Hosted Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007
Streamlined Fusion's Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 provides your business a guaranteed secure professional communication service. Office Communicator 2007 is a unified communications program that allows easy communication through instant messaging (IM), voice, and video. Furthermore, OCS 2007 integrates with Streamlined's Exchange and SharePoint Server services. Microsoft OCS 2007 is the quintessential stand-alone instant messaging application as well as a complementary addition to our Exchange Hosting service.
Presence
Instant Messaging
Web and Audio Conferencing
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Microsoft Office Integration
Presence
Rich Presence unites real-time status information (available, offline, busy, in a meeting, in a call, etc.) with all the ways you communicate: phone, conferencing, instant messaging, and e-mail. Wherever a contact's name appears—in an e-mail, on a team site, or in a document workspace—status and contact information travels with the identity. Presence also integrates with Windows Mobile devices, so real-time status and contact information are available when you travel, too.
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
Automatic Presence States |
A user's presence state is automatically updated to "In a Meeting" based on his/her personal calendar stored in Exchange. Users can also choose to expose additional details about each meeting to their contacts. A user's OOF message is automatically updated based on his/her personal calendar stored in Exchange to contacts that view the user's status. |
Contact Tagging |
Users can "tag" contacts to receive a notification whenever the tagged contact's presence changes. Tagged contacts have a special indicator and when the resultant notification appears, the tag can be removed. |
Customized Presence States |
Users can publish presence states that are custom-defined, usually by administrators in an organization. |
Do Not Disturb |
Users can set a "Do Not Disturb" state that stops all notifications and incoming communications, except for those from designated users. |
Federated Presence Indicator |
Users can easily see which of their contacts are from a "federated" relationship with another organization, or with a public IM network. |
Rich Presence States |
Users can publish states beyond the usual Online, Busy, Away, or Offline. They can select Do Not Disturb, Be Right Back, and customize their notes to provide additional information. |
Location Display |
Users can publish details of their current physical location. |
Presence Levels |
Users can control what information about themselves is exposed to their contacts by setting "presence levels" (logical groupings of the user's information) for each contact, which range from sharing a lot of information about the user and their state to blocking contacts. |
Presence Note |
Users can create a custom text note in addition to their presence state to provide contacts with more details about their current activity and view the presence notes of other contacts. |
Instant Messaging
Office Communications Server 2007 includes instant messaging functionality that works with rich presence to allow users to communicate almost instantaneously with colleagues, partners, and contacts. Instant messaging allows real-time text-based communication, which helps to reduce turnaround time and increase productivity.
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
Contact Card |
Users can easily view detailed information about their contacts, including a link to their SharePoint My Sites, and immediately start conversations with them through any of the available communication options (e.g., IM, call, e-mail). |
Contact Grouping |
Users can group their contacts based on the contacts' availability, the contacts' presence level, whether the contact is "tagged," or by group. |
Contact Search |
Users can search for anyone in the global address list of an organization or their Microsoft Office Outlook contacts, view the results, and continue typing to narrow the results while viewing the contacts' presence states. |
Corporate Distribution List Integration |
Users can search corporate distribution lists alongside individual contacts and can add them to contact lists, and view and converse with list members. |
Customized Contact Groups |
Users can create personal groups to better organize their contacts. |
Drag and Drop |
Users can easily modify their contact lists, initiate conversations, and add additional contacts to conversations, all using a comprehensive and intuitive drag-and-drop capability. |
Emoticons |
Users can convey emotions in IM conversations using special expressive characters. |
File Transfer |
Users can send and receive files from within IM conversations. |
Group IM |
Users can initiate and hold IM conversations with up to 100 other people, including individuals, user-defined groups, and corporate distribution groups. |
Ink IMs |
Users can use a Tablet PC to send handwritten "ink" IMs. |
Integration with Web Conferencing |
Users can escalate from an IM conversation to a Web conference. |
Missed IM Indicator |
Users are notified via an icon when they have missed IM conversations. |
Most Recently Used (MRU) Contacts |
Users can quickly view the 10 most recent contacts with which they have held IM conversations in a separate, dynamic list. |
Rich Content in Instant Messages |
Users can choose the font, style, and color of their IMs and can paste formatted text and pictures from other applications into their IM conversations without losing the formatting (e.g., paste an Office Excel spreadsheet or bullets from an Office PowerPoint slide). |
Roaming Contact List |
As contact lists are stored on the server, a user can log on to different PCs and avoid the effort of recreating contact lists. |
Typing Notification |
Users can see when a contact in an IM conversation is currently typing a response. |
Web and Audio Conferencing
With Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, setting up a conference call happens with drag-and-drop simplicity. You can transform any conversation—a phone call or an instant message session—into a conference call or a video conference on the fly. On-premise Web conferencing in Office Communications Server 2007 supports voice and videoconferencing tools along with a rich online meeting environment that includes whiteboarding, polling, and application sharing. With Office Communications Server 2007, you can effectively collaborate, train, or deliver interactive presentations with anyone, virtually anywhere, using just a PC and an Internet connection. Video devices like Microsoft RoundTable integrate with the Web conferencing client to provide a panoramic view of the meeting room to remote participants, further enhancing their conferencing experience.
