OCS 2010 Gaining Industry and Media Attention
Filed under: OCS 2007 R2, OCS 2010, Unified Communications, Voice over IP
There's been a spate of news lately surrounding the recent VoiceCon unveiling of “Communications Server 14.” That's the development name for Office Communications Server 2010, the next version of Microsoft's OCS. I've collected some links below to illustrate what's being talked about.
Microsoft OCS Update Promises to Replace PBX - NetworkWorld. Discusses Communications Server 14's announcement at VoiceCon 2010 in Orlando. Mentions 14's most anticipated feature: the ability to replace the PBX as a primary voice communications system. It makes an important point about Microsoft's OCS strategy: they aren't manufacturing hardware for use with OCS (phones, VoIP gateways, etc.). They've just put forth required standards for manufacturers to meet.
Screen Shots: What's New in Microsoft OCS 14? - ZDNet. ZDNet's gone one further on this, providing a series of screenshots of the new OCS 14. Some of them depict tools currently available in OCS 2007 (like the Dial Pad and Presence status) but others are new. Notifications of voice mails waiting for you showing up in Communicator, for one. Choose which audio device you want to talk with (Bluetooth headset anyone?), for two. ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley also posted a reaction to the OCS 2010 announcement.
Microsoft Office Communications Server: Reaching Critical Mass? - MSPMentor. This article points to a very important issue in unified communications - the question of hosted vs. on-site communication services. Which will win out in the market? What will the MSPs favor? (We like both here.)
Both Microsoft and Cisco are feuding over this space right now, so it's hard to say. But this is good information for those connected with Unified Communications in some form or another.
Time to Toss the PBX: Microsoft Unveils Office Communications Server '14' at VoiceCon - TMCNet. This last blog post goes into more detail on Microsoft CVP of Unified Communications Gurdeep Singh Pall's statements about moving “past” the PBX to OCS 2010. The notion is a bit ahead of the game; we're still very much in transition phase. But at least he's enthusiastic!
The author, Patrick Bernard, did mention something really interesting too - a software app that links up IP phones to OCS. AudioCodes is releasing SIP Phones Support (SPS) for Microsoft Unified Communications in July. Definitely a helpful step to moving more companies toward OCS.
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How to Fix a “CertEnroll” Certificate Private Key Error in OCS 2007 R2 and SharePoint
Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2 servers require certificates for several authentications between servers. SharePoint servers do too. These certificates require keys in order to maintain their security.
Today's post will give a solution for a cert error that pops up occasionally: When OCS or SharePoint fails to detect your cert's private key.
- When setting up a new certificate for Office Communication Server 2007 R2 or SharePoint, you may receive this error.
“CertEnroll::CX5090Enrollment::p_Install Response: ANS1 bad tag value met. 0×8009310b (ASN: 267)”
This error is most likely caused by a missing Private Key on the certificate you're attempting to install. - In order to resolve this issue, access the MMC for certificates.
Select the certificate you are trying to install and view its Properties. Select the Details view and copy the Serial Number you find there to Notepad.
- Once you have it in Notepad, remove the blanks between the numbers. So it looks like this:
- Once that's done, run the command certutil to append this now-corrected Private Key to the certificate. Enter the command as follows:
“certutil –repairstore my (insert serial Number)“
An example screenshot is below.
- Once this repair finishes running, the certificate will be ready to use in your installation.
Save this private key, along with its relevant cert name, in another location. Just in case OCS or SharePoint prompts you for it again.
Did you encounter this error? Under what circumstances? Tell us in the comments if this solution worked for you.
Observations from the 2010 Cloud Connect Expo
Filed under: Conferencing, OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Reference
I attended the Cloud Connect Expo in Santa Clara yesterday. (It's still going today; check www.cloudconnectevent.com if you haven't attended yet!) I like heading to events like that - I can get an idea of industry direction, see new technologies coming out, make some new connections and so on. Cloud Connect was no different.
Before I go add my connections on LinkedIn, here's a few observations of the Cloud Connect events.
Most of the attendees were from tech companies. Like me! I spoke with a few of the wandering fellow techies about why they'd come. Their reasons were either to check out the cloud computing industry's status (like me). Or they were looking for cloud-based services they could add to their own products & resell.
A few vendors seemed surprised when I told them about our Hosted OCS. What? Running OCS in a cloud-computing type of setup? Why, that's a novel idea! (Yes, we thought so too.)
Marketing tactics were a bit behind the times. Oh, they had a Twitter event hashtag (#ccevent) and a dedicated social network up. That's great. But some of the booths had vague promotional language, and/or their reps used hard-sell tactics. Nobody's fault, but it was a little too pushy for such new services. Hopefully this will smooth out by the time the cloud reaches more common understanding. And speaking of that…
People are already talking about cloud standards. I think this is a big help for cloud computing overall. Defining standards early on, especially for such an open-purpose technology model as cloud computing, should help us all avoid confusion over things like “What's this cloud stuff going to DO for us?” in the future.
