Learn about new partner applications built on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. The Silverlight player features 3 partner applications:            Schlumberger’s extension of Petrel, a software program for exploration geophysics, with rich collaboration features including presence, IM, audio/video conferencing and applicati.. more »

I’ve been reading comments from several analysts saying that unified communications is just the latest buzzword and marketing buzz. To these analysts I say the same thing that Congressman Barney Frank said to a woman at a health care reform town hall meeting: “On what planet do you spend most of your time?” Yes, some will say that .. more »

Today is another exciting day for the Exchange team. We’re pleased to announce that Exchange Server 2010 is feature complete and folks can download it today. This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to making Exchange 2010 the most effective messaging and collaboration solution available. For more information, please check out our blog .. more »

My good friend Jon Arnold wrote a great piece this morning on VoIP. Great because of the discussion it opens up. My comments are below the snip.VoIP in 2008 - "I'm Not Dead" I've been writing my Service Provider Views column for just about a year now, and VoIP has been a constant theme. .. more »

Life has been hectic the past week with record snowfalls here in Spokane. It's been a real chore to dig out every day. For the first week there were no plows and we were trapped in the neighborhood with not many options to escape.Things are clearing now, although the snow continues to fall this Christmas morning. Having to go shovel every few hours .. more »

Voxbone is announcing a customer win in the VoIP service provider and PBX host Phone.com, and here's the user scenario: Say you run a small translation bureau, specializing in Portuguese to English. You have a web site that gets many hits from Brazil. If you use the hosted PBX service of phone.com, you can pay an extra $12.88 a month to have .. more »

I've been seeing a lot about Truphone lately, but have been a bit reluctant to comment. Reluctant because the folks at Truphone are friends. But, I feel compelled to be honest, and my friends know me for speaking my mind.First some links to the current conversation:Truphone Looks Forward to an Exciting 2009By Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial .. more »

Vyke Communications (www.vyke.com) today announces that it has released a beta version of its Mobile VoIP software and service for Blackberry devices using RIM software, which is available through Vyke's enterprise sales channels.Vyke strengthens its entry into enterprise with the launch of Mobile VoIP for Blackberry RIM devices Vyke Communications .. more »

The pace that technology is moving today never ceases to amaze me. Some channel partners are still trying to figure out VoIP and now there’s unified communications, virtualization, and the cloud! It’s enough to challenge even the most visionary VAR or telecom dealer (the community that UCStrategies refers to as “Solutions .. more »

For small and medium businesses (SMBs) considering Software as a Service (SaaS) e-mail options, there’s a lot of information to wade through, but not a lot of useful guidance on how to choose the service that will provide the best business value for their SaaS e-mail investment. Collaborative Strategy Guild has published a new whitepaper, .. more »

Today, in our fourth quarter earnings call, we shared the latest results of our efforts to free customers from the costs and antiquated architecture of Lotus Notes and Domino.  In our last fiscal year (July 2008 - June 2009), more than 4.7 million people began the switch to Exchange and SharePoint from Notes.  In today’s economic climate, th.. more »

This month’s customer spotlight focuses on a newspaper company using Exchange Server 2007 to help their reporters quickly and efficiently cover more breaking news. As you may know, Exchange Server is currently the most widely used messaging server and growing, and is the cornerstone of Microsoft’s unified communications solution. What .. more »

Today, the Unified Communications Group is pleased to kick off the initial charter of the Microsoft Unified Communications Consultant Program (UCCP), a program designed to provide consultants with the resources needed to enhance their expertise in Microsoft unified communication solutions. The UCCP offers consultants a rich forum to develop .. more »

Over the past several days the UCStrategies team has been involved in an interesting, sometimes heated, and sometimes funny discussion on a name for UC “resellers”. As we prepare our marketing material for the UC Summit 2010, we’ve been trying to figure out the best/proper term for the data VARs, systems integrators, and telecom .. more »

Social networking sounds so pleasant and civilized. It’s cocktails and canapés. Folks of like interests coming together to discuss the latest events. And, then, you hear the loud, obnoxious voice. Apparently, nothing is right and the host doesn’t know, want to know or care that this guest is ‘unhappy’.  Suddenly, everyone is.. more »

Interested in learning the fundamentals of troubleshooting common Unified Messaging call flow issues? We've just released a new white paper on troubleshooting Unified Messaging. In this white paper, we walk you through the flow of a simple call in UM and take a look at things that may go wrong at various points in the call flow. We provide tips .. more »

This release is, without question, the best Exchange yet. And, it all centers around our customers. With Exchange 2010, we demonstrate our relentless pursuit of addressing customers needs both IT professionals and end users. If I could sum up Exchange 2010 in one phrase it would be: Accomplish More. At the end of the day, that s what it s all .. more »

Each month, we look at different organizations across various industries to see how unified communications is transforming their businesses. This month we highlight academic institutions, from school districts to colleges and universities, and how these educational establishments are using Microsoft s UC software to change the ways they communicate .. more »

UCC is an industrywide initiative designed to help business employees communicate and work with each other more effectively, both inside and outside the office... more »

Polycom taken over the Microsoft Round Table device manufacturing from Microsoft. This is a good move as this fits well within Polycom core business. This is a great device with features like "Active speak detection" etc... more »