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
1:1 Chat |
Users can send and receive text messages to and from each other. |
Active Speaker Detection |
Users can see the active speaker through an indicator; if a video stream is also present in the conference, they can see the active speaker. |
Alternate Participation Location |
Users can choose an alternate location from which to join a call, e.g., home phone, mobile phone, SIP phone, or another number. |
Annotation |
Users can annotate slides and share the multimedia changes automatically. |
Anonymous Participants |
Conferences can be conducted with users who are inside or outside the firewall, across federated links, or are anonymous. |
Application Sharing |
Users can share the display and control of an application with other users. |
Audience Polling |
Presenters can poll the audience for responses to specific questions, and quickly share the results. |
Audio Conferencing Provider Integration |
The audio portion of a web conference can be conducted using the conferencing services of an audio conferencing provider and the bridge can be controlled from the meeting console. |
Client-Side Recording |
Using the Live Meeting client, users can create recordings of meetings as they take place, including audio and video that may have been part of the meeting. |
Dynamic Content Sharing |
Users can share dynamic content such as a Windows Media file or a Flash resource with other attendees. |
Handouts |
Participants can share files in their native formats among meeting participants. |
Invite Additional Participants |
Conference participants can easily invite additional users to an existing conference. |
Presenter Conference Controls |
Conference leaders can lock the conference, selectively mute or eject participants, or end the conference. |
Meeting Security |
Meeting organizers can restrict the attendance of Web conferences based on Active Directory authentication. |
Multi Party Audio/Video Conferencing in a Web Conference |
Users can hold 1:1 or multi party IP audio and video conversations while in a Web conference. |
Questioning |
Audience members can add questions to a queue, and the presenter can respond to them in an orderly manner. |
Rich Conference Roster |
Users can see details about participants, such as active modes, leader status, and the active speaker. |
Microsoft RoundTable Integration |
Users can create an immersive meeting experience with panoramic video and active speaker detection for meetings with remote participants by using the Microsoft RoundTable device in conjunction with the Live Meeting client. |
Shared Notes |
Attendees can share notes with other meeting participants. |
Snapshot |
Users can share static images of their desktops. |
Static Content Sharing |
Users can share such static content, such as a Microsoft Office Word document or a PowerPoint presentation, during a Web conference. |
Web Slide |
URLs can be shared with participants in the meeting and viewed via a browser embedded in the console. |
Whiteboard |
Users can start a whiteboard session during a Web conference to share ideas or diagrams. |
Multiparty Audio/Video Conferencing (using Communicator client) |
Users can hold 1:1 or multi party IP audio and video conversations while in a Web conference. |
Dial-Out |
Users can be "dialed out" at any PSTN phone number to join a conference. |
Escalation to Web Conference |
Users can easily escalate from an IM/audio/video conversation or conference to a Web conference. |
Leader Conference Controls |
Conference leaders can selectively mute or eject participants, and lock or end the conference. |
Rich Conference Roster |
Users can see details about participants, including active modes, leader status, and who is the active speaker. |
Transition from 1:1 to MultiParty Conversation |
Users can add participants to a 1:1 conversation (IM, voice, video), automatically transitioning from a peer-to-peer session to a server-based conference without further configuration. |
Single-Click Conferencing |
Users can select a range or group of contacts and easily initiate an IM, audio, or video conference. |
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
With Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, basic telephone tools like call forwarding, hold, transfer, and conference calling are easier to use. Office Communications Server 2007 provides a software-based VoIP backbone that runs on off-the-shelf hardware and also connects an organization's VoIP infrastructure to the PSTN for a complete telephony solution. With VoIP, people manage the telephone the same way they manage e-mail and the Internet: with intuitive software. And you can deploy VoIP and continue leveraging your investment in current PBX and telephony hardware.
