Unified Communications by Yann Espanet

Youtube OCS R2 Video Channel

Prepare the Office Communications Server R2 Virtual Launch Experience by downloading whitepaper and watching videos on new functionallities.

Whitepaper for the launch event :

• Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Quick Reference for Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant
• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant Deployment Guide

Technical overview of the changes :

• OCS 2007 R2 RTM Planning Workbook
  This Planning Workbook is intended to document the recommended roll-out of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in an enterprise-level lab or production environment. This document’s purpose is to provide enterprise customers and deployment partners a method to begin planning for their Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployment.

Technical Guides :

• Mobile :
  • Quick Reference Card for Communicator Mobile 2007 R2
  • The 2007 R2 Version of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile for Windows Mobile Getting Started Guide
  • The 2007 R2 Version of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile for Windows Mobile: Frequently Asked Questions
• Communicator :
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Deployment Guide
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Getting Started Guide
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Quick Reference Card for Conferencing
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Quick Reference Card for Contact Management, Presence, and IM
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Quick Reference Card for Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Quick Reference Card for Phone and Video
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Testing and Troubleshooting Guide
• Web Access :
  • Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access 2007 R2 Quick Reference Card
• Conferencing :
  • Deploying the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 Client with Office Communications Server 2007 R2
  • Getting Started with the Microsoft Office Live Meeting Client for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2
  • Meeting Client for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Testing and Troubleshooting Guide
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Quick Reference for Dial-in Conferencing
  • Microsoft Office Live Meeting Quick Reference for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2
• Group Chat :
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Client Group Policy Settings
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Getting Started Guide
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Planning and Deployment Guide
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Quick Reference Card
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Testing and Troubleshooting Guide
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat What’s New Guide
• Release Notes :
  • Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Release Notes

The MCM certification stand for Microsoft Certified Master, it sit between the MCTIP and the top level MCA Microsoft Certified Architect.

The Master certification is now a pre-requisite for beeing a Microsoft Certified Architect’s (Database,Messaging, Directory Services) is anyone can apply; you don’t need to be from Microsoft or a Partner.

Exam 088-924 – Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 – UC Voice Specialization count for Microsoft partner who want to have the Unified Communications Competence Speciality or individual that want to try the cursus Microsoft Certified Master : Office Communications Server 2007.

You must have the following exams below completed in order to qualify for the Microsoft Certified Master: Office Communications Server 2007.

• Exam 70-638 – MCTS: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Configuring
• Exam 088-924 – Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 – UC Voice Specialization*
• Exam 70-294 – Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure OR Exam 70-640 - MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration
• Exam 70-297 – Designing a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Network Infrastructure
  OR Exam 70-642 – MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring

Attending the Unified Communications Voice Ignite workshop is recommended as preparation for Exam 088-924 (available in fall 2008). Voice Ignite attendance is based on workshop availability . You must complete the following prerequisites, which are both available online, before attending:

• Exchange Unified Messaging Power-Up workshop
• Office Communications Server 2007 Ignite workshop

 After that, you must fill an online form and follow this steps :

• 3 weeks of mandatory training : One 2-week block, one 1-week block (can choose to consume all together or not)
• Core technical content / sessions
• Written exams
• Qualification Lab Test

What will it cost?

• Package: $18,500
  3 weeks of training
  3 written tests
  1 Qualification Lab
• You must paid the plane and three weeks of accomodation in Redmond to follow the training at Microsoft premises.
• Retakes
  Written tests: $250 each
  Lab Test: $1,500

In conclusion, becoming a Certified Master is a really a long and costly path, but like Microsoft said : “It’s Always better to be a master” ask to Yoda, he knows why !

More information here : http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/OCS/default.mspx

VoiceCon Amsterdam 2008

• Keynote: Joe Burton, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Unified Communications, Cisco
• Keynote: David Farrell, Vice President, IBM Software Europe
• Keynote: Johan Krebbers, Group IT Architect, Royal Dutch Shell
• VoiceCon Summit: From TDM to IP Telephony to Unified Communications: How Far Have We Come?
• Keynote: Eelco Blok, Managing Director Business, Getronics and Wholesale & Operations Segments, KPN
• Keynote: Gerhard Otterbach, Member of the Board, Siemens Enterprise Communications
• Keynote: Eric Swift, Senior Director, Microsoft
• VoiceCon Summit: Network Operators’ Roadmap for the Enterprise
• Conference Wrap Up

 

Are you prepared for outages that affect e-mail service or data availability? Have you defined recovery strategies and procedures for disasters big and small? In this webcast, we cover the recommended strategies for protecting Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 messaging service and data, with an emphasis on the ultimate disaster: a full site failure. Join us as we dive deep into standby continuous replication (SCR), which was designed with these disasters in mind.

Original Broadcast Date: Friday, August 15, 2008

Are you prepared for outages that affect e-mail service or data availability? Have you defined recovery strategies and procedures for disasters big and small? In this webcast, we cover the recommended strategies for protecting Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 messaging service and data, with an emphasis on the ultimate disaster: a full site failure. Join us as we dive deep into standby continuous replication (SCR), which was designed with these disasters in mind.

Original Broadcast Date: Friday, August 15, 2008

ILM 2007 provides a robust metadirectory platform for synchronizing identity data between heterogeneous systems, including Active Directory and Exchange. In this session we will explore both how to support Exchange Server 2007 deployment with ILM 2007, as well as how ILM “2″ will further help to alleviate pains around distribution list management and user provisioning.

Original Broadcast Date: Monday, July 28, 2008

After completing this lab you will be better able to: 1) Understand the sequence of operations required to build a broadcast IM service; 2) Create and work with connection manager and endpoint objects; 3) Create and dispose of session objects; 4) Use sessions to send messages directly to recipients; 5) Understand the sequence of operations required to build an Automated IM; 6) Understand how to use and register server-based endpoints for use with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007; 7) Understand how to publish presence for Unified Communications Managed API (UCMA)-based applications