Tom Keating always studies a subject and offers some top-notch insights into both the upside and downside of a change. Recently he looked at the Microsoft office Communications Server 2007 on his blog at TMCNet

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

June 26, 2006

On May 30th,  I speculated that Windows Live Meeting 2006 was coming - the next version after Windows Live Meeting 2005. I was close -- Microsoft actually "skipped a year" and released Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, a unified communications client that works in tandem with Office Communications Server 2007,
which was also announced today. This solution delivers a
presence-based, enterprise VoIP “softphone” for secure,
enterprise-grade instant messaging that allows for intercompany
federation and connectivity to public instant messaging networks such
as MSN, AOL and Yahoo! It also enables one-to-one and multiparty
videoconferencing, audioconferencing, and webconferencing. Office
Communicator 2007 will be available in desktop, browser-based and
Windows Mobile-based versions.

Tom points out some of the huge shortfalls in Microsoft's approach.

• Support for a SIP registrar server, or even SIP-based headsets doesn't exist. If you need them, you're out of luck with this solution.
• The Microsoft Office Communications Server interposes itself in everything. You can't use the client with another system (SIP-based PBX) like Asterisk. This will hurt Microsoft. I've written about Asterisk before and grappled with how it fits in the enterprise. One way it fits quite nicely is for call center operations. Another is for small satellite offices. If you want the Microsoft client an integration with your office productivty suite, youll need a Microsoft Office Communications Server too.

If you're a pure Microsoft shop you'll be able to get voice mail from your traditional PBX using the Outlook inbox. I get that today, although it's another system acting as middleware with an Avaya switch. That's a non-feature. There are some interesting features you can get easing the pain of scheduling calls and meetings. It's the sort of thing Asterisk has already been providing.

There is Microsoft RoundTable  for audio and video collaboration. If you aren't already using a collaboration tool, or Skype/SightSpeed/Gizmo/pick your flavor, this could prove useful.

There's integration with that sexy new Motorola Q phone. Given that a smart phone has a useful life of about 30 minutes before the next newer model cmoes along, I have a hard time seeing this as anything measurable on a competitive front.

Microsoft's partnering with Siemens to integrate the HiPath 8000 softswitch is a smart move. Siemens will bring VoIP and IP expertise that Microsoft, as a layer 7 application company, just doesn't ever seem to get quite right.

I talked to some people in the field about the announcement. People who run large active directory forests and are deep into the bowels of making microsoft solutions work well. Like me, they pretty much yawned. Their opinion seemed to be that Microsoft realized they were doing nothing and woke up long enough to say, oh yeah, me too.


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