Update to Office Communications Server Unveiled

Code-named Office Communications Server "14"  was unveiled at VoiceCon. The new version is part of the Office 2010 wave of products and is due out before the end of the year. Communications Server will be tightly integrated with SharePoint Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2010.

Hardware vendor and ISVs are building apps for new IP phones, survivable branch appliances, E911 solutions, call recording and accounting software. ISVs are also integrating Communications Server in customer service applications and

Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate Vice President, Unified Communications Group, wrote in his blog post, “In the next three years, we predict that UC will become the norm in business communications, more than half of VoIP calls at work will include more than just voice, and your communications client will enable UC with more than 1 billion people.

“Three years from now, new applications written by corporate developers, system integrators and software vendors will be communications-enabled by default. We predict that three out of every four new business applications will include embedded communications.”

About Office Communications Server

Office Communications Server is the platform for presence, instant messaging, conferencing, and enterprise voice for businesses around the world.

Software-powered communications can streamline interactions between people and machines by reducing human latency when a business process is waiting for a human decision, or by extending the reach of your application to a phone or mobile device.

To develop applications on Communication Server, see Office Communications Developer Center on MSDN.

Bruce D. KyleISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation