tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26796563148249869782024-03-06T01:15:04.143-05:00Mark HicksonMusings on Microsoft Unified Communications including Lync, Office Communications Server, and Exchange Server Unified Messaging.Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-82040258757508541332012-09-26T17:30:00.001-04:002012-09-26T17:30:10.775-04:00Microsoft Canada is hiring!<p>Are you an Exchange Specialist looking for a new opportunity and challenge? Microsoft Canada is hiring!</p> <p>Please see <a href="http://t.co/bFNSwuOh">http://lnkd.in/UQQX2z </a>for details on the Exchange Technology Solutions Professional position…</p> <blockquote> <h4>Technical Solution Sales at Microsoft</h4> <p>As part of our pre-sales team, you’ll work with enterprise customers to define their needs, and work with other technical and sales teams to meet them. Realizing the potential of their investment in Microsoft technology, you’ll articulate the value of our solutions to a range of customers - testing, demonstrating and illustrating how our technology could impact on their business. Then once agreed, you’ll help to transfer the project for development teams to deploy it across the organization. Fostering the eco-system surrounding the solution, you’ll collaborate with customer and Microsoft teams, as well as support partner sales pitches too - generating consulting revenue for our partners, and product revenue for us.</p></blockquote> <p>Apply today!</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-19536976615805982512012-04-10T12:56:00.001-04:002012-04-10T12:56:41.446-04:00Free Lync Training!<p>From <a title="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=316" href="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=316">http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=316</a></p> <h3>Deploying, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Lync Server 2010</h3> <p>Literally hundreds of organizations are recognizing the cost savings and efficiency that results from empowering people with improved collaboration and cross-team communications. Once you learn about what Microsoft Lync can do for your office, as well as your resume, you'll never look back. <p>Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft Lync team have partnered to bring you an exciting opportunity to learn how to deploy, configure and administer Microsoft’s unified communications solution. Leveraging the popular “Jump Start” virtual classroom approach, two of the industry’s most gifted experts will leverage an accelerated, engaging and demo-rich learning experience to help attendees gain the knowledge and confidence required to prepare for taking <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-664"><strong>Exam 70-664: TS: Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Configuring</strong></a>. <p>Here are the details: <ul> <li>Course: <strong>“Deploying, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Jump Start”</strong><br>- Accelerated, engaging, demo-rich virtual learning experience – no hands-on labs <li>Date/Time: <strong>April 17-19, 2012</strong> from <strong>9:00am – 4:00pm PST</strong> <li>Where: <strong>Live virtual classroom</strong> (online from wherever you are) <li>Cost: <strong>FREE!</strong> <li>Target audience: <strong>IT Professionals and telecommunications professionals</strong>. <br>This is an accelerated course. Attendees should have at least three (3) years’ experience working with unified communications software, including knowledge of and experience with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. </li></ul> <p><a href="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=313"><img alt="" src="http://mctreadiness.com/Uploads/Images/RNOWII.png"></a> <p> <p>From <a title="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=320" href="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=320">http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=320</a> <h3> </h3> <h3>Planning and Designing a Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Solution</h3> <p>The demand for information technology (IT) professionals experienced enough to effectively architect Microsoft unified communications solutions with Lync Server 2010 technologies continues to increase. For those of you who have the Lync Technical Specialist certification (see below) or have equivalent knowledge and experience, this accelerated Jump Start may be for you—so keep reading! If you don’t have the experience with Lync required for this course, we encourage you to check out the prerequisite course, “<a href="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=316"><strong>Deploying Lync Server 2010 Jump Start</strong></a>” scheduled for April 17-19, 2012, first.<br>Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft Lync team have partnered to bring you an exciting opportunity to learn what you need to know to plan and design Microsoft Lync Server 2010 solution. Leveraging the popular “Jump Start” virtual classroom approach, two of the industry’s most gifted experts will leverage an accelerated, engaging and demo-rich learning experience to help attendees gain the knowledge and confidence to help prepare for <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-665">Exam 70-665: <strong>PRO: Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Administrator</strong></a>, a required exam for the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcitp.aspx#tab2"><strong>Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP): Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administrator</strong></a>. Here are the details: <ul> <li>Course: <strong>“Planning and Designing a Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Solution”<br></strong>- Accelerated, engaging, demo-rich virtual course – no hands-on labs<br>- Level 300 content <li>Date/Time: <strong>April 24-26, 2012</strong> from <strong>9:00am – 4:00pm PST</strong> <li>Where: <strong>Live virtual classroom</strong> (online from wherever you are) <li>Cost: <strong>FREE!