 R2 include:
- Dial-in audio-conferencing, allowing businesses to run their own conference service to communicate with clients or vendors.
- Enhanced desktop sharing, allowing users collaborate with others outside the organization on PC, Macintosh or Linux platforms through a web-based interface.
- Attendant console and delegation, allowing receptionists or assistants to manage calls and conferences on behalf of other users.
- APIs and Visual Studio integration, allowing businesses to build applications that embed OCS features into them.