Three Articles on Unified Communications Tech

SIP Primer from SearchUnifiedCommunications
Back in November I posted a few resources for SIP trunking. Here’’s one more: a more in-depth SIP primer at Unified Communications News.

Author Elaine Hom talks about the many points in SIP where cost and time savings come about. It’’s a good introduction, and even addresses some basic concerns & caveats. Worth the read if you”re using SIP in any way.

The IP PBX: Who Needs It?
Written by Shamus McGillicuddy for his Unified Communications Nation blog, this post is a comment on the necessity of PBXs in general (IP PBXs in specific). I think the direction he’’s pointing is the right one. We”re in the middle of a big shift in communications technology.

Before, you pretty much only had the PBX option. Now, not only do you have other options for phones (VoIP, cellphones), you have options for different types of communication too (IM, video).

Zeacom Unveils a New Gateway for OCS
Two weeks ago I talked about VoIP gateway manufacturers. Here’’s a new one. Zeacom is a communications solutions company out of New Zealand (with a US office in Irvine, CA). They announced a new gateway for Microsoft OCS 2007 on February 1st.

There isn”t a lot of info on their site about it, but there’’s plenty on overall UC solutions. I”ll keep an eye out for reviews of their new gateway–might be one we can add to the Recommended list.

Any more links related to these you”d like to share? Put them up in the Comments.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft business technology OCS 2007 SIP VoIP Gateway

Get On the List: Putting Together OCS Contact Lists for Users

In most IM clients you have to add new contacts one by one. It’’s annoying, it’’s piecemeal…and if you”re in a big office with lots of people, skipping it altogether starts to appeal after about 5 seconds.

Avoiding this is good. Especially if you want to actually use OCS for communicating with others. So the smart thing for an OCS administrator to do is push contact lists out. Formulate standardized groups and apply them to everyone’’s Office Communicator clients. (Whether they like it or not! Bwahaha…er, sorry. Got carried away.)

First, Group Your Contacts

Group them by department or by task.
Department groups could be Administration, IT, Project Development, Sales, HR, etc.
Task-based groups could be Main Product Team, Support Staff, Marketing, etc.
For starters, I”d recommend department groups for everybody. Then task-based groups as needed.

Next, Choose a Script or a Utility

Now that you have some groups built up with appropriate contacts, you”ll have to push them out to users. There are two ways to go about this right now - use a Microsoft scripting approach, or a third-party utility.

The Microsoft script is called “LCSAddContacts.wsf.” It’’s in the OCS Resource Kit available here. (Note: This version works with OCS 2007 R2 only.)

LCSAddContacts.wsf does one thing and one thing only: Adding contacts to OCS. It will even sort with Active Directory Containers. The WinXNet blog has a good tutorial on how to use it for pushing out contact lists.

The other way is to use a third-party utility called Office Communications Server Contact Manager (OCSCM for short) found here: http://www.ocscm.com/
I haven”t tried this one out. It has a user guide, FAQs and a support forum though. Plus it’’s free. Good to have as an option.

If you”re still on original OCS 2007, try OCSCM out. If you”re up to R2, go with LCSAddContacts.wsf.

A final note: Be sure to double-check your contact groups before pushing them out as lists! People WILL notice if they”re on a list that doesn”t correspond to their job function.

Do you know another way to manage contact lists for an OCS 2007 setup? Drop us a comment with a link below.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft business technology OCS 2007

Which Voice Gateway Should You Use for OCS?

Here’’s a list (Microsoft Technet) of Direct SIP Gateway and IP-PBXs approved for use with Office Communications Server.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ocs/bb735838.aspx#direct

Obviously, we haven”t tested them all. I can only give you what we”ve learned on our own install (and subsequent client installs).

Aculab - The ApplianX Gateway

The ApplianX Gateway for OCS 2007 was the first voice gateway we tested.

This gateway was designed to interface between OCS-based VoIP and the regular PSTN. One of the first to do so in the world, in fact.