Dave at IBM had a presentation on current efforts to produce open standards for the cloud. I'll repost a couple links they gave:
www.cloudusecases.org - A Google Group for defining use cases of cloud computing. There's a group-composed white paper on such use cases too (available on Scribd here: http://bit.ly/1FXRAH).
www.Cloud-standards.org - The Cloud Standards Wiki. Many more links to standards organizations and contributing groups are here.
www.Opencloudconsortium.org - One of the current contributing groups to cloud standards.
No Microsoft reps. Nobody showed up for the Microsoft booth yesterday! What's up with that? Even the IBM guys next door boggled. Hopefully someone's there today.
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OCS Insider Tip: Avoid Using Refurbished Polycom Phones for VoIP
Filed under: Conferencing, OCS 2007, Voice over IP
We use Polycom phones for OCS. And we recommend them to clients. They're great when you want an external phone for using VoIP, just like a regular phone. (Well, a bit better, since Polycom phones also have a screen displaying your contacts' Presence status.)
However, these are all new Polycom phones. Not refurbs.
One of our clients decided to order a bunch of refurbished Polycom phones for some new hires (without consulting us, mind you). A few days after that they called us. “We're having Internet problems,” they said. “Everything's going so slow!”
So we sent someone out to have a look. Sure enough, their bandwidth was very low. Connection was fine; something was eating up bandwidth from inside their network. The servers? Nope. An employee PC? No.
Turns out that one of the refurbished Polycom phones was sucking up bandwidth like a supercharged vacuum cleaner. For no reason at all. We removed that phone and replaced it with a new Polycom phone. And the speed problem evaporated.
We tested the refurbished phone back at our office. But we never determined why it decided to become a bandwidth hog.
So, here's our Insider Tip for the week. Are you looking at Polycom for VoIP phones? Great idea! Buy new phones though. You might save money on refurbs…but you could also lose out on work time when they misbehave.
Hosted Exchange VS. Google Apps: Which Works Better for Small Business?
Filed under: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2010, Reference, Unified Communications
I saw a great discussion thread on LinkedIn today (view the thread here) - about whether a consultant’’s client should move to Hosted Exchange or Google Apps.
The replies leaned a bit more toward Google Apps than Exchange. Many good points about how much IT help is available/budgeted, “getting what you pay for,” simplicity of Google, familiarity of Exchange/Outlook, etc.
You'd think I would weigh in on the side of Hosted Exchange. It is one of our services (and a very popular one at that), but even we recognize that at times something simpler, like Google Apps, makes for a better solution.
See, when we get a client who wants to move to hosted services, there's a lot of factors to consider. Many of them are addressed in the thread: mobile users, growth potential, available budget, available IT expertise/extra support hours needed, and the client's needs for the service.
We weigh these between two prime factors: The size of the business, and what their day-to-day practices are surrounding email.
Can A Business Outgrow Google?
Let's divide up some factors between size and daily practice here. Under size, we can list things like:
- How many mobile users a company has - iPhones, Blackberries, Android, etc.
- How many Outlook users there are (and how often they use it).
- What amount of on-site IT is in place, or do they rely on contracted IT support?
Both systems - Google Apps and Hosted Exchange - can sync with iPhones and Blackberries. (Androids MIGHT prefer Google, but I can't imagine why.) Outlook however leads more people to Exchange than away from it. One big intangible with email is how many users “live in” Outlook. True, Google Apps Premier Edition will sync with Outlook, but the difference is that those Apps accounts are on Google's servers, not hosted servers you contract. Which leads to the question of IT support. Who do you want to support your email? How fast of a response time do you need?
Under day-to-day email practices, we'll put these factors:
- What are users' preferred communication methods?
- How much email storage is needed?
- How often do users share calendars?
- Who's administering?
If email is the big communication tool (and it is for most businesses), then even a smidge of downtime is potentially catastrophic. We admit it, Exchange isn't perfect here…but then, nobody is. Google Apps does beat Exchange on default account space (25GB against 5GB). But shared calendaring brings us back to Outlook and its rich invite features.
We're back at the administration question. Many LinkedIn posters recommended contract IT support, especially if you're a smaller company. Of course Google provides support for Apps…but interfacing with other systems? Not so much.
What's the Verdict?
So where did we end up? When is Hosted Exchange a good choice, and when is Google Apps better? I'll give my answers in terms of the two prime factors I mentioned.
IN TERMS OF BUSINESS SIZE: For startup-level businesses, Google Apps makes more sense. Little infrastructure is needed, and it’’s easier for a few people to adapt (they probably use Google already). Generally, the larger the business, the more likely Exchange will better suit them.
IN TERMS OF DAY-TO-DAY EMAIL PRACTICES: If a company already uses Outlook, we recommend they go Hosted Exchange. If they have an IT department already, so much the better. If not, and they don't want to spend much, then go Google Apps and get some local support in case integration hits a snag.
Of course, this is just one blog post. Do your research before contacting suppliers.
Which do you use, Google Apps or Hosted Exchange? Let me know in the comments.