</strong> <li>Target audience: <strong>IT Professionals and telecommunications professionals</strong>. <br>This is an accelerated course. Attendees are expected to have experience in hands-on deployment and day-to-day management of Unified Communications technologies for enterprise organizations and the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-lync-server.aspx#tab2"><strong>Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Configuring</strong></a> or equivalent knowledge. </li></ul> <p><a href="http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=315"><img alt="" src="http://mctreadiness.com/Uploads/Images/RNOWII.png"></a> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-67852262857564955532012-03-02T16:57:00.001-05:002012-03-02T17:03:22.460-05:00The Importance of User Experience: Part 2<p>As I mentioned <a href="http://markhickson.blogspot.com/2012/01/importance-of-user-experience.html" target="_blank">before</a>, I recently presented at the <a href="https://knowyouralternatives.ca/" target="_blank">Know Your Alternatives</a> conference in Toronto about the importance of a <a href="https://knowyouralternatives.ca/schedule/uc-simplified-user-experience/" target="_blank">Simplified User Experience</a> to user adoption and capturing a full return on your UC investment.</p> <p>I previously touched on the negative effects of poor Adoption, including lost productivity and an altogether negative perception of IT and the value it brings to the organization.</p> <h4>Challenges in Communication</h4> <p>It’s not news that Information Workers are sending and receiving more and more messages from more and more locations… <blockquote> <p>“The average Information Worker gets more than 51 messages a day in up to seven different locations” – Harris Interactive</p></blockquote> <p>…and we communicate from many different devices and applications. <blockquote> <p>“Businesses average more than six communications devices and almost five communications applications per employee.” – Sage Research</p></blockquote> <p>Multiple disconnected systems leave us confused and wondering where to turn. <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9AqnmdUqudY/T1FCL5aGqBI/AAAAAAAAAWg/S-WR_svA1zI/s1600-h/image5%25255B1%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ZwMJjJ6YRLo/T1FCMuUGe9I/AAAAAAAAAWo/u3L9huDaPrY/image5_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="217" height="294"></a> <p>We know what we need to do, we are pretty sure there’s a tool somewhere to help, but we don’t remember where to go, who to talk to, which application to start, or how to use the application once we find it. <p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline; float: left" border="0" alt="[PeopleOnConferenceCallStaringAtPhone[4].jpg]" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVD6fGCnI/AAAAAAAAAIo/iDbX_-VrBXg/s1600/PeopleOnConferenceCallStaringAtPhone%5B4%5D.jpg" width="98" height="71">Once we do land on a tool that is actually useful for it’s purpose, it often comes with it’s own set of challenges and deficiencies. Have a look at <a href="http://markhickson.blogspot.com/2011/02/quit-staring-at-that-conference-phone.htmlhttp://markhickson.blogspot.com/2011/02/quit-staring-at-that-conference-phone.html" target="_blank">Quit staring at that conference phone and change the dynamic of your meetings</a> for a prime example. <p> <h4>So why is Adoption a challenge?</h4> <p>There are many reasons why technology adoption is a challenge, but here a few in particular…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVrsNSbRRpw6z5VearpYLbhUMR_a6lZ1-7GEnMiLeYwDvf0i7t4ago-07abey24DSnQSdhPVO9csa8XoNP7F5IUh2BIHd-FjSn2JZt_2Hsbo5IRJsiA6vpB5e27NNFR0kFrkRb1-UBnks/s1600-h/image3.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS96BdIM365VOjmdGpsaFRPNSFKDU-8vUSW7gKezSiBSGNDY89FCPrcaI03zZ4EhW6ONVMhFjCKH5lunxEDc4-3rDPY7QgJUgMn2bHpQS2ktLuVG7LdC24LbFkrDjOTqLWFNktZE5KGaGj/?imgmax=800" width="240" height="29"></a></p> <p>With the constant introduction of new technologies, new software versions, new work challenges, and the increased goal for employees to find a healthy work-life balance, users find it difficult just to keep up.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Sz-PmAE5e38/T1FCQxjvDQI/AAAAAAAAAXA/DZLe5a7vxCc/s1600-h/image7.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-tx88nuAkYJY/T1FCRHRGRzI/AAAAAAAAAXI/esyMwwOTWoY/image_thumb3.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="29"></a></p> <p>Many users find what they like and get comfortable doing what they do. The introduction of new features and capabilities, regardless of how “cool” or seemingly valuable they are, does not correspond to the uptake and adoption because users aren’t compelled to change.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-syl1ayO7rgQ/T1FCRTjEh7I/AAAAAAAAAXQ/h1L3SCGET_0/s1600-h/image11.