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Unified Communications Featured Article
March 17, 2008
AirDefense Introduces Enterprise 7.3 Wireless Intrusion Prevention Solution
By Microsoft (News - Alert) announced the broad availability of its conferencing solutions and continues customer and partner adoption of its unified communications platform.
Partners are embracing the platform in an effort to provide interoperable conferencing solutions. For instance, Polycom (News - Alert) In has announced that it will make its videoconferencing systems work with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007.
Microsoft has also outlined continued customer adoption of its unified communications solutions as well as demonstrated some new technologies, including low-cost, high-definition videoconferencing.
“I am excited at the enthusiastic customer and partner response to our unified communications launch,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president for the Unified Communications (News - Alert) Group at Microsoft, in a Monday statement.
“In the last six months, we have seen some amazing customer testimonials, triple-digit business growth and widespread adoption that are bringing the power of face-to-face, high-quality videoconferencing out of the boardroom and to the broader organization.”
The announcement that Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 now work with conferencing systems from Polycom and TANDBERG means that these systems work with more than 60 percent of existing worldwide business conferencing systems.
Microsoft RoundTable, the company’s innovative, low-cost videoconferencing solution, is also being embraced by customers. In the last six months, more than 350 companies have deployed the 360-degree videoconferencing phones, and 55 resellers have taken it into 17 countries.
“Office Communications Server and RoundTable allow us to improve collaboration and communication while traveling less; we know that has a positive impact on the planet, and that’s important to us,” said Robert Fort, vice president of information technology and CIO at Virgin Entertainment Group, in Monday’s statement.
“With an entry point of $3,000 per device and simple plug-and-play operation, we can widely deploy devices to make conferencing available to everyone.”
Organizations such as Dow Corning (News - Alert) Corp. have deployed the system to thousands of users for VoIP
, webconferencing and videoconferencing, e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging and presence. The company is reporting cost and travel savings, in addition to dramatic productivity gains.
“Office Communications Server 2007 delivers the next-generation communications capability to provide instant presence information that reduces contact latency. Then people have rich functionality — IM, webconferencing, VoIP — to have engaging conversations,” said Steve Hershauer, IT architect and engineer at Dow Corning, in Monday’s statement.
“As such, this fundamentally changes the way our internal peers and business partners communicate, and increases overall productivity for everyone and has a macro-productivity effect on the processes they touch.”
As more organizations are finding the benefits of videoconferencing, the demand for solutions is increasing. This technology enables dispersed key players within an organization to communicate via real-time, visual interactions without having to travel to a particular destination.
Now, with the incorporation of Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 into existing platforms, more companies will have access to the solutions they need to promote conferencing solutions that adhere to budgets.
What’s more, these companies will be better positioned to drive fast-to-market solutions, while also promoting a “Green” approach to communications to get a leg up on the competition.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
Want to learn more about conferencing? Then be sure to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. The papers are authored by industry leaders, who, in turn, receive qualified sales leads from interested parties. Check here for the latest in CRM information.
Partners are embracing the platform in an effort to provide interoperable conferencing solutions. For instance, Polycom (News - Alert) In has announced that it will make its videoconferencing systems work with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007.
Microsoft has also outlined continued customer adoption of its unified communications solutions as well as demonstrated some new technologies, including low-cost, high-definition videoconferencing.
“I am excited at the enthusiastic customer and partner response to our unified communications launch,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president for the Unified Communications (News - Alert) Group at Microsoft, in a Monday statement.
“In the last six months, we have seen some amazing customer testimonials, triple-digit business growth and widespread adoption that are bringing the power of face-to-face, high-quality videoconferencing out of the boardroom and to the broader organization.”
The announcement that Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 now work with conferencing systems from Polycom and TANDBERG means that these systems work with more than 60 percent of existing worldwide business conferencing systems.
Microsoft RoundTable, the company’s innovative, low-cost videoconferencing solution, is also being embraced by customers. In the last six months, more than 350 companies have deployed the 360-degree videoconferencing phones, and 55 resellers have taken it into 17 countries.
“Office Communications Server and RoundTable allow us to improve collaboration and communication while traveling less; we know that has a positive impact on the planet, and that’s important to us,” said Robert Fort, vice president of information technology and CIO at Virgin Entertainment Group, in Monday’s statement.
“With an entry point of $3,000 per device and simple plug-and-play operation, we can widely deploy devices to make conferencing available to everyone.”
Organizations such as Dow Corning (News - Alert) Corp. have deployed the system to thousands of users for VoIP
, webconferencing and videoconferencing, e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging and presence. The company is reporting cost and travel savings, in addition to dramatic productivity gains. “Office Communications Server 2007 delivers the next-generation communications capability to provide instant presence information that reduces contact latency. Then people have rich functionality — IM, webconferencing, VoIP — to have engaging conversations,” said Steve Hershauer, IT architect and engineer at Dow Corning, in Monday’s statement.
“As such, this fundamentally changes the way our internal peers and business partners communicate, and increases overall productivity for everyone and has a macro-productivity effect on the processes they touch.”
As more organizations are finding the benefits of videoconferencing, the demand for solutions is increasing. This technology enables dispersed key players within an organization to communicate via real-time, visual interactions without having to travel to a particular destination.
Now, with the incorporation of Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 into existing platforms, more companies will have access to the solutions they need to promote conferencing solutions that adhere to budgets.
What’s more, these companies will be better positioned to drive fast-to-market solutions, while also promoting a “Green” approach to communications to get a leg up on the competition.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
Want to learn more about conferencing? Then be sure to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP
Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. The papers are authored by industry leaders, who, in turn, receive qualified sales leads from interested parties. Check here for the latest in CRM information.
