Remote telephony. In LCS 2005, if you want to work remotely and
use A/V, data sharing, or remote access, you must first connect through your
VPN. This requirement is necessary because these features are intended to be
point-to-point, and they can't be proxied via the LCS 2005 Access Proxy. Because
public IM services already provided these functions, improving upon this area
was important when Microsoft replaced LCS 2005 with OCS 2007. However,
you still need yet another edge server. Whether the Edge Server role can
(or will) coexist with LCS 2005's Access Proxy server role is yet to be determined—but
it must if you want to provide Live Meeting, A/V, or telephony support for remote
users.
If connectivity "at the edge" works as intended, the Edge Server role will
be a major victory for Microsoft. One area that will become clear over time
is how the quality of a call that's routed through the Internet via the edge
server is affected, especially when multiple users are hitting the gateway at
once. According to Microsoft, a high-quality two-way (dual stream) call requires
approximately 80Kbps of bandwidth. Multiply that by 20 simultaneous calls, and
you could have some congestion on your Internet pipe.
A Force to Be Reckoned With
When Microsoft releases it, OCS 2007 will be a force to be reckoned with. The
previous LCS presence capabilities have been greatly improved, and the voice
capabilities have a lot of promise. Although certain features still need improvement
from the beta version (mainly related to administration and scalability), OCS
2007's one-stop-shopping approach to presence, collaboration, voice, video,
and conferencing will make the product more of a "need" than a "want." With
OCS 2007, Microsoft deftly reigns in the current silos of communication, putting
the rest of the UC world on notice.
| Summary
Microsoft office communications server 2007 beta 3
PROS: Easy setup and installation; improved presence capabilities
over LCS 2005
CONS: Administration and scalability features need improvement
before release to manufacturing (RTM)
RECOMMENDATION: OCS 2007's combined presence, collaboration, voice,
video, and conferencing features make it a one-stop UC solution.
CONTACT: Microsoft • http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/communicationsserver/default.aspx |
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