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-RoaTExEkkq0/T1FCR2xgfYI/AAAAAAAAAXY/7-O3ZKtHqz0/image_thumb5.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="30"></a></p> <p>Similar to the above reason, user habits are very hard to break. A good example of this one is people who still print everything before reading it, or who print presentation materials and bring them to a meeting, rather than leveraging their notebook PC and a soft-copy of the presentation.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Je1MFXONwdY/T1FCSBT9oCI/AAAAAAAAAXg/IGklGQ-w4po/s1600-h/image15.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-i7BNKgGla6Y/T1FCSclwjrI/AAAAAAAAAXo/kqO5zH116WM/image_thumb7.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="29"></a></p> <p>Organizations sometimes don’t sufficiently consider personal learning styles, different retention capabilities of users, and the difference between training delivery and effectiveness. How do you measure if training was effective? Do you even try to? Tough to expect healthy adoption if you don’t!</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW4f8X_gD96x5VXjtFPVqf2IqV9GDGZvFhgMbSCDH5EHNs4ou32sCzOOfORUtEuPH8j_isRI75SGtiflT4a7k9tNkOJAVXB9WAwYW8PlmgcEsJ2xWNJdkopx5C2VbMuOMsKs6RNm_Q0JGq/s1600-h/image19.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4YVzp11NkvI/T1FCTds1aDI/AAAAAAAAAX4/36OoYyj0k-4/image_thumb9.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="29"></a></p> <p>Finally, even if we’ve conducted thorough training and measured it’s immediate effectiveness, we often neglect the ongoing attention needed to ensure adoption continues. As we move on to the next thing we forget to go back and evaluate effectiveness and adoption 3, 6, 18 months later.</p> <p>These themes are at a high level. Let’s bring it back to UC. How can a Simplified User Experience help improve Adoption of a UC solution?</p> <h4>A Better Way</h4> <p>Microsoft Lync provides a single fully-unified experience that helps overcome many adoption challenges.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ZmPv1CpnIeU/T1FCUfS6V1I/AAAAAAAAAYA/uxw9gGoZoTA/s1600-h/image8.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ns-FoWaiEhg/T1FCU7KD9LI/AAAAAAAAAYI/VV_EaoP3YuA/image_thumb3%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="383" height="239"></a></p> <p>With Lync, new features and capabilities and intuitive and easy to understand and use. User are empowered and unafraid to try something new! Powerful communications are made available in context within the applications being used everyday such as Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint. In many rollouts, users look over the shoulders of colleagues enjoying Lync and ask how they can get their hands on it!</p> <p>Take a quick peek at <a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/commonwealth-bank-of-australia/qmlv6zde" target="_blank">this video</a> and see how the Commonwealth Bank of Australia saw <strong>60% adoption of Lync in just 24 hours</strong>!</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/commonwealth-bank-of-australia/qmlv6zde" target="_blank"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lT6vC5nUUx4/T1FDE6QEoII/AAAAAAAAAYo/L9mS57z_ziM/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="310" height="181"></a></p> <p>Now, User Experience is critical to user adoption but there’s definitely more to consider to really get it right.</p> <h4>Strategies for Adoption</h4> <p>Microsoft has provided a free framework for <a href="http://www.eventsvc.com/mstraining/uc/catalog.eprofile?cat=Facilitating+a+Successful+UC+Rollout&trk=UC" target="_blank">Facilitating a Successful Rollout</a> of UC solutions. Even with a product as easy to use as Lync, having a well thought-out plan and team to guide the rollout is critical. <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JjlhBUVlxXE/T1FCVXXRkGI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/KIf85xrJfE4/s1600-h/image9%25255B3%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZb2pindSp6hJ78KfQBLtNLbMAOTb1T7XX1dLTwkeiXM74rsQCCB2Aja2ZErs9XmRUDnh3BeLWBmQaiSOhy4VJMV309LktCipk28DEN86yW4Tbu_U29ofnpJCl_Sb9GVD4Dzt2n55nM07/?imgmax=800" width="477" height="266"></a></p> <p>In addition to process, tools and resources are important and invaluable in planning and executing on a successful rollout. Microsoft also provides a free <a href="http://lync.microsoft.com/adoption-and-training-kit/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Adoption and Training Kit</a> which includes:</p> <ul> <li>Targeted content for IT pros, Project Managers, Trainers, Help Desk workers, and Users <li>Best Practices, Resources, and Strategies <li>Fully Customizable material <li>Planning workbook <li>Guidance and resources aligned to user roles <li>Troubleshooting script for level 1 support <li>Cost-effective training strategy for each user role <li>Custom Intranet Site</li></ul> <h4>Summary</h4> <p>Poor adoption of technology affects everything from user confidence to the bottom line. Microsoft Lync is a UC solution that is proven to be more readily adopted due to it’s powerful capability, ease of use, and integration into the Microsoft Office suite.</p> <p>In addition to having the right technology, be sure to take the time and leverage existing resources to properly plan for and manage your rollout.