Microsoft presented and demonstrated Office Communication Server release 2 today at VoiceCon, in tandem they hit the press. Eric Swift announced the new release and the key elements I noted were:
- Audio conferencing capabilities from within OCS.
- Ability to dial in from any telephone not just OCS attached devices
- Communicator client support for video up to high definition quality
- Delegation support for telephony (secretary / manager scenarios)
- Attendant client allowing for switchboard style control of calls and grouping of people to help route calls
- Attendant shows call queues and historic information about callers
- Web access to OCS meetings without need for live meeting client – then used web meeting to call the user on a standard telephone to link that web user to the audio
- Screen sharing from within the Communicator client.
- API’s available
Attendant Client
Looking Forward
The stated aim from Microsoft was to remove the requirement for the PBX.
For those with CSC GlobalPass ID’s I’m going to publish more detailed information, with more comment rather than observation, into the Collaborative Wiki space.
More images are available in my Flickr Set for the event.
Stu Downes 