OCS R2 Launch - TODAY

Cannot be happier that they decided to do a virtual event. With half the country in economic straights, and the other half under feet of snow, this is the perfect recipe for two things… selling OCS and using OCS! Weather and economics has been the reason a LOT of our current OCS projects are happening. More companies are looking for bigger returns on their investments (ROI) and eliminating the need for travel is a large cost reduction for a lot of companies, even if it is just the reduction in time spent getting to a meeting. I have blogged for Simpler-Webb on the benefits many of our customers are finding using OCS 2007, and this will only improve with the R2 product offerings. As we lead up to this event today, many of us have been watching the newest features and getting excited about implementing them. I already have 2-3 customers lined up to use OCS R2, and one of them already kicked off!

Some of the most exciting new features to look forward to:

• Dial-in audioconferencing - OCS 2007 R2 enables businesses to manage their own on-premise audioconferencing bridge as part of their overall communications infrastructure.
  
• Desktop sharing - This feature enables users to seamlessly share their desktop, adding a support channel to help each other, or allowing internal IT to assist from remote.
  
• Persistent group chat - This enables geographically dispersed teams to collaborate with each other by participating in topic-based discussions that persist over time. Think of this as somewhat similar to IRC channels, but with archiving, compliance, and more business rules associated.
  
• Attendant console and delegation - This allows receptionists, admins, and others to manage calls and conferences on behalf of other users, set up workflows to route calls, and manage higher volumes of incoming communications through a software-based interface.
  
• Session Initiation Protocol trunking - This feature enables businesses to set up a direct VoIP connection between an Internet telephony service provider and Communicator clients without requiring on-premise gateways.
  
• Response groups - This workflow design application manages incoming calls based on user-configured rules (e.g., round-robin, longest idle, simultaneous), providing a simple-to-use basic engine for call treatment, routing and queuing.
  
• Mobility and single-number reach - This extends Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile functionality to additional phones as well as the Windows Mobile platform, allowing users to communicate using presence, IM and voice as an extension of their PBX from a unified client.
  

  I'll be watching, you should too!
  

  9:30am PST, 10:30 MST, 11:30 CST, 12:30 EST for US readers.
  

  You can join the event live here:
  

  http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/r2-virtual-launch/event/