Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Release Notes

Quick Details

Version:
1.0

Date Published:
4/24/2009

Language:
English

Download Size:
7 KB – 194

Overview

These documents contain important information that you should know before you deploy and use Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 clients. The following files are available for download:

  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Release Notes (Office_Communications_Server_2007_R2_Relnotes.htm)
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Release Notes (Office_Communicator_2007_R2_Relnotes.htm)
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Release Notes (Office_Communications_Server_2007_R2_Group_Chat_Relnotes.htm)
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Phone Edition Release Notes (Office_Communicator_2007_R2_Phone_Edition_Relnotes.htm)
  • Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile for Java Release Notes (Office_Communicator_Mobile_for_Java_Relnotes.htm)
  • Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile for Windows Mobile Release Notes (Office_Communicator_Mobile_for_Windows_Mobile_Relnotes.htm)

DOWNLOAD

Thursday, April 23, 2009

New UC updates on Microsoft Download

Cumulative Update for Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server

This is the cumulative update for Speech Server 2007 that includes all fixes to April 2009.

4/21/2009
9765

IT Manager’s Unified Communications Rollout Checklist

This checklist contains a list of materials to administer and promote Microsoft unified communications technologies throughout your company.

4/21/2009
35362

Helpdesk Planning Checklist

This is a list of materials to administer and promote Microsoft unified communications technologies throughout your company.

4/21/2009
19987

Frequently Asked Questions

This list of Frequently Asked Questions answers common questions about Microsoft Office Live Meeting and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2

4/21/2009
18848

Helpdesk and Support Staff Training

Train your Helpdesk and support staff to use the Microsoft unified communication technologies before you start the rollout.

4/21/2009
16569

Change Management Resources

Change Management resources provide tools that will help you introduce Microsoft unified communications technologies smoothly and effectively in your organization and help end users through this technology transition.

4/21/2009
18147

Tips and Tricks Flash Cards

This deck of tips and tricks flash cards can help you get things done.

4/21/2009
44449

Quick Reference Cards

Quick Reference Cards and Getting Started Guides provide basic steps and guidance for using the Microsoft unified communications products and are great hand-outs for end users.

4/21/2009
26027

Communication Plan Sample

This Communication Plan sample will help you to communicate the different pieces of information about your rollout to your stakeholders.

4/21/2009
27197

Success Metrics Example

Microsoft Office Communications Server provides data-collection services that you can use to create your own reporting system.

4/21/2009
27073

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

OC Online service now available

OC Online launch is complete and the service fully available for IT administrators to enable users to download the OC promo client and begin using the service.

Check here for instructions on enabling the service.

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 UCMA 2.0 Speech Language Packs

Quick Details

Version:
6907.0

Date Published:
4/20/2009

Language:
English

Download Size:
21.7 MB - 339.9 MB*

DOWNLOAD

All Speech Language Packs require the UCMASpeechRedist to be installed as a pre-requisite. To install the Speech Language pack, double click on the MSI for the language/locale you wish to install. At a minimum one language pack will need to be installed for the Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 to work.

REMINDER: This blogpost will be mirrored with UCVUG.nl Community on www.ucvug.nl

Thursday, April 16, 2009

UCVUG.nl is LIVE since 10:14PM

image

I’m happy to announce that the UCVUG.nl (Unified Communications Virtual User Group) is live now. So take a look at http://www.ucvug.nl

Joachim Farla (founder ucvug.nl)

OC Online Standard service description

Cool the OC online services descriptions are online! Check them out. More information can be found on the Microsoft Online site. Enjoy!

image

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

UCVUG.nl kick off meeting op 29 april

Language: (Dutch)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Op 29 april zal ik een kickoff meeting verzorgen voor ucvug.nl (Unified Communications Virtual User Group). In deze kickoff zal ik vertellen waarom we dit initiatief gestart zijn en waarom het zo belangrijk is om jullie kennis te bundelen.

Je kunt je nu online registeren via de oranje knop rechtsboven de pagina. Je kunt ook surfen naar http://ucvugnl.eventbrite.com/

Vind je het leuk om getuigen te zijn van de eerste kickoff van ucvug.nl of heb je concrete vragen meld je dan aan en deel je kennis volledig online! Je kan je feedback ook mailen naar ucvugfeedback@live.nl 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Meer informatie over UCVUG zie deze eerdere post / more information on UCVUG see this earlier post

Friday, April 10, 2009

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 VHD

Quick Details

Version:
1.0

Date Published:
4/9/2009

Language:
English

Download Size:
664 KB - 8903.8 MB*

they are released again as you can see. If something dramatically changed i don’t know. See this article

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Documentation

Quick Details

File Name:
Communications_Server_2007_R2_Documentation.chm

Version:
1.0

Date Published:
4/7/2009

Language:
English

Download Size:
9.2 MB

Bringing order to communication chaos

This article will also be post on www.kennisportal.nl (Dutch Knowledge Site for IT Managers) more info on my profile see

Author: Joachim Farla, e-office (Infrastructure Specialist)

The term Unified Communications is becoming the new buzz word. More and more organisations feel the need to bring order to their communication channel chaos. And that’s understandable. In the 80’s and 90’s, new means of communication overtook the world. Mobile phones were introduced, e-mail came, fax, sms and, for the younger generation, MSN and video chat. And this list is still growing fast, without any apparent unification. However, suppliers as well as users of these services realise something should be done. It’s time to connect services and hand back control of communication to the user .

