By Rob Helm [bio]
Posted: Oct. 15, 2007                            

The following an excerpt of a Research Report published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

Free! Executive Summary

Communications Server 2007 is Microsoft's latest platform for unified communications, which provides instant messaging, user presence, voice, e-mail, and other communications services over a single network and directory infrastructure

Free! Introduction

Communications Server 2007 is Microsoft's latest product for real-time communications, such as instant messaging and voice, and a central part of its platform for unified communications

IM and Presence Improvements

Communications Server 2007 and Communicator 2007 deliver small but useful upgrades to their contact management, presence, and instant messaging

Voice and Video Improvements

Communications Server and the Communicator client have been substantially improved for voice and video

Web Conferencing in Communications Server 2007

Communications Server 2007 includes features that organizations can use to provide Web conferencing services in-house, but doing so could be more troublesome than outsourcing

Future Directions

Future releases of Communications Server and related products will probably merge the product's voice and Web conferencing technologies

Availability, System Requirements, and Resources

Communications Server and Communicator 2007 became generally available in Sept. 2007; system requirements include SQL Server

Communications Server 2007 Packaging, Licensing, and Pricing

Details the various server licenses and Client Access Licenses (CALs) required to implement a real-time communications system built on Office Communications Server 2007 and Communicator 2007