Microsoft's Office Communications Server Targets Business VoIP Users

The firm said it will open the beta to 2,500 IT professionals in the second quarter of 2007.

The beta is aimed at business users, who will be able to utilize their existing telephony infrastructure. Microsoft said that a simple click on a colleague's name in Office Word 2007, Office Outlook 2007, or Office Communicator will initiate a call; that feature had been expected to show up in Microsoft's VoIP effort ever since the firm acquired Teleo more than a year ago.

"With this open architecture and broad interoperability, Office Communications Server will give IT workers the flexibility to determine when and how and in what way they move their communications infrastructure forward," said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate VP of Microsoft's Unified Communications Group, in a statement.

In announcing the test, Microsoft listed several partners in the effort including Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco Systems, LG-Nortel Co., Mitel Networks, NEC Philips Unified Solutions, Polycom, and Siemens Communications. Microsoft said it will demonstrate various communications scenarios using the Nortel Communications Server 1000 IP-PBX at this week's Technology Adoption Program Summit.

Microsoft said the partnerships will enable users to support VoIP with their existing desktop phones, data networks, and TDM- or IP-PBXs. The company noted that its Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator have native support for Session Initiation Protocol, the standard signaling protocol for Internet conferencing and telephony.

By using the SIP protocol, Microsoft signaled that its VoIP effort will differ from the service of the runaway VoIP leader eBay's Skype, which has built its own non-SIP proprietary network; at any given time several million callers can be making calls over the Skype network. The Skype network is in such broad usage that users often tell each other to "Skype me."

The Microsoft VoIP offering has several add-on features including instant messaging and hosting capabilities to host on-premise audio, video, and Web conferences in addition to VoIP calling. Also, users can deploy call holding, forwarding, and transferring calls. Microsoft said all the features work "in concert with existing telephony infrastructure." Deployed with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 is a cornerstone of the firm's unified communications portfolio. An auto-attendant answers and routes inbound voice calls and unified messaging, and can unify voice mail and e-mail in a single box.