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-48573655789825643712012-01-23T16:02:00.001-05:002012-03-02T17:02:25.794-05:00The Importance of User Experience<p>I will be presenting at the upcoming <a href="https://knowyouralternatives.ca/" target="_blank">Know Your Alternatives</a> conference in Toronto on February 9, 2012. If you’re in town I hope you can join me as I speak about the importance of a <a href="https://knowyouralternatives.ca/schedule/uc-simplified-user-experience/" target="_blank">Simplified User Experience</a> to user adoption and capturing a full return on your UC investment. I will post again after the event with a summary of my presentation and links to some useful materials.</p> <p>For now, a teaser…</p> <h4>Simplified User Experience</h4> <p>Two powerful advantages that Microsoft Lync enjoys over the competition are:</p> <ol> <li>An intuitive and easy-to-understand user experience <li>Native and seamless integration into the applications we use every day, such as Microsoft SharePoint, Outlook, and the rest of the Office Suite.</li></ol> <p>This is a huge factor is ensuring better, faster, and broader user adoption.</p> <h4>Who Cares?</h4> <p>Technology adoption is a constant challenge for many reasons including difficulties breaking habits and keeping up with today’s fast pace of change. Users can become frustrated quite easily … can you relate to this?</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-6xsZMuRZQ64/Tx3K1x8EpiI/AAAAAAAAAVs/xxvSAKdHyUY/s1600-h/FrustratedUser%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="FrustratedUser" border="0" alt="FrustratedUser" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifS2a9-xnQos_6jkuXbdOLaRdJpv4NDfTijrRZ2tmKsnIdOv1suz9H0hHYLWkwAsw_gdFizJVowHA92gpCwhjWjR7BDIPIoJUcjK71vgX28J1EhaZpeLBOhgWhXVFLWcLsqxUA3CDItLcd/?imgmax=800" width="244" height="164"></a></p> <h4>So What?</h4> <p>Poor adoption of new technology has many negatives effects extending from user frustration and confusion, to lost productivity, and ultimately leading to an altogether negative perception of IT and the value it brings to the organization.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TGcl1e360kM/Tx3K2nESpKI/AAAAAAAAAV8/CxFZ_1eIIDk/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-0bvkcg0WB6k/Tx3K27rXWWI/AAAAAAAAAWE/YwBNrImYPJg/image_thumb%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="368" height="166"></a></p> <h4>How Can You Help?</h4> <p>Please come to my session and/or read <a href="http://markhickson.blogspot.com/2012/03/importance-of-user-experience-part-2.html" target="_blank">my follow-up post</a> for my thoughts on the importance of a simplified user experience, how Microsoft Lync provides it, and how you can get the most out of your UC investments.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-78832907085362246602011-12-23T17:09:00.001-05:002012-01-03T09:08:16.377-05:00‘Tis the Season for Snow Days … Will you stay Productive?<p>The season is upon us, in my part of the world, for “unexpected” snow storms and massive traffic jams, both of which lead inevitably to big-girl and big-boy Snow Days! Woohoo!</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-TuxmiQaV5LM/TvT8AfPzqwI/AAAAAAAAATI/yNBkftlMXPY/s1600-h/GirlMakingSnowAngels%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="GirlMakingSnowAngels" border="0" alt="GirlMakingSnowAngels" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Yq-ulrOz7Kw/TvT8Am9DtDI/AAAAAAAAATQ/_EZ4IB0nYzY/GirlMakingSnowAngels_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="286" height="198"></a></p> <p>I don’t know about you, but it’s been awhile since it was OK for a Snow Day to mean all-day TV and video games and no work for me. Even though school does, business doesn’t stop for weather, or at least business owners certainly can’t afford it to.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrAayzlMPL7QSsBy7IstE_jvVyWImtMC4u2bpHpM8GlSFp9mUn0W2gxQunHbzI4J1QUmcc7aAMdOu8MOU6UUJPbbAZE0wDaJgVpzQMn85COanmMQmOA8v6rpno-GKMX3O0Ey9Ced_B2WG/s1600-h/image%25255B19%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ZrWMoayHzYk/TvT8CYVCHZI/AAAAAAAAATg/ig7yLTm-qHY/image_thumb%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="284" height="205"></a></p> <p>So this means that Snow Days, and more specifically having employees stay home and not work, has a big impact on business. Organizations can lose a lot in lost productivity. Outages are common, such as for vacations, but those are staggered and there are usually backup resources in place. On a Snow Day, an unusually large number of employees are all off work at the same time.</p> <h3>Microsoft Lync to the Rescue</h3> <p>I am fortunate to be equipped with the tools and capabilities of Microsoft Lync to do my job. And this means that a Snow Day for me is just another day at the office, figuratively speaking of course.</p> <h3>A Day in the Life</h3> <p>For me, with Lync at my command, here’s what my Snow Days are going to look like this year. Images are representative only…I’m not <em>quite</em> that handsome.</p> <h4>9:00 AM</h4> <p>I strap on my trusty wireless headset and initiate and accept high-quality phone calls with my <strong>Customers</strong> using my corporate phone number. No need for my customers to know my home number, just because I happen to be working from home today. I need a top-up of coffee – I go downstairs and fill up mid-call, without skipping a beat.