Unification

Microsoft has taken an important turn in that respect. It’s now on the path of unification, music to my ears as Office Communications Server Most Valuable Professional [MVP]. Microsoft has set itself a target of releasing software that can unify all communication channels. Only one client to start up in the morning, being fed with all your communication channels. One central point from which you have control over how people can reach you. One central point to log into all Line Of Business (LOB) applications with single sign-on. And all of this combined with one client to receive e-mail and voice mails.

Although this almost sounds like Utopia, the scenario is for real. With Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, you can enter the new world of work. You are likely very eager to, as communication is getting increasingly important and you do not want to drown in what’s coming at you. We’ll have to be smarter in dealing with our communication channels, and we can. Apart from using the default functionality of instant messaging and presence, the work environment of the knowledge worker can be optimized even more. Microsoft Live Meeting 2007, for example, makes it easy to meet online with high quality picture and sound, from any place on the planet.

On the centre stage of these work environments is Voice. It’s a known fact that IT and C are getting closer. Speech and data are traditionally different worlds, separated by a huge gap. Organisations worldwide still have to bridge this gap. The old school Windows Infrastructure administrator doesn’t know anything about the Voice platform and the Telco guy knows zip about Microsoft networks. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 connects them. Using an easy admin interface and smart tooling, it enables both skill sets to be integrated and applied. And with that, it provides you with all the necessary means to finally streamline your communication.

At Microsoft, this new way of thinking is called ‘Enterprise Voice’. It’s a combination of software controlled Voice over IP (VoIP), integration of presence in LOB applications, location-independent telephony and cost-reducing communication for your organisation. One example is Dial-in Conferencing: attending a presentation virtually because you don’t have time to get there physically. Another is Live Meeting: dialing into a meeting from anywhere in the world. Via your telephone, you can still fully attend the meeting and contribute to it, all from within your own secure infrastructure. You can also dial in via the Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station (Roundtable): a 360 degree camera capable of showing a panoramic view of the meeting room. Not with low quality and a small picture, but with low cost and a good resolution to make you feel as if you’re on site. This results in fewer meeting cancelations and better member participation. It reduces the travel expenses and helps you to meet in a smarter way.

The question is: can the traditional exchange with all its advanced features now be replaced by Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2? Yes it can. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has been specifically designed to take over these tasks. Example: integrated voicemail functionality is now offered by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – Unified Messaging. Voicemails are received in your e-mail box and can be played from there directly. The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 integration offers you “click to dial”: direct number recognition by the Outlook address book allowing you to call back using one familiar interface.

There are almost unlimited applications, like message queues, workflow (the process of the call), agents (who can answer the call and put it through) and simultaneous ringing (multiple telephones). This is all default already in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 as Response Group Service and can be configured easily, exactly the way your organization wants it to. You can also determine how to be reached in various situations. An example would be phone calls being redirected to a colleague while you’re in a meeting.

Configuring everything flexibly and profile bound from one central interface: it’s a big step forwards in the speech-data integration. The integration of the various means of communications is a fact. All made possible by the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 client.

Rather important is the availability of the Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 client. This client offers the same ease of use as the desktop version and is integrated into your company network via a mobile connection. Calling from one central Unified Communications number means huge added value for every organization. The question if this can be done from your mobile phone has now actually been answered as Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 offers Single Number Reach functionality. You can call a contact person from your mobile device and from your Unified Communications number. And that brings more order to the current number chaos.

Summary

Of course, all new things take time to get used to. Guiding your employees through new technology and its related behavioral changes is therefore important. However, in practice, people appear to embrace Enterprise Voice quickly and use it intuitively. They have 24/7 control over how they can be reached, using one interface, no matter if they use a mobile device or a laptop or desktop PC. It looked like this was still in the future, but with the Microsoft solutions it’s happening right now. Especially now, with working from multiple locations on the increase, Unified Communications offers a valuable solution. This can’t be stopped anymore.

Special thanks to:

Sjoert Ebben, Meriella Bos, Menno Windsma, Bas Krikke and Arjan van Eijk for supporting me by writing this article.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

RESOLVED - Federation with Microsoft is down (aka: "It's not you, it's me.")

