The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 is finally ready for launch and it is the first product by Microsoft that combines enterprise-ready instant messaging, conferencing, presence, as well as Voice over Internet Protocol telephone service. This is Microsoft’s first fully integrated unified communications solution.

According to Microsoft, the Office Communications Server 2007 has been developed to provide a rich presence, and is enhanced with support functions for an enriching group IM experience. The Office Communications Server 2007 has improved deployment as well as management functions and capabilities as compared to its predecessor, the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 SP1.

It also consists of some of the features that were there in its predecessor like the public and federation IM connectivity. The Office Communications Server 2007 has been developed to provide real-time conferencing that can be hosted with ease on your organizations server. It has a built-in firewall and offers an enhanced VoIP solution, which can work independently or is a stand alone solution and it can also be integrated within your existing PBX infrastructure.

The Office Communications Server 2007 is going to be available in two different editions just like the Live Communications Server 2005. The two editions are the Standard Edition and the Enterprise Edition. 

1. The Standard Edition: This edition of Office Communications Server 2007 is capable of hosting all server components, and also the database to store user information and conference details on a single desktop PC. The Office Communications Server 2007 Standard Edition will provide full functionality for any small or medium organization.
    
2. The Enterprise Edition: This edition will separate the server functionality from other capabilities like data storage. This will help in achieving higher availability and capacity. The Enterprise Edition will consist of mainly more than two front end servers. These servers are fronted by a hardware load balancer, which will be connected to the back-end database. You also have the option of deploying a single front end server in the Enterprise edition without using a hardware load balancer. Another option provided by the enterprise edition of the Office Communications Server 2007 is that you can deploy various components of conferencing on separate computers to achieve higher availability and capacity. The Enterprise Edition is being taken out keeping in mind the requirements of mostly medium and large organizations.

The standard as well as the enterprise editions will be able to support the full IM suite, conferencing, presence, and VoIP features.

The technical overview of Office Communications Server 2007 is divided into two main sections, which are the architecture section and the new features sections. The new feature section will provide you a technical overview of the various new features that have been integrated in the Office Communications Server 2007. Some of the features are:

• An enhanced on-premise web conferencing facility
• Simplified deployment and management
• Enables group IM with ease
• Enterprise Voice functionality
• Audio and video capabilities
• Microsoft RoundTable™ communications and archival system
• Enhancement of federation
• Presence has been enhanced
• Client applications