Time to Panic? OCS Users Can Talk with Gmail Users Now
Filed under: Conferencing, Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007 R2
A couple months ago I blogged on how to IM people on other networks from within OCS - MSN/Windows Live, AIM and Yahoo. But two other IM services were left off the list: Cisco’’s Jabber and Google Talk/Gmail.
At the time, OCS users couldn”t Instant Message Gmail users. Now they can.
Wait, users chatting with people on MORE Instant Messaging networks?! The horror! They won”t get anything done! The office will spend all day sending bad jokes and silly cat pictures to themselves!
Guess what? Microsoft just made it worse (better really, but doom-and-gloom attracts readers). And they did it for free!
Microsoft has released a new XMPP Gateway for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Download the Gateway here. Yes, it’’s a free download.
The OCS Team Blog has razor-sharp instructions on how to setup the new XMPP Gateway here:
Configuring XMPP Connectivity to Gmail
It requires a properly configured OCS 2007 R2 system, an Edge Server, and a server running Windows Server 2008 to host the gateway.
What does this gateway do?
The XMPP Gateway allows interoperability between your OCS 2007 R2 system, and user accounts on Gmail & Cisco’’s Jabber. In other words, you can add Gmail & Jabber users like you would any OCS contact in Office Communicator. See their current status with Presence, and send Instant Messages if they”re available.
(This also means Office Communicator’’s logging capability will record your conversations. Which most IM networks don”t do unless you specify. More on why this is handy later.)
Why install this at all? Won”t it just distract employees even more?
Nope. In fact, I can think of two big reasons why being able to chat with Gmail & Jabber users is good. Before I list them though, I should clarify something about Gmail.
Recently Google added the ability to chat into Gmail’’s interface. (There’’s a FAQ page for it here.) This means everyone who has a Gmail account can IM other Gmail users right from Firefox/Internet Explorer.
Why is this important? Because the first advantage of installing the XMPP Gateway is…
1. It lets you chat with clients & partners who don”t have OCS 2007.
Not everyone uses OCS (yet), so it’’s no guarantee that a client or partner will have it. However, it’’s a pretty safe bet they have Gmail accounts. Which means using this gateway, you can chat with them. Even hold conferences online.
That’’s a huge advantage right there. Some firms only deal with clients through phone and email, usually if they”re overseas or far enough away that time zones factor in. This gateway provides a no-cost way to add IM to that mix.
2. It makes adding OCS more attractive.
If you”re waffling over buying OCS, the ability to IM people on several networks does have some value incentive. Adding chat with Gmail, AIM and MSN/Windows Live increases OCS” usability, like I described above. It also means users will take to it more easily, if they know they can add in colleagues. Or clients. Or even (gasp!) friends.
A final note: Microsoft also dropped PIC license requirements for Windows Live and AIM. You can federate with AIM automatically, if you have a standard CAL for OCS 2007.
Having more Instant Messaging options CAN cause distraction instead of productivity. The whole ”time to panic” thing isn”t completely ridiculous. I addressed this back in May with my “Is There a Reason to Use Instant Messaging in Business?” post.
However, IM is another communication tool. Try the XMPP Gateway out if you already use IM. Or if it”d help with client communications. Chances are, being able to chat with people on the largest webmail provider in the world might just help you out.
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How to IM People on Other Networks (AIM, Yahoo, MSN) from OCS — Part 2
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2
Last week I discussed what you”d need to connect OCS 2007 R2 to the MSN/Windows Live IM service. This week I”ll do the same for AIM and Yahoo - the two biggest Instant Messaging services out there.
A word of caution before I write this out, though — spammers & phishers use AIM and Yahoo to send out dangerous links and files. Make sure your company’’s communications policy explains this. And advises all users to ignore/block any suspicious messages they receive.
As I mentioned last week, in order to connect to AIM or Yahoo you must move up from a Standard CAL to a Public IM Connectivity (PIC) License. PIC licenses are available through Microsoft Volume Licensing. This is necessary because your Edge Servers will need the PIC License Numbers before Microsoft can approve their provisioning.