The ApplianX Gateway is capable of handling 240 VoIP calls at once. In terms of voice quality, it’’s great, but I did notice one thing: the longer you were on a call, the more packets got lost. Words would start falling out of the conversation. I”m not sure this was a problem with the gateway however, or with our bandwidth allocations.

I do know that it went away before we switched to Dialogic.

Dialogic - The DMG2000 Media Gateway

When we upgraded our OCS to R2, we switched to a Dialogic Media Gateway. I don”t see any reason to change again.

None of the fabled VoIP problems happen - no “I can hear myself in echo,” “They can”t hear my voice,” or “The calls break up on us all the time.” Client installs have gone smoothly.

Another handy thing about Dialogic is the guides they post on their site. You can downoad white papers, datasheets and configuration guides for all their media gateways, free.
Dialogic.com Downloads

Other Choices

• Quintum’’s Tenor Gateway is highly-rated in the industry.
• Cisco has a gateway available, but some interoperability issues do exist. See the Cisco Interoperability Portal for more on that.
• As a general rule, avoid a gateway that isn”t rated for R2. You”re almost guaranteed problems when OCS 2010 is released.

Which is the Best Choice for a Voice Gateway?

The best gateway choice is the one that will allow everyone in your office to make voice calls, handle the load, and still be open for expansion down the line. So it pays to consider these factors in your research.

Size of business. If you”re a smaller business or startup, try Aculab or Dialogic. Over 40 employees? Dialogic is my first recommendation, but the Quintum may work well for you.
Expected call volume. If you”re enterprise-level and have a call volume in the hundreds (or thousands), consider the devices rated for “Direct Sip via IP-PBX.” Otherwise, look at Cisco or Dialogic’’s Enterprise Media Gateway.
OCS version. The Aculab ApplianX Gateway isn”t certified for use with R2. I”m hoping for an upgraded version by the time OCS 2010 rolls out. Go with any of the others rated for R2.

JBuddy Messenger: An Office Communicator Alternative

The client app that ships with OCS 2007 is called Office Communicator. When you ask the average user what OCS is, they”ll point to their Communicator window (which looks like this) and call that OCS.

Communicator does its job very well. (I actually prefer it over most IM apps out there.) For a while I assumed it was the only OCS client app. You wouldn”t find a third-party alternative for a big Microsoft server, would you?

Well, it seems you would.

Here’’s JBuddy Messenger. A third-party OCS-capable IM app that runs in Java. I came across it in the TechNet OCS forums.

For Business IM

JBuddy starts out like Trillian or Adium - as a free multi-protocol IM client. But with licensing it becomes a business-level communications tool. In other words, you need a license to connect to OCS 2007 with it.

Because JBuddy is written in Java, it works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

As far as I can tell there is no support for voice or video. JBuddy is focused on Instant Messaging.

Why and When You”d Want to Use JBuddy

If you”re running OCS without VoIP
Say you aren”t planning on a VoIP install yet. Perhaps your office uses all cellphones. But you still need IM capability, and group chat would be nice.

Your Employees Use Different Instant Messaging Systems
While it’’s possible to set up third-party IM accounts in Office Communicator, JBuddy allows use of AIM, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger right away. With licensing it will operate with Jabber server, Lotus Sametime, and of course OCS 2007.

If you just want a fast, simple IM client for the office
JBuddy does the job.

In the end, it’’s nice to have choices. JBuddy is the first third-party messenger app to support OCS I”ve come across.

Because it doesn”t do conferencing and you need an enterprise license first, I”d only recommend JBuddy for small companies who use multiple IM systems and need a way to consolidate those. Otherwise, stick with Office Communicator.

Downloading JBuddy Messenger is free, but you”ll need to purchase an enterprise license to use all its business features (including OCS connectivity). http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/

If you”d like to try it out, request a 30-Day Evaluation License (free trial) here:
http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/request-eval.shtml

Four Predictions on OCS in 2010

Welcome to 2010! Are we back to scrambling already?

