Office Communications Server 2007 R2

[mb2k01]

I've always been interested in the communcations server products but never had the time to implement them. The videos on this site look pretty awesome http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/en/us/videos.aspx

 

Has any edugeeker already implemented OCS2007 R2? Do you also have Exchange 2010?

I'd be very keen to hear from anyone who has! It will save me from going in to the unknown alone!

[Soulfish]

I'm very interested in using it to replace our 20yr old PBX system when we eventually move to IP phones, but haven't had a chance to really explore

[ful56_uk]

Have you seen this

 

Deploying Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (Part 1)

[Gatt]

We are using OCS R2 - though it doesn't like 2008 R2...

Integrates with Outlook & Exchange 2007 very well too

[mb2k01]

We are using OCS R2 - though it doesn't like 2008 R2...

Integrates with Outlook & Exchange 2007 very well too

 

Do you use it instead of a PBX phone system, or with?

[Soulfish]

Do you use it instead of a PBX phone system, or with?

 

+1 I'd be very interested to know how your using it and what features your making use of

[Domino]

We're using it.

 

Got a mix of people using it full Unified Messaging, just conferencing and with PBX forwarding.

 

We make use of the conferencing/livemeeting side a lot, but at the moment I'm looking at replacing our reception phones with the attendant console.

 

Its pretty solid, can be a pain to setup, and also very expensive.

[Soulfish]

We're using it.

 

Got a mix of people using it full Unified Messaging, just conferencing and with PBX forwarding.

 

We make use of the conferencing/livemeeting side a lot, but at the moment I'm looking at replacing our reception phones with the attendant console.

 

Its pretty solid, can be a pain to setup, and also very expensive.

 

With the changes we're making to our schools agreement at our renewal this summer we actually get the OCS CALs included - only additional cost I can see is the server?

 

As per normal MS Schools agreement licensing it's pretty cheap . What sort of setup do you need to run all OCS without a PBX (number of OCS servers etc)? Also what phones are you using with OCS?

[Domino]

We're using headsets, and our existing alcatel IP phones. And SNOM meetingpoints for conference rooms. VOIP : snom MeetingPoint : conference telephone, SIP, microsoft OCS, broadband sound technology, add-on microphones, Broadband quality, klarVoice, VoIP

 

If you want to use telephony, you need a OCS cal AND an OCS enterprise cal - which is the expensive bit.

 

Our PBX's in london and boston have a OCS mediation server attached via SIP to handle calls. Then a OCS Control server in each site, and an edge server on each.

 

Your edge server needs to be completly outside (bad news if you're on ISA, one-to-one NAT is ballsed), and all of these need to be physical boxes, as they reckon VMware can't do real-time.

 

To run it without a PBX you will still need some kind of bridge, theres a supported list online, and i know some are now being OCS certified on release.

[Soulfish]

We're using headsets, and our existing alcatel IP phones. And SNOM meetingpoints for conference rooms. VOIP*:*snom MeetingPoint*:*conference telephone, SIP, microsoft OCS, broadband sound technology, add-on microphones, Broadband quality, klarVoice, VoIP*

 

If you want to use telephony, you need a OCS cal AND an OCS enterprise cal - which is the expensive bit.

 

Our PBX's in london and boston have a OCS mediation server attached via SIP to handle calls. Then a OCS Control server in each site, and an edge server on each.

 

Your edge server needs to be completly outside (bad news if you're on ISA, one-to-one NAT is ballsed), and all of these need to be physical boxes, as they reckon VMware can't do real-time.

 

To run it without a PBX you will still need some kind of bridge, theres a supported list online, and i know some are now being OCS certified on release.

 

Cheers for the information . The enterprise CAL suite includes both the standard and enterprise OCS cals - one of the reasons for seriously looking at OCS. I suspect it may be fairly cheap for us to implement compared to other IP phone options.

[Domino]

The nice thing is the you've no ongoing maintenance with comms companies.

 

And no conferencing costs, if you use that side.