Overview

 

Microsoft’s Unified Communication Platform integrates the new and traditional communication and collaboration channels using various software products. Traditional communication channels like phones, fax etc and newer computing based channels like emails, A/V conferencing, Instant Messaging, VoIP telephone service etc.

 

The objective of this platform is to improve Communication and Collaboration between teams and individuals.

 

The services which UC platform provides are:

 

·         VoIP telephone service

·         E-mail

·         Audio and video conferencing

·         Voice mail

·         Presence and contact information

·         Faxes

·         Instant messaging

·         Calendaring

·         Speech technology-enabled Interactive Voice Response

 

UC platform provides three kinds of services and products:

 

·         Server products hosted in-premise

·         Hosted by Microsoft

·         Hosted by Partners

 

 

The set of products which constitutes UC platform are:

 

·         Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

o    Manages real-time synchronous communication which includes instant messaging, VoIP, audio and video conferencing.

·         Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 (client)

o    Client for real-time communication which works with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.

·         Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

o    Manages all asynchronous communication which includes email, voice mail, faxes and calendars. Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 is the client for Exchange Server 2007.

·         Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server

o    IVR platform with built-in support for speech recognition and speech synthesis.

o    Supports .NET programming languages and voice Web standards like VoiceXML and SALT.

The hosted services available from Microsoft are:

·         Office Live Meeting Service 2007: a hosted service for Web conferencing and collaboration.

·         Exchange

·         Office Communications