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wQRPlxsL4rI/TvT8Ch3C8SI/AAAAAAAAATo/EhESS2MuHYs/s1600-h/GuyWearingHeadset%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="GuyWearingHeadset" border="0" alt="GuyWearingHeadset" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-y5bdcs7TkeU/TvT8C3gCxUI/AAAAAAAAATw/wyfgZJC4PbM/GuyWearingHeadset_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="164" height="244"></a></p> <h4>10:00 AM</h4> <p>I offer assistance to a <strong>Colleague</strong> after noticing via my Lync Activity Feed that she is working on something I can help with. I notice she is Available because of the green status bar so I click to send an Instant Message to offer my 2 cents, for what it’s worth, which she suggests is closer to 3 cents. Nice.</p> <h3><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZwezFS5GVDgu_MR8APlp0EhnafrStWTVyOqAWLfhjWBFPvWl3CEijCiY8ihUzHSiXwmPpPc3jvSdeBseLkTpgl2ljKaSiTyL3y2OcZ-jy8ai10FcmtBjroMnHBS0lcHjMpV8SExc4OLe/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jtT3wNxpgBg/TvT8D1xoVqI/AAAAAAAAAUA/RrUMrvPp0W8/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="204" height="370"></a></h3> <h3> </h3> <h4>11:00 AM</h4> <p>I share a PowerPoint presentation in real-time with another <strong>Colleague</strong>, with rich Audio and Video, to review content for an upcoming <strong>Customer</strong> presentation. With cool annotation tools we are able to communicate and collaborate effectively and in real-time. <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-GwCJR63NIzk/TvT8FilyeqI/AAAAAAAAAUI/FilDkV_bPzw/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-dl6u2UIGv7Y/TvT8GJaK-zI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/5VSOgZLkNZk/image_thumb%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="385" height="244"></a> <h3> </h3> <h4>12:00 PM</h4> <p>I’m hungry. I always eat this healthy, I promise. <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ngq65CDKRQE/TvT8Ggrr3TI/AAAAAAAAAUY/z08bm--KpzY/s1600-h/SandwichPaperBag%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="SandwichPaperBag" border="0" alt="SandwichPaperBag" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Lu8EYhJ39bc/TvT8G4ucaaI/AAAAAAAAAUg/XXI0MsSChFA/SandwichPaperBag_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="164"></a> <h3> </h3> <h4>1:00 PM</h4> <p>I play a recently received voicemail, click-to-call to action it, and dial a number using the easily accessible Lync dial pad … the number is written on a piece of paper, that’s the only reason I don’t click! <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOb9fpb49_xtT3Ldoi_on-yw5H8vN5Nu-5KWeYUbUzfTnWrSlkSLQPzr8LKiqCNiwshwnXYPIYtTOuBmLyAsu_jbvs7iyRsXs9F90f2Qln4LAMNKq4kyZfgDhS7UWFYez5x6KQ6iofzZh/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-KeE0cys1qvUbR664nGIZ8KPdlDT_VViUAqqXYsvaHn_COKIZxs3qwNywGJz19GmGr-12olDbtoq6swF_C-U6iENNfAFHvGuCdqCH6SrMT832-jXoKM_JNpJbPdYhxo6TkfOpMYRkBP7/?imgmax=800" width="189" height="359"></a> <p> <h4>2:00 PM</h4> <p>I am deep in thought, but accept an incoming call, knowing what it is about before answering because the topic is displayed on the toast. I can read people’s minds! <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6MAUT2CFtM0aCBKZmT7Dzj_pbrzh-d0RcAoyuHBz1wWwqEx5N6hNcZKhr_IcsIpHjRvZRUnibcWCbD0xbE7WRifUc-b0rodR07Q_k6pnDyX93gwAlq-7umAFa71MomqzxCtUstXHqgNk7/s1600-h/LyncIncomingCall%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="LyncIncomingCall" border="0" alt="LyncIncomingCall" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0lgblHhQGkVspVtLZHzVoTHErJZR3yuO2J-Oojmo8x3CIqwAImvxQ8ZckD0oEqNBJFrEj8sae0ip7802F3EfZS42ICV70W_p74LhCt7n5UOvLHJ6U6J_wAZRn3srVKh9c7TV7p1Q07RO/?imgmax=800" width="349" height="105"></a> <p> <h4>3:00 PM</h4> <p>I receive an important file from a <strong>Partner</strong> for review, who simply dragged and dropped it into his conversation window in Lync. We have real-time access via Lync Federation providing end-to-end secure communications and collaboration between his company and mine. <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Pa0gcozf3iY/TvT8IlWBunI/AAAAAAAAAVI/Sdl3Iv5Y02M/s1600-h/LyncFileTransferFederated%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="LyncFileTransferFederated" border="0" alt="LyncFileTransferFederated" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-QWululaHTmo/TvT8JCfBBlI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/EW5FQcY1eOo/LyncFileTransferFederated_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="330" height="366"></a> <p> <h4>4:00 PM</h4> <p>The snow isn’t letting up so I schedule a Lync Online Meeting with a single-click where I will be able to present to my <strong>Customer</strong>, with my <strong>Colleague</strong> and <strong>Partner</strong> on audio and video, the PowerPoint presentation we created. No need to put people in harm’s way on these roads.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedrtdu3khGc0jJwJomSfubjyrKpgZDyC2T2ZNpiMcNu8oyNZ1IiKBSUuyD6V6vsVRTT8_VOkPsKLnLdOecBmKhThViyL6QbwzbOJ8qvP3Nl3Vm3hso765XhWXtGFWOHGSzy3FJRfCejiy/s1600-h/LyncOnlineMeetingInviteContoso%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="LyncOnlineMeetingInviteContoso" border="0" alt="LyncOnlineMeetingInviteContoso" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-7n8wsTbFayk/TvT8Jkt6WII/AAAAAAAAAVg/rTHBL4wqGdM/LyncOnlineMeetingInviteContoso_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="370" height="353"></a></p> <h4>5:00 PM</h4> <p>I reflect on the day, and how my activities are oddly timed exactly to the top of the hour, and I write a blog post about it.