I learned that there is a new UC user group being formed in Pacific Northwest area: Pacific Northwest Unified Communications User Group (PNWUCUG). Now, say that acronym 3 times fast! :) Anyway, the group's site can be found here: http://www.ucdoers.org/. Read More

Join Microsoft at INTERACT2008 - an exclusive event for key community influencers in the unified communications space. This event provides a unique opportunity for you to develop deep technical knowledge on Microsoft's unified communications products, Read More

Today Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes (my boss) launched Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS), and announced that Exchange Server 2007 SP1 will be available in the 4th quarter of this year. Here is a long list of enhancements within SP1 – but given the Read More

Via the Office Communications Server blog: Join Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes as they kickoff the worldwide Unified Communications Launch 2007 in San Francisco on October 16, 2007.  This free, day-long event includes a keynote with demos, a series Read More

Microsoft IT has published a white paper about their rollout of Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging (UM).  This is a good resource for those who enjoy technical detail and are curious about real-world UM implementations! Using Exchange Server Read More

I have learned (via William) that there is a limited time offer of a free Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging course that you can take online if interested. From the course page: Title: Clinic 5091: Introduction to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified Read More

The Unified Messaging component of Exchange 2007 SP1 is the designed to be the voice mail solution for Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS). What it means is that anyone can dial an Office Communications Server user and leave a voice mail which will Read More

Unified Messaging provides the functionality of having voice mail, email and fax to a single location that is the user's mailbox. In Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging the fax feature is limited to inbound fax only. Which means that, an external or internal Read More

What is a Dialing Rule Dialing rules are created to modify a phone number before sending it to the PBX for outbound calls. Dialing rules serve two purposes: 1. Specify the numbers that can be dialed as outbound calls internal or external. Administrators Read More

There are 2 ways that Exchange Server 2007 UM is integrated with your OOF.  The first is from the telephone using Outlook Voice Access (OVA) and the 2nd is from the desktop using Outlook or Outlook Web Access (OWA): 1. By using logging into OVA, Read More

Policies in Exchange are designed to enable flexible administration of large numbers of Exchange objects. A policy is a collection of configuration settings that can be applied to one or more Exchange objects of the same class. This blog post gives Read More

Introduction Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging (UM) supports automatic speech recognition (in English, only). UM-enabled users who call into UM can speak to it for command and control in Outlook Voice Access (e.g. "Next message", "I'll be 20 minutes Read More

To enable Exchange Unified Messaging (UM) functionality, Exchange Server 2007 needs to be connected to your telephony systems. This requires some telephony equipment, knowledge and skills not previously required by your Exchange administrators. To help Read More

Introduction   Customers who are considering Unified Messaging (UM) will at some stage ask the question: "How Many Exchange 2007 Servers running the UM role will I need to support my users?". The short answer to the question is: "That depends". Read More

Dedicated to all our Exchange international users wherever you are and receive email (or voicemail).   Did you know that Exchange 2007 will be released in 11 languages for the server, 47 for Outlook Web Access (OWA), and 16 for Unified Messaging Read More