Communications Products

Communications Server is the center of Microsoft’s solution for unified communications solutions. Shown here are the major components in such a solution. Users employ the Communicator 2007 application on client PCs for instant messaging (IM), presence, voice or video calls, and multiparty communication sessions. Workers can also use the separate Live Meeting 2007 client for Web conferences, which adds features, such as audience polling and Q&A, that can be useful for large conferences or meetings, such as training seminars.

Communications Server has several roles:

• Register and track the addresses of users and their PCs
• Log and control communications sessions (e.g., place and end voice calls)
• Publish user presence information
• Distribute audio, video, and other media for multiparty communications sessions (such as voice conference calls)
• Host Web conferences, including shared conference content, such as PowerPoint presentations
• Enable connection by clients