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
Call Authorization |
Only allow authorized users to initiate certain calls (e.g., international calls). |
Call Context |
Voice calls can be given an importance or a subject that can be displayed to another Office Communicator user. |
Call Deflect |
Users can "deflect" (dynamically forward) incoming voice calls to another device such as a cellular phone or voice mail. |
Call Encryptions |
Calls can be encrypted (SRTP). |
Call Forwarding |
Users can forward calls using rules (e.g., all calls, if there's no answer, based on presence, based on Office Outlook working hours). |
Call Hold |
Users can put calls on hold and then retrieve them from hold. |
Call Logs |
Maintain call logs for incoming, outgoing, or recent calls. |
Call Sensitivity Control |
Users can control the sensitivity of calls, preventing others from being added to the call. |
Call Transfer |
Users can transfer calls either using single-step or consultative transfer. |
Call Waiting |
When on a call, users are notified of any waiting calls. |
Click to Call |
Users can initiate calls directly from existing address lists or other applications where presence information is shown. |
Conference Call |
Users can initiate multiparty calls or dial out from an existing call to include other contacts. These calls can be initiated on ad hoc basis or can be scheduled using an Office Outlook add-in. |
DTMF Digit Generation |
Users can use a dial pad to generate DTMF digits while on a call (for example, to navigate touch tone interfaces). |
Inbound and Outbound Calling |
Users can make and receive voice calls from their PC to another PC or to and from a regular PSTN telephone number. |
Multiple Call |
While on one call, a user can initiate a second call and the first is automatically put on hold. |
Reverse Number Lookup |
When an incoming call is received from the PSTN, the number is compared with those in the corporate address list and the user's Office Outlook contacts. If a match is found, the contact's name is displayed. |
Simultaneous Ring (a.k.a. Call Forking) |
A call can simultaneously ring all registered endpoints plus an internal, external, or mobile phone number. |
Unified Messaging Integration |
Unified messaging capability from Exchange Server 2007 can be integrated. |
USB Device Integration for Voice Calls |
Communicator is designed to integrate with USB devices to provide a rich calling experience. This includes interacting with the state of hook switches, customizing advanced audio configuration options, and displaying call information on devices with a display. |
Microsoft Office Integration
Office Communications Server 2007 allows office integration via Microsoft Office Outlook conference scheduling, conversation history, integrated presence, Microsoft Office OneNote integration, and the ability to reply to e-mail with real-time communication.
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Conference scheduling via Office Outlook.
Using a plug-in for Office Outlook, the user can schedule a conference call or Web conference straight from a toolbar. A meeting request is then created, and at the appointed time, the user simply clicks a link in the meeting request to join the conference.
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Conversation history stored in Office Outlook.
Office Communications Server can be configured to store a user's conversation history in an Office Outlook folder. This includes all instant message conversations, phone calls, and forwarded calls. Each item in the conversation history folder includes the following information:
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Time and date of the message
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Conversation subject
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Conversation body
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Participant names
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Contextual integrated presence.
With Office Communications Server, information about a user's presence displays throughout the 2007 Microsoft Office system using icons consistent with those found in the Office Communicator client. Whenever these icons display, users can access a drop-down menu that provides a variety of communications options, including the ability to initiate an instant message conversation or a voice call.
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Missed conversations search folder in Microsoft Exchange/Microsoft Outlook.
If a user is not at their PC when a conversation is initiated, a "missed conversation" notification is generated. This appears in their Exchange inbox and also is highlighted via an icon in the Office Communicator interface.
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OneNote Integration
During a conversation—voice call, IM, or conference-users can open Office OneNote to take notes and automatically track conversation participants.
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Reply to e-mail with real-time communication.
Users can easily initiate conversations with contacts from within a variety of Microsoft Office applications. In an Outlook 2007 e-mail message, there are options to reply (or reply all) to the mail with a voice call or IM. In other Microsoft Office applications, anywhere there is a presence icon, users can initiate an IM or voice conversation from the presence icon's drop-down menu.