</p> <h3>Summary</h3> <p>So on my Snow Days, from home, with no additional preparation, and with only an internet connection and my notebook, I create secure, powerful connections with <b>Customers</b>, <b>Colleagues</b>, and <strong>Partners</strong> and remain as productive as if I was in the office … maybe even more so because I don’t have chocolate milk in <em>my</em> fridge. <p><b>Will you be this productive during your next Snow Day?</b> <p>At my company this is how we work. I find it useful to stop and think about how spoiled we are by the tools we have at our disposal, and how easy it is to forget what life is like without them. <p>If you don’t have Lync, ask your boss why not. And if you do have Lync, I’m guessing you have similar stories to share so please do in the comments section below. <p>Here’s to a safe and happy Winter Season filled with many productive Snow Days! Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-58789660486650426472011-11-22T16:17:00.001-05:002011-11-22T16:17:32.636-05:00Tip: Stop sharing your desktop for PowerPoint presentations<p>A very common scenario today is for a person to present a PowerPoint presentation to one or more remote attendees using some sort of web conferencing tool such as Live Meeting or Lync or Lync Online.</p> <p>As a presenter, a quick and easy way show your presentations to participants is to just share your desktop…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzpRprtibBwyA3tmV9WDuj_Fn0ZD7lgrwPzWRhktMFj_ftkAu9H2ef9AZlGYn7fQom2hls5ow4i3NzrPA0gIzWzmd2dPOsM_OSQUA1TUb4kpQlAVcRN67cob4_IOJ20vP1CgkBb66DzIq/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-d4kdmwfAtTU/TswRP4ofOgI/AAAAAAAAARM/-MseNEMUnSU/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="116"></a></p> <p>Please don’t do this! (For PowerPoint presentations, anyway)</p> <h3>Why Not?</h3> <p>I’ll address that, but first let me introduce the (better) alternative. Now your tool of choice may not have this option, and sharing your desktop may be all you have, but with Lync you can upload the PowerPoint presentation into the meeting space…</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-yc1trXfOdlg/TswRQObFkKI/AAAAAAAAARU/SZI8SrvGa14/s1600-h/image%25255B37%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-_6bbvTk-Jco/TswRQWBfhBI/AAAAAAAAARc/whidTRVbycM/image_thumb%25255B16%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="129"></a></p> <h3>Nice, but again, why not share my desktop?</h3> <p>OK, OK. There are a number of reasons why I think sharing your desktop for PowerPoint presentations is not the best approach:</p> <p><strong>Privacy</strong> – Email alerts and Instant Message popups are all on display for the world to see when you simply share your desktop. You may inadvertently reveal confidential information, or at best be embarrassed by something becoming public that was otherwise meant to be private such as “Hi Pumpkin-face, I miss you,” or the like.</p> <p><strong>Unprofessional Presentations</strong> – We often need to refer to other material or switch to different slides during the course of a presentation. When your desktop is on display, these efforts are viewable to all. As you drop back out of Presentation mode attendees see your slides and possibly speaker notes. They see you browsing your file system looking for something. You’re on display and feeling exposed so invariably it takes longer than it otherwise would and your mouse is hovering directly over the file in question but you can’t see it – everyone online is quietly pointing out the obvious and politely waiting for you to catch up.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Lp5jwjsdsUU/TswRRtWGTuI/AAAAAAAAARk/tPC22SvjRlw/s1600-h/image%25255B6%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MW3EfeHqP3Q/TswRSJS9rGI/AAAAAAAAARs/7V5uotriGM0/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="518" height="323"></a></p> <p><strong>Scrolling, Scrolling, Scrolling</strong> – When you share your desktop your screen resolution may not match those of the participants and therefore, without you realizing it, they have to constantly scroll to see your presentation. This is very annoying and altogether unnecessary, as you’ll see later.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzAYW3vzOI1CV5eNibTh4T7MGcxVj5831Tea-_eZ6XKlhm7-1VosOozAu4fcYMmwjh78knoGnoMWhz6u7zrPTClJslsF7BXanOEeJXHe2EOQz5JT51fBY1elO_fgb9nMLSjld_CdUMTxmI/s1600-h/image%25255B10%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudZrA_5O6Or1c4s1kw65vTqKBeVLXxf9toj0cma-1I2XMR23IWZaut7bNeyWOj2kWjql-C6BTOL2J-9ddScUj2lSyqawztZizzumfo759mwcIy09J6E8hwe0LHlYLQFSdKwQ7ks8vTDsg/?imgmax=800" width="519" height="367"></a></p> <p>These are just a few of my thoughts on the experience of sharing your desktop for presentations.</p> <h3>So give me a better way!</h3> <p>Happy to. With Lync, for example, if you upload the presentation instead of sharing your desktop you not only solve the problems noted above but now also enjoy the following benefits:</p> <p><strong>Annotations</strong> – Lync allows you (and optionally participants) to annotate the presentation adding a whole new dimension of real-time collaboration to your session. You simply can’t do that if you are sharing your desktop.