In the spirit of a new year, here is a glimpse of what to expect from OCS in 2010.
The next release of Office Communications Server and Communicator together with Exchange 2010 is currently referred to as UC “Wave 14″ (code-name). The latest publicly available release date is in “late 2010”.
March 22, 2010 Update: more details were released at VoiceCon on March 22nd, 2010 – the recap of what was announced is here.
Few details exist on new stuff coming on the server-side, but here is a recap of what is publicly known:
1) A new version of Office Communications Server (likely to be called Microsoft Communications Server 2010). Here are the highlights:
- A full software powered communications stack, including capabilities intended to make a PBX unnecessary.
- Enhancements to the resiliency and reliability capabilities of OCS 2007 R2.
- More branch office survivability options.
- There will likely be re-routing capabilities depending on the network or PSTN outage.
- Remote Call Control (RCC) will still be supported in Wave 14, though the future beyond that is uncertain and Microsoft generally recommends other integration options.
- Location Awareness:
- The ability to provide location information via a new server role: the Integrated Location Information Server (ILS).
- Location information can be sent on the SIP channel and used in the E.911 scenario.
- Location information will be integrated into the next release (W14) version of Communicator.
- Call Admission Control:
- The ability to use bandwidth information and policies to allow or disallow if a video call can be initiated.
2) A new version Office Communicator (code-named “14” right-now).
- Will likely be called Office Communicator 2010.
- Many new features nicely summarized in this Microsoft Showcase video: What’s New in Microsoft Communicator “14″.
- The Communicator Tabs extensions will likely be deprecated.
- SharePoint Integration:
- New Communicator “skill search” functionality built into the next release of Communicator that searches SharePoint profiles to find people with the skills you are looking for.
- Initiate audio and video communication directly from SharePoint search results.
- Phonetic based search in Communicator to locate associated SharePoint information.
- Voicemail Features:
- Visual voicemail capabilities directly integrated into Communicator 14.
- Multi-language translation capabilities (with Exchange 2010 voicemail integration).
- Ability to jump to a specific point in voicemail.
- Test Calls: the abilility to place a test call directly from the Communicator client will likely be added.
- Music On Hold (MoH): this functionality will likely move to the client.
3) New OCS Server and Client Development SDK’s:
- A set of fully supported (not just samples) Communicator controls in WPF and Silverlight.
- UCMA 3.0 will be a server-side API with workflow activities.
- Much more information is available in Chris Mayo’s PDC session (see below).
- An Early Adopter Program is available if you are interested in getting an early look at the SDKs (see the UC 14 Metro link below).
References and More Information
Microsoft TechDays 2010: Introduction to Microsoft Communications Server “W14″.
UC 14 Metro Early Adopter Program Available
PDC 2009 Sessions:
- Integrating and Extending the Microsoft Office Communicator Experience with Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight
- Microsoft Unified Communications: Developer Platform Futures
PBX killer, Voice CAL coming to OCS (Network World’s early summary of the next version of OCS)
Microsoft drops new hints on next Communications Server Release (ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley does a write-up)
Interoperability support between Cisco and Microsoft products in unified communications
Microsoft readies Office Communicator 2010 beta
Twitter
LinkedIn
I also heard that in wave 14,even when communicator is not running there is some alternative option to reach user. Can some one clarify me?
Will MOC support:
-IPv6
-Direct Access
How about OCS support of IPv6?
If remote call control is removed how will you connect a Cisco call manager to the OCS environment .
—You can use CUCIMOC which doesn’t require RCC or SIP between OCS and CUCM through mediation server
good to here that more info will be at voicecon .. i will be there
Hi Eric,
Removed and deprecated are different. When Microsoft deprecates a feature set it usually means no new features will be added and it is only made available for backward compatibility. That seems to be the case here. A Dec 9, 2009 post the OCS team blog clarifies the current thinking:
> “Microsoft has announced the depreciation of the RCC feature for the next release of Office Communications Server, so new deployments of RCC will not be supported with the coming release. However, customers who have existing deployments of RCC can upgrade to the next release and will continue to be supported through the lifecycle of that release – a good long time”.
FYI, if RCC was completely removed there are other options to achieve similar functionality with Cisco Call Manager (CUCM). You can integrate OCS with your PBX via an OCS Mediation server (and possibly a SIP gateway). Starting in CUCM version 6.1 (I believe) you can do direct SIP integration between OCS and CUCM (i.e. no need for a SIP gateway). The OCS team blog article quoted above has links to the UC Open Interop Program which details the support statements between Cisco CUCM and Microsoft OCS.
I will emphasize that with all of this information, it is very early and could change.
Hope that helps,
If remote call control is removed how will you connect a Cisco call manager to the OCS environment .
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