微软把电话、视频功能集成到Office系统中

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最新版本的Office Communications Server 2007和Office Communicator 2007已经将语音呼叫和视频会议功能集成进去。
通过这个系统可以看到对方是否在线、在线、近期的工作安排等信息以便决定是呼叫、发送邮件还是进行即时通信。
Microsoft Links Phone, Video to Office

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer
  (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday launched two newprograms that allow people to place calls right from the Outlook e-mailprogram, but analysts say businesses won't throw away their reliableoffice phone systems until the software maker's tools are just as good.

The new programs build onserver and desktop software Microsoft introduced in 2005 that wove bothinstant messaging and indicators of "presence" - when a user is online,busy or logged off - into other communications programs in the Officesuite.


The latest versions of OfficeCommunications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 add voicecalling and video conferencing. Computer users looking at an e-mail inOutlook can see whether the sender and other recipients are online andavailable to talk. With one click, a user can invite the whole group toan IM chat, a call or a video conference.

Communicator, a desktop application, also shows users whether theircontacts are online, much as an IM buddy list does. Users also can seetheir contacts' presence on Windows smart phones and new desk andspeakerphones that plug into Ethernet jacks or PCs.

Based on whether someone is on the phone or has a meeting scheduledin Outlook, for example, their presence suggests to colleagues whetherto call, e-mail or IM.

The changes are "as profoundas the shift from typewriters to word processing software," said BillGates, Microsoft's chairman, at a launch event Tuesday in SanFrancisco.

Until recently, corporate telephone networks were separate from networks connecting office PCs to the Internet.

But as vendors started using the same underlying technology, andsoftware-based Internet calling programs like eBay Inc.'s Skype gainedtraction, "traditional" phone system makers and software companies havebegun converging. And both kinds of companies are working to meshcalling, conferencing, e-mail and instant messaging.

"Everybody at this point gets it," said Gartner research analystBernard Elliot. "These people have come into it from differentbackgrounds, but they really all have a common vision that you couldbring it together."

On the one hand, Microsoft continues to forge partnerships withtelephone system providers like Nortel Networks Corp. and Avaya Inc.,and has said it will work with Cisco Systems Inc., which has a "unifiedcommunications" solution of its own.

But executives also said Tuesday that they expect businesscustomers to eventually give up their traditional PBX office phonesystems.

"Three, five years down the road, (companies will) go completelytowards a software-based (solution) from Microsoft rather than buying aPBX," said Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division.

Microsoft contends its unified communications set-up will savecompanies money on telephone hardware and maintenance and cut employeetravel expenses.

Phone system providers don't necessarily see the future in the sameway. In an interview, Louis D'Ambrosio, Avaya's chief executiveofficer, said Microsoft remains a partner and its programs don'tcompete directly with software that Avaya is developing. Whilecustomers may install Microsoft's programs, he said, they will alsocontinue to buy infrastructure from Avaya and use it for sophisticatedconferencing and other phone features.

Analysts say Microsoft's solution has the potential to be a real player in this next generation of office communications.

Microsoft "is a real challenger," said Forrester research analystHenry Dewing. Companies including Cisco and Avaya have their ownefforts on the desktop, but he said Microsoft, whose software alreadyruns most of the world's personal computers, is changing how peoplecommunicate faster than efforts by other vendors.

Yet traditional phone equipment companies retain advantages of reliability and scale.

&quoteople pick up the telephone, they expect to hear dial tone," Dewing said.

The Internet and corporate servers don't always work. Casual homeusers may be willing to accept a scratchy Skype connection, butbusiness users are not. And he said Microsoft's system will have toprove it can handle the same call volume at the same quality.