UPDATE (6pm, Eastern): We have identified the issue, and will be making changes this evening to rectify the issue.  Things should be resolved by tomorrow morning.

UPDATE 2 (9pm, Eastern): Huge thanks to the RTC Ops, RTC SE, and Core Dev Teams for diving in and helping nail this.  In the interest of transparency, this issue is also preventing Microsoft from communicating to our PIC providers (Yahoo, AOL, MSN). 

UPDATE 2 (8am, Eastern, 4/08/09): Federation & PIC is now back up and running at Microsoft.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

UCVUG.nl will be released on 17th of April

INFO: for the English blog readers scroll down. 

NED:  Het is een beetje stil geweest de afgelopen maand op mijn persoonlijke UC weblog. Dit alles heeft wel een duidelijke reden. Jullie kennen mij allemaal als een persoon die niet graag stil zit en op alle mogelijke manieren zijn technische kennis over Unified Communications wil verspreiden. Dit gaat weer volop gebeuren echter in een nieuw jasje!

De afgelopen maanden ben ik bezig geweest met het oprichten van een nieuwe gebruikersgroep in Nederland. Met volle trots wil ik jullie met deze blogpost informeren over de nieuwe

Unified Communications Virtual User Group

Deze nieuwe gebruikergroep is Nederlands georienteerd en richt zich met name op de Nederlandse community. Uiteraard doen we dit graag samen met externe sprekers. Dit kan zowel in het Nederlands alsook in het Engels.

De Unified Communications Virtual User Group is een community die draait op Community Server en is met name toegespitst op virtuele, interactieve gebruikerssessies. Deze sessies worden volledig aangeboden met Unified Communications tooling. Denk hierbij aan Live Meeting en Communicator.

Dit geeft jou als gebruiker van deze community de mogelijkheid volledig plaatsonafhankelijk en virtueel deel te nemen. Ook jou feedback is belangrijk! Al om al een unieke plek om kennis te delen ook al is onze tijd vrij gelimiteerd.  

WEBSITE URL (www.ucvug.nl) Unified Communications Virtual User Group (beschikbaar op 17 April!) Stay tuned.

NB: De Unified Communications Virtual User Group is opgericht door Joachim Farla [MVP] van e-office.

De UCVUG zal beschikbaar zijn voor:

  • De “nieuwe manier van werken” gebruikersgroep (hoe draagt UC bij om deze nieuwe manier van werken te bereiken?)
  • Unified Communications Infrastructuur/Architectuur sessies
  • Unified Communications Development sessies 
  • Business Productivity sessies
  • beschikbaar en open voor externe sprekers die bijvoorbeeld werken vanuit een UC Business Case (andere opties niet uitgesloten)
  • 1 centrale plek om kennis te delen gefocussed op UC onderdelelen zoals (OCS R2, migratie, additionele software componenten zoals Archiving en Monitoring, Voice
  • 1 centrale plek om de volledige Nederlandse community te ondersteunen en te continueren

Additioneel

  • elke sessie zal worden opgenomen en voor offline gebruik worden gedeeld
  • feedback functionaliteit om sessies nog beter te maken
  • de verslaglegging van de sessies zullen worden geintegreerd in de maandelijke nieuwsbrief

<------------------------------------------------------------->

ENG: It was a little bit quite last month on this UC weblog. As you probably know I’m not the person to stay still so I’ve been working on new initiatives within the Unified Communications Community in the Netherlands. I’m happy to announce the new

Unified Communications Virtual User Group

This community is Dutch oriented and available for all UC folks in the Netherlands. There are also possibilities to share your knowledge in a different language. The UCVUG is a Community running on Community Server and is mainly focused on virtual user group interactions. So no physical location all completely driven by the new UC tooling like Live Meeting 2007 and Office Communicator 2007. 

This thing is important because the time to spend together is limited. So, this will be a new possibility to share your knowledge with others!

WEBSITE URL (www.ucvug.nl) Unified Communications Virtual User Group (available on the 17th of April!) Stay tuned.

NB: The UCVUG.nl is founded by Joachim Farla [MVP] at e-office. 

The UCVUG will be available for:

  • The “New Way of Work” Virtual User Group (how does UC encourage you in the process of the The New Way of Work)
  • Unified Communications Infrastructure/Architecture sessions
  • Unified Communications Development sessions
  • Business Productivity Sessions
  • available for external speakers (focus on specific UC Business Cases)
  • one place to share extensible knowledge on these specific topics (OCS R2, migration, additional software components like Archiving, Monitoring
  • one place to support the entire community in the Netherlands

Additional

  • each session will be recorded and made available for offline usage
  • feedback functionality so when can make these sessions much more better
  • extension/integration on the UC Personal Newsletter each month

NEW MSFT Downloads

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Quick Reference for Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant

This quick reference card summarizes the tasks most commonly performed when using Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant.