Before we get too crazy, let me make a few predictions about OCS. (It’’s the thing to do this time of year.) We”re headed for another year of big shake-ups and racing towards better-priced options. I”m sure Office Communications Server will be involved in some of it. Though I”ll freely admit, I may deny one or two of these by the time 2011 rolls around.

Prediction #1: OCS 2010′’s release will come with calls to end the PBX. It won”t…not yet.

Office Communications Server 2010 is slated for release either in Q2 or Q3 2010. We”ll hear a lot of buzz beforehand, along with calls to 100% replace PBX phone systems with OCS. (I”m not actually the first to say this.)

If it truly is a PBX-killer - and I”m hopeful it is - then these calls will be justified. However, OCS adoption over PBX won”t begin in earnest until 2011. It takes time to make such a big change - time to get used to the idea, and time to plan the change itself. Smaller companies will get a jump on OCS 2010 instead. They don”t always have a PBX to replace.

Prediction #2: OCS 2007 R2 will grow as a hosted service, even with OCS 2010′’s release.

I”m no economist; I won”t even try predicting what the markets will do this year. What I will say is that more companies will look for more ways to save. Startup costs, trying to grow without much budget, no desire to buy all-new servers…these factors will push more companies toward hosted services as a lower-cost option. Judging from the adoption rates and interest we”ve received, I”m expecting companies in the mid-to-upper range of SMBs to take the most advantage here.

Prediction #3: We”ll see a growing comfort with VoIP as a phone system.

Voice over IP is becoming a more accepted alternative to regular phone lines. In a way, we have Google and Skype to thank for this. The rampant popularity of Google Voice, and the popularity of Skype (even in business use) shows people are more comfortable with the idea of using the Web for voice communication now.

When OCS 2007 first came out, many people didn”t trust its VoIP capability as a reliable phone system. That was just 2 years ago. Now that technology has caught up and social adoption is higher, that lack of trust won”t be applied to OCS 2010.

Prediction #4: OCS 2010′’s 64-bit structure may discourage some from upgrading.

There is a problem in all this. OCS 2007 R2 is available only in 64-bit. Exchange 2010 just shipped with a 64-bit version. It’’s not hard to imagine that OCS 2010 will be 64-bit only. This will cause some sticking for those companies who haven”t moved to 64-bit servers yet; upgrading to OCS 2010 would mean buying new 64-bit servers. For those companies looking to SAVE on communications, spending extra is a contradiction. And a big upgrade objection.

(There’’s always the hosted option though!)

A few things to think about. Overall I think OCS” prospects are good, even with the 64-bit snag. Some will say the new smartphones coming out are a danger to OCS, but I think they have a more complementary role than a competitive one. We”ll have to see where 2010 takes us, won”t we?

Technorati Tags:MicrosoftbusinesstechnologyOCS 2007VoIPOCS 2010

What Happens When You Don”t Change Your OCS Presence Status

Let’’s talk about OCS Presence for a moment. Specifically, what happens in the minds of others when you leave yours the same for days on end.

Do You Do This?

If your office use OCS at all, you know someone like this. You never know what Bill or Mary is doing–because they haven”t changed their Presence status in days. They”ve been “Updating the server” or “Meeting with Joe.”

Since last week? Really?

Presence is there for a reason. It makes others aware of what you”re doing. Just like IM. Are you here, available to talk? Away, not at your desk? Busy on a project, so please don”t disturb?

These are things co-workers need to know. And it frustrates the heck out of them when they can”t tell.

Why They Do It

Now the reason people don”t change their Presence status is simple. They”re lazy.

No, it’’s not “I just don”t have time” or “It’’s new, so I forget about it.” Those are excuses. They”re lazy and don”t value what help Presence does bring them.

It takes what, five seconds to update Presence? Nobody is so busy they can”t spare five seconds. (And if they think they are, they need to offload some duties.)

It’’s Poor Communication - Why Presence is Something to Remember

There’’s a very good reason why those five seconds matter. If you”re not updating your Presence status while working, it casts a bad shadow on you in the minds of others.