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-mG0XRClaboo/TswRUkO4fWI/AAAAAAAAASE/TpvAdQ_m_zE/s1600-h/image%25255B21%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3-P_zz-_ki0/TswRVJa3h3I/AAAAAAAAASM/pMjRvPzs-Qg/image_thumb%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="511" height="336"></a></p> <p><strong>Thumbnails</strong> – Need to jump ahead in your slides? Instead of advancing through them in sequence or stepping out of Presentation mode, as you would have to do if you were sharing your desktop, you can see the list of thumbnails during your presentation and simply advance to the exact slide you want – the participants only see the slides you wish to share and don’t know if you are skipping slides or not.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXe3CGOkvY1aXxOCahwmr8Srykp6C1b1gBGka_kxyrWDkKer1smJ7e1Ggze92JHyzMUPTvwhqooRFJ0krEUeH_tHVr2Zj7sC__YwkZvSE78I-lYc9YJTIUtvLtH-C0mmsfyspjGbLChhR/s1600-h/image%25255B25%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQdk4xxAL5LCVXMoK0vK_DC7sY6HVvWz_GAQ3eXj5fNWAIKkjB-IvVl-T9AE0pFGh7OKB8TA_9k6DlUAAgqgjZsQjWdEwBOSjKh_vQi4HGh4xFGGyGCEcSz6RtUH26PaZyeDySb97Jx67/?imgmax=800" width="509" height="334"></a></p> <p><strong>Speaker Notes</strong> – What if you had speaker notes with important points to share? Well, you could print them out or use some split-screen technology to hide them. But with Lync it’s much easier as your speaker notes are available to you right on screen, and again, the participants do not see this.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichoNc-xj5SnJqQd-q5kLp3KyhKEZGS4ikyUjqwgu6y1kUPQ8znVSCxWEcDxNiTHOgqG9CQXW9m4eRi_piyUs4EnPaAejkRa0CgFqvgO8FwDB51SNd8aMDjLIfdjNvJtTdDzV9GQI3w3ox/s1600-h/image%25255B29%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3fqUnahIB5M/TswRYgoFVNI/AAAAAAAAASs/-pOP8cgO8A0/image_thumb%25255B13%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="511" height="336"></a></p> <p><strong>Other Rich Content alongside your Slides</strong> – With a tool as powerful as Lync your online meetings may often include more than just a slide-sharing session. If you share your desktop you must show only the presentation. If you use the uploaded PowerPoint method you can continue to have access to the Instant Messaging conversation, Video, and the Visual Roster of participants.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ53Jwd8xNs7Bh-WOxRiBHpSC7fMfZxF7OilmFSJosvfqaxddpuKFyupSzyU_L_h-zMMXZyycmzpirRkLlZuOLxqNeY20el7g7cdVN6iQPlxVs_MX0lSY0HdcDLmqe9oV97mBAI212Y-66/s1600-h/image%25255B41%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-XG1smK9KhrY/TswRa-2T35I/AAAAAAAAAS8/3ORy8F-0RMA/image_thumb%25255B18%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="508" height="334"></a></p> <h3>Summary</h3> <p>So all in all you have a more controlled and feature rich experience as a presenter when you upload your PowerPoint presentations instead of sharing your desktop, and your participants enjoy a more professional and streamlined presentation.</p> <p>Don’t get me wrong – sharing your desktop, or specific applications, is a powerful feature and should absolutely be used to its fullest potential but not, in my opinion, for presenting PowerPoint presentations.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-69827689514462467992011-10-13T11:53:00.001-04:002011-10-13T11:53:38.591-04:00Lync Management and Operations: Monitoring and Troubleshooting Lync Calls<p>I’d like to call your attention to a very <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2011/10/10/monitoring-and-troubleshooting-lync-call-videos.aspx" target="_blank">useful set of videos</a> covering Monitoring and Troubleshooting in Lync Server 2010, posted by our friends over at <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/" target="_blank">NextHop</a>.</p> <p>Unified Communications, by definition, brings together a number of different communications tools and applications which can make nailing down issues a very daunting task indeed.</p> <p>Lync Server 2010 includes intuitive and powerful monitoring and reporting capabilities to help make this easier, and Microsoft has released some very useful videos to guide you through it.</p> <h3>Background</h3> <p>First of all, you should know about the Monitoring Server role in Lync Server 2010. From <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398536.aspx" target="_blank">TechNet</a>…</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Monitoring Server</strong> collects data about the quality of your network media, in both Enterprise Voice calls and A/V conferences. This information can help you provide the best possible media experience for your users. It also collects call error records (CERs), which you can use to troubleshoot failed calls. Additionally, it collects usage information in the form of call detail records (CDRs) about various Lync Server features so that you can calculate return on investment of your deployment, and plan the future growth of your deployment. For details, see <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg412952.aspx">Planning for Monitoring</a> in the Planning documentation.</p></blockquote> <p>Lync Server 2010 also ships with ready-to-go SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Reports that help make understanding the health of your Lync environment that much easier.</p> <p>The videos go into great detail on each of <a href="http://content3.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/03bfbee4-8205-49cc-aecb-b3528d767fc8.wmv">System-wide Troubleshooting: Lync Call Connectivity</a>, <a href="http://content5.