But Wait! Configure Users” Ability to Connect First
I found this in TechNet yesterday. It’’s a prerequisite step to individual users communicating with external Instant Messages. It’’s probably covered in existing OCS documentation, but I thought it was prudent to add here:
Configure Users for Federation, Public IM Connectivity, and Remote User Access
Connecting to AIM And/Or Yahoo IM
With that settled, let’’s move to what we”re here for. The process for AIM and Yahoo is very similar to provisioning MSN/Windows Live. Here it is:
- Purchase an OCS Public IM Connectivity (PIC) License under Microsoft Volume Licensing (Enterprise, Select or Open Value). Contact your local Microsoft partner for this.
- Once the PIC License is approved by a Regional Operations Center (ROC), Microsoft Volume Licensing sends you a letter with instructions on public IM connectivity provisioning.
- Use the instructions provided to start the provisioning, depending on which IM service you”re connecting to.
- When all requested public IM providers complete their provisioning, Microsoft sends a notice of completion to you. It may take up to 4 weeks for provisioning to finish on both Microsoft’’s side and AOL/Yahoo’’s.
Things to Note
–AOL requires the A record to be published in DNS in order to authenticate its public certificate.
–While you can IM between networks with this setup, Multi-party IM, file transfers, and audio/video aren”t supported.
That’’s it. That’’s how you connect OCS 2007 to Public IM networks. Not too difficult, provided your setup is in order.
If you”d like more, Microsoft has published a guide with detailed specs and some more information. Download it here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=155970
How to IM People on Other Networks (AIM, Yahoo, MSN) from OCS — Part 1
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2
Everybody asks the question when they find out what Office Communicator does. “Oh, this is instant messaging too? Can I chat with my friend in San Francisco on AIM?”
And then Management’’s hair goes white. Employees spending all day IMing! Nothing will get done!
Yes, there is a risk of this (though much less than what most people think). But there’’s plenty of good reasons to IM people on other networks. Discussions with partners and vendors. A direct line to Tech Support. Telecommuters. Even conversations with clients!
So, how do you go about installing the capability? It turns out to be pretty easy, provided you have the right information. And the right license.
Prerequisites for Provisioning
Adding the capability to connect to the public IM networks is called provisioning in OCS. This will require configuration changes on your side. Here’’s what’’s needed:
- Public key infrastructure (PKI) support
- OCS servers must support federation
- Edge Servers must be configured to enable support for each public IM provider (MSN/Windows Live, AIM, Yahoo) you want
- This information is needed as well:
- Microsoft Agreement Number
- Access Edge service fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
- Primary Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) domain
- Any additional SIP domains
- Any additional Access Edge service FQDNs
- Contact information
The provisioning process is determined based on your licensing. A standard CAL for OCS 2007 allows access to the MSN/Windows Live IM network. In order to provision servers to access AIM and Yahoo IM networks, you”ll need an OCS Public IM Connectivity License. (Contact Microsoft to see if you”re eligible.)
Today I”m going to list how to connect with a standard CAL to the MSN/Windows Live IM network. Next week I”ll detail how to connect to AIM and Yahoo.
Connecting to MSN/Windows Live
It’’s actually very easy to provision OCS for MSN/Windows Live. You simply:
- Contact your Microsoft account manager to request the provisioning.
- The account manager will send you a URL to a website. This URL initiates the process.
- Enter the requested information on the initiation website. Submit.
Wasn”t so hard, was it? Provisioning can take up to 30 days to complete. But once it does, you”ll be able to talk with friends on MSN/Windows Live right from Office Communicator.
However, note: Windows Live may require a change to your existing IDs in order to work. You must change your ID if it matches a domain that’’s the same as the domain you request be provisioned for public IM connectivity. (I would think this would make things easier, but who knows.)
Apparently submitting a domain for provisioning “reserves” that domain for use with your company’’s IM setup. So the user ID must be changed. For instructions on how to do this, go here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/Messenger/
Part 2 next week!