Little things like this can make people lose trust in your effectiveness. “He/she can”t be bothered to let us know what they”re doing? Are they not working at all? Or maybe hiding something?”

That’’s the kind of thought process this starts. With stale Presence status, your productivity can be called into question. If nobody knows what you”re doing, how can you prove you”re doing anything?

Something else to consider: If management monitors employee productivity (and there’’s no reason why they shouldn”t, if they do use OCS), then a days-old Presence will make them wonder. What are you up to? Anything?

Now you see where this can become a problem.

Loss of (Your) Value - What Happens as a Result

Without others able to determine what you”re doing, your value as an employee could drop. (I”m not saying this will happen. But it could.)

Why? Because people will stop relying on you. They”ll assume you”re not available for whatever reason and go about their business. They stop seeing you as a person who can help them do their job. That becomes a real problem for you. Fast.

And if management makes the same assumption? That you can”t keep “the rest of us” in the loop, so you could be screwing around not doing work? Well…

An Easy Way to Remember to Update

Like I said before - five seconds. And here’’s an easy way to remember.

Plan to update Presence before & after lunch. This way you put Presence in your thoughts related to lunch. (You”ll remember lunch, right?) Associating Presence with another idea like this makes it easier to recall afterward. A little memory trick courtesy of modern psychology.

OCS Presence status should be updated every day. Five seconds. Keep it up, and retain the impression of a reliable, productive worker in the minds of others.

The OCS Insider will go on holiday from today until January 1st. Join us again after that for more exploration of OCS 2007 - and the upcoming OCS 2010. Happy Holidays!

Top 3 Questions People Ask Us Re: Voice Over IP

For my third & final post regarding Top 3 Questions (related to OCS naturally), I”m putting up the questions we get on VoIP.

I should point out that we field a lot of questions on all these topics. OCS is a popular technology, and growing. We”re expecting 2010 to show an even bigger jump - mostly due to the cost savings clients get over PBX phone systems. Voice over IP makes for an appealing low-cost alternative.

However, the questions we get on VoIP itself usually veer toward the negative. I think it’’s because of old perceptions about the technology (from when it was first introduced) that still linger. Doesn”t worry us; every new technology had its initial troubles. If you”ve called us in the past year, then we”ve spoken via VoIP. Couldn”t tell the difference, could you?

Anyway, here are the Top 3 questions we get, and the answers we give.

1. If your network goes down, doesn”t VoIP go down too?
This one’’s repeated to us all the time. Verbatim. I think it’’s a leftover catchphrase from a telecom guy trying to stifle competition. For the most part it’’s true - if your VoIP runs through the same Internet lines as your network, it can go down if you lose your Internet. However, by using a dedicated line (as many of our OCS clients do), you avoid this problem.

2. I”ve heard this (VoIP) breaks up on you all the time. Is that true?
Not “all the time,” no. Every phone call runs the risk of breaking up when certain conditions are met - you”re driving, you”re in a tunnel, the weather changes, a hiccup on the phone network (it happens all the time)…
This arises because of the packet-transfer method VoIP employs to send voices. If packets get lost along the way, the person you”re talking to could lose a word here and there. However, VoIP these days builds in packet redundancy to avoid this exact issue.

3. Is it true you can”t make emergency calls?
Yes and no. 911′’s still a viable number. I think the concern here isn”t making the call, it’’s getting the full use of it. I”ll explain.
Because it’’s not on the phone network, emergency personnel may have difficulty tracing your location via VoIP like they do with regular phone calls. A very legitimate concern. That’’s being dealt with by hardware developers; soon it won”t be an issue. In the meantime, we recommend keeping a cellphone available in case of emergency.

Any more OCS/VoIP/related questions you”d like us to tackle? Leave a comment or email me.

Next week we”ll have a quick cautionary article about Presence, and then a holiday break. Hope your shopping’’s all done!

