Microsoft Communications Server “14” news announced at VoiceCon

Lots of useful information announced from the Communications Server product team at VoiceCon in Orlando has been released:

Name change

Microsoft Office Communications Server has been renamed to Microsoft Communications Server. Final naming is still being determined so for now it is code named Communications Server “14”.

 

What are some new Communicator14 client features?

New Communicator14 client allows for rich capabilities such as:

 

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More social networking features - Rich photos, real time status updates

 

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Ability to have keyword search on skills/specialty within your organization

 

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Activity feeds – similar to other social networking feeds like Facebook

 

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Selectable OCS devices such as headset vs. USB phone, etc. which is nice if you have multiple UC endpoints connected. Swappable during conversation.

 

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Simultaneous ring other devices (cell phone) based per user or caller ID lookup.

 

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Contextual calling – can type in context prior to the call so the recipient can have context about the incoming call

 

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Location awareness – based on subnet or custom location – tied to E911 location awareness

 

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Listen to voicemails right from client

 

When is CS14 shipping?

CS14 slated to be released by the end of this calendar year

 

Is there a deep dive of CS14 voice features I can review?

Yes, there is a sample CS14 IP Telephony RFP response released today at VoiceCon that you can refer to here

What are some of the new voice features of CS14?:

Enhanced 9-1-1

Call Admission Control

Call Park

Malicious Call Trace

3rd party Survivable Branch Appliances

 

 

New 3rd party partnerships announced for CS:

Common area, desktop, and conference room IP phones optimized for Microsoft Communicator “14”

Aastra
Polycom

Call Accounting and Recording

Nice Systems
Quest

Survivable Branch Appliances that provide local telephony services in the event of a wide area network failure

AudioCodes
Dialogic
Ferrari electronic AG
HP
NET

Enhanced 9-1-1 call routing services

911 Enable
Intrado

Contact Center

Aspect

 

We will post more as more CS14 information is released.