4/6/2009
3450

Agent Communications Panel

Agent Communications Panel enables agents to manage their communications (make calls, receive calls, conference, and chat) from their Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

4/6/2009
32488

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Release Notes

These documents contain important information that you should know before you deploy and use Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and clients.

4/6/2009
3143

Quick Reference Card for Communicator Mobile for Java

This quick reference card summarizes the common calling, IM, presence, and contact management tasks in Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile for Java.

4/6/2009
21427

Monday, April 6, 2009

Unified Communications WebChat interview next week

Next week (14th of April 2009) we have an internal WebChat Interview with Michiel van Oudheusen (Software Architect behind WebChat client).

image

We have some cool demo’s to show and also some technical information behind the client. So stay tuned and we will give you some insights on:

  • How is the OCS R2 Webchat build?
  • Which services do you use?
  • Which components are used and how do they interact?
  • Is this product suitable for building it or using it on top of Software as a Service?
  • How does this software or service running on your platform?
  • What are the system requirements (hardware/software)  server/client side?
  • Can this client be implemented on each platform? On which platforms?
  • In case of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 how can this client be implemented on the webpage?
  • Are there any security concerns?
  • <<<<<Demonstration >>>>>>;-)

image So please be with us next week and enjoy the new Silverlight 2.0 WebChat client based on Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Technology.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

RESOLVED - OCS 2007 R2 PIC fails against AOL

Special thanks to Scott Oseychik who worked this out. Check the source.

Issue:

Using Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 in conjunction with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 would intermittently fail to communicate with AOL AIM clients via PIC.  Note that this would only reproduce if your OCS 2007 R2 Edge role is running Windows Server 2008 (x64); not Windows Server 2003 (x64).

Resolution:

Essentially, it boils down to tweaking the Windows Server 2008 Edge role to initially establish the SSL dialog using the TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 cipher suite.

In order to change the cipher suite order, do the following on your Windows Server 2008 (x64) Edge server:

1. Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc -> OK

2. Within the Group Policy Object Editor, expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Network

3. Under Network, select SSL Configuration, and then double-click on SSL Cipher Suite Order (by default, the SSL Cipher Suite Order is set to "Not Configured")

4. Select the “Enabled” radio button, and in the in the SSL Cipher Suites text box, copy the entire string into Notepad.  It should look like the following:

TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5,SSL_CK_RC4_128_WITH_MD5,SSL_CK_DES_192_EDE3_CBC_WITH_MD5,TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_MD5,TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA

5. The objective here is to move TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 to be a the front of the list.  So, in your Notepad document, find TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5, cut it, navigate to the beginning of your notepad document, and paste TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5.  The new order should look like the following:

TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P384,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA_P521,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,SSL_CK_RC4_128_WITH_MD5,SSL_CK_DES_192_EDE3_CBC_WITH_MD5,TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_MD5,TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA

6. Click OK, then restart your Windows Server 2008 (x64) Edge server for these changes to take effect.

We have verified (and re-verified) these steps work, and can now successfully communicate with AOL AIM clients using Office Communicator 2007 R2 via PIC.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Capacity Planning Tool

DOWNLOAD
Quick Details

Version:
6907.3

Date Published:
3/30/2009

Language:
English

Download Size:
8 KB - 27.0 MB*

Overview

The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Capacity Planning Toolkit provides a set of tools and documentation to simplify capacity planning for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The Capacity Planning Toolkit can be used as a complement to the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Planning Guide.
This release of the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Capacity Planning Toolkit contains tools and documentation to simplify your hardware planning, provide you with increased knowledge and best practices for performance tuning, and improve your ability to verify the performance of your intended Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployments.
The Capacity Planning Toolkit is intended for use by IT professionals in a test environment prior to production deployment. These tools should never be used against a live production environment.


The tools in this Toolkit are designed to be used with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 only. If you are searching for tools that work with Live Communications Server 2005, please download the Live Communications Server 2005 Capacity Planning Toolkit from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=107a5e83-ca59-4bcb-a3bc-27efd97a477d&displaylang=en

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Support21 CrossTalk Joachim Farla and Ton Stegeman

Support21 CrossTalk (first Part – I)

Joachim Farla [MVP] and Ton Stegeman [MVP] had an interview about Support21 live with Microsoft Academy Mobile which is published to the external community and partner channel very soon!

UPDATE: thanks for all the feedback! The previous YouTube movie was not the entire interview. Full Interview available on MSN Soapbox:

The support21 project is created from our work21 vision. It’s not a product. Organizations look for possibilities to make better use of the potential of their employees. They search for more innovative ways of working.

The organization's greatest assets are their employees; people can adjust, processes do not adjust by themselves. By finding the right combination of current knowledge, internal and external processes and communication we can assist on your journey the new way of working. We call this work21.