Technorati Tags:MicrosoftbusinesstechnologyOCS 2007VoIPVoice over IP

Top 3 Questions People Ask Us Re: Exchange 2010

Sorry about not posting this yesterday. We”re embroiled in a big new client website (yay for that!).

Last week I blogged about the 3 most frequently-asked questions we get on OCS 2007. I promised I”d do the same for Exchange Server 2010, so here you go. We get easily the same amount of questions on Exchange 2010 as OCS. More sometimes. But far and away, these are the most common.

1. Is it out yet?
Yes it is. Exchange 2010 has been available in full release since November 9th. The RC has been out for a while now; if you run it, best to switch to full version ASAP. (Luckily the RC can auto-upgrade to RTM.)
Here’’s Microsoft’’s Licensing and Pricing FAQ for some help on that.

2. Does the Exchange 2010 Standard Edition support Archival and discovery?
It’’s recommended that you use the Enterprise Edition if you want Archival and discovery. Archival for Enterprise has been delayed until Q1; I believe to test some additional workloads. But once it’’s finalized, that’’s a more secure, better-running bet.

3. What do we need for the upgrade?

• A 64-bit-capable server. If you don”t already have one, that is.
• Windows Server 2008 (or 2008 R2).
• Backups of your existing mailboxes.
• A day or two. (Really; it’’s a fast upgrade.)

Pretty simple huh? All too often we skip over simple things though, assuming everyone else “gets it” right away. Dangerous assumption. Someone else may be distracted, or too busy, and they miss the obvious. So it pays to remind.

(By the way, another reminder - Exchange 2010 also works great as a hosted option. Email me if you want to hear about that!)

Next week, Top 3 questions we get on VoIP.

Got a question of your own on OCS 2007 or related technology? Leave a comment or email me.

Technorati Tags:MicrosoftbusinesstechnologyOCS 2007Exchange 2010

The Top 3 Questions People Ask Us Re: OCS 2007

When you”re experts in something, people ask you questions. The same questions. Over & over again.

I”ve blogged about many of the things our customer ask us in the past. Still, a recap now and then doesn”t hurt. And since we”ve had several sales meetings that were almost cookie-cutter when it came to the questions they asked, I figured now’’s the time.

This is a trio of very common questions we get asked about Office Communications Server. (There’’s actually about 6 or 7, but I”ll save the rest for a later post.) If you”ve had a burning questions about OCS but thought it was too basic to ask? It’’s your lucky day.

1. What can we use it (OCS) for?

Use it to communicate with co-workers, clients and partners. Via text, voice or video.  It runs all of that through the Office Communicator client on your desktop or mobile.

2. Does it work like a regular phone?

Yes, but not 100% the same. There are handsets you can use with OCS; that’’s pretty much a regular desktop phone for you. Otherwise, you can use the mic & speakers in your computer to have a voice conversation. Kind of like Skype, except OCS is more secure and incorporates tool for sharing business information while you chat.

Note: When people ask us about this, they”re also curious if OCS lets you talk with regular desk and cell phones too. The answer to that is yes, if you have an IP-PBX gateway installed. (We use gateways from Cisco, Aculab and Dialogic.)

3. Will it work with our phones?

Unless your phones are SIP-capable , no. Regular phones use standard telephone lines. OCS 2007′’s voice capabilities run through VoIP, which uses Internet connections. The tech’’s too new for the older phones to use. You”ll have to make some changes.

Any other OCS questions you”d like an answer to? Leave a comment, or email me. Next week I”ll post the Top 3 Questions we get about the new Exchange Server 2010.

Technorati Tags:MicrosoftbusinesstechnologyOCS 2007SIP

Thanksgiving Thank You

I”m writing a short holiday greeting for today.  And a thank you for your attention.  Checking our stats, I see the OCS Insider’’s traffic is up to over 2,000 visits per month now!

Thanks very much, to all of you.  Please enjoy your Thanksgiving.  Stay safe on Black Friday!

And don”t forget to check back next week.

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  • Three Articles on Unified Communications Tech
  • Get On the List: Putting Together OCS Contact Lists for Users
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