We announced the next version of OCS, dubbed Office Communications Server 2007 R2, at VoiceCon Amsterdam 2008 on Monday. OCS 2007 R2 /OC 2007 R2 and the R2 platform SDKs will be released in Feb 2009.

I’ve been using OCS 2007 R2, OC 2007 R2 and developing using the R2 platform SDKs since the Alpha release back in April under the condition that I’d keep it under my hat until VoiceCon EU.  

I’m ready to share some details...

The Products

There are a number of cool things in R2 to enable software based communications.  Here are some tidbits that should give you a good feel for the release:

  • Attendant Console let’s a receptionist/team admin manage a large volume of calls through a single UI.
  • Desktop Sharing allows you to share your desktop directly from OC 2007 R2 without the need to launch LiveMeeting.
  • Response Groups allow you to define rules-based workflows to control incoming calls for a department or team so the call can be routed to the right person quickly. 
  • Dial-In Phone Conferencing allows you to provide a call in number for OCS hosted audio conferences.
  • SIP Trunking allows you to use a direct VOIP connection to the Internet without using a VOIP gateway.

The Platform

In the R2 release of the platform SDKs, the updated SDKs focus on the server side.  The goal is to make building communication centric services and communication enabled business processes easier to build, using OCS 2007 R2 as the server infrastructure. 

From UC @ PDC post yesterday, we’ll be sharing details about the R2 platform SDKs for the first time at the PDC. 

The Beta

OCS 2007 R2, OC 2007 R2 and the R2 platform SDKs is being tested by our customers and partners via a private Beta program.  A private beta was necessary to keep the feedback loop fairly tight so we could keep R2 on track (R2 will ship about a year after OCS 2007).

My team runs one of the R2 beta programs.  If you’re interested in building software using the R2 platform SDKs and would like to get started with the Beta, please contact me via Email link.  There are some spots left in our US and worldwide programs.

Thanks,

    Chris

For more details on the annoucement, check out the Eric Swift keynote video for an overview of what’s coming in R2.

Like press releases? Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2.