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/6da747fe-db85-4284-8fe1-5bfc0a99ca37.wmv">Help Desk Troubleshooting: Lync Call Issues</a>, and <a href="http://content5.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/cee7449a-eaa5-423a-81db-3cbd96972584.wmv">Monitoring and Managing Jitter for VoIP</a>, but for this post I wanted to call out a few things that I really like.</p> <h3>Drilldown</h3> <p>The base Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Server report is actually a list of available reports…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj8LEL2S531icMD91Z2jZR4DoHM3pXHabHZMs8iLtGt6tRJsc8tRpEoNSr_CM-OOsv5GJTpKiSQ1Ts0ewcRkEngSF3Lje2lwWtj3-dDwKiAq36IzfvLspoc3mhx1To2cfpM5ZyD_P_1qzp/s1600-h/image%25255B36%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-99_STQigq4A/TpcJZbYXFfI/AAAAAAAAAN4/VYLNPBwsVQs/image_thumb%25255B22%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="510" height="191"></a></p> <p>…and clicking into a particular report gets you to the goods…</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ZjlylB2s80U/TpcJaIlykpI/AAAAAAAAAOA/SMkmLEeFhms/s1600-h/image%25255B35%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-x5468O7YyIo/TpcJapt8gJI/AAAAAAAAAOI/mwRlgBu-aiI/image_thumb%25255B21%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="509" height="142"></a></p> <p>Now, nice glossy reports that show me what I want are great, but invariably I’ll want to ask that next question … “OK, here’s the list of things I wanted, but I want more details on this one and that one!”</p> <p>In this example, clicking on one of the columns in the chart on the right gets me to the underlying detail for that data.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-IBMRuPbOaLk/TpcJbG--h3I/AAAAAAAAAOQ/vIFJySJFJ98/s1600-h/image%25255B37%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrE0P7PzHABybbLpmua3j51sJFvFJzZzKm8CIthAbcKZtztREjO8hdreduh4GwDB0o3iCkd7dsUwRY5lUbLvoNpKhBSQ9XNU0g9E1G7Y5gpR6rI6RuogdoxpyZWdj9sfMalTZuaa0il9ky/?imgmax=800" width="510" height="192"></a></p> <p>You can continue to click-through and get more details as you continue your troubleshooting. Very easy and very intuitive!</p> <h3>Tooltips</h3> <p>Reports that show lots of information are great, but sometimes they show too much information, or by their very nature can’t show everything. In the interest of readability and consumption, headings and titles must be used to lay out the data.</p> <p>But what if you don’t know what the headings mean exactly? To have to leave the report and go consult a guide or website is counter-productive and time-consuming. A lethal combination when users are complaining.</p> <p>In Lync Server 2010, the headings are built with handy tool tips … just mouse over the heading and get a full description of what that data and/or value means!</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjVojuU8S4A6VmJCOJR3VzL830f0IvJbza2bNgPwocAhWLMxJtkwEg_OllVxazWQJsXioPIWKC1CBy4oUyAMbbQKzKOk7ypp8Q5BiuB5aY0wLhA-TYp_JmWy0o4E1aGP_7N8Tngvrl27F/s1600-h/image%25255B38%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-eM5B_6dlc0A/TpcJc1eifhI/AAAAAAAAAOo/hs90FNGRCVc/image_thumb%25255B24%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="510" height="100"></a></p> <h3>Highlights</h3> <p>So we’ve got the ability to get to the data easily and we have handy descriptions of what certain data sets are capturing. But, and this is a big BUT, how do we know what the values <em>mean</em>? Is a big number good or bad? Same thing with small numbers.</p> <p>You will build your expertise over time, but until then, Lync Server 2010 reports actually bring your attention to important data automatically by <font style="background-color: #ffff00">highlighting</font> the data in the report!</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJiAUmEpLBGDEV93F7yVEuoCyM12hl4Oqvj6fhPt5sfpait0aDh8M9EFEMFTMwm3fUjDVzFqYRcg71djx9lH_Ejy3Z6U_3lHABc1yhWE6GtvZXfJlVuwecFErLFHGDPJwXgKrHesHHOtn/s1600-h/image%25255B39%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QpPwu3K3Go8/TpcJeKMVIHI/AAAAAAAAAO4/kRIsDZsYJGs/image_thumb%25255B25%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="510" height="238"></a></p> <p>To really take it over the top, mouse over the value and get a full description of, in the case below, the Diagnostic ID value that came back from the voice gateway…</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-JRCUZaheBtE/TpcJegFlZoI/AAAAAAAAAPA/l3ttYDA4OGo/s1600-h/image%25255B40%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VBeTMGTqVF8/TpcJfJXdKdI/AAAAAAAAAPI/OEJNYoCSrw4/image_thumb%25255B26%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="510" height="296"></a></p> <p>Below you see another example of a report with lots of valuable data and the handy highlighting to help you focus on the most pertinent values to help you in your troubleshooting. In this case, Lync Server 2010 is telling us that a value of 4% for <strong>Avg. concealed samples ratio</strong> is something that should be looked at further.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-mGpKLdlME7k/TpcJfvjKxqI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/Sg2gr7RDnOA/s1600-h/image%25255B41%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-UxjSG-IWlu8/TpcJgXviFII/AAAAAAAAAPY/uL-8fHFeOC4/image_thumb%25255B27%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="510" height="263"></a></p> <h3>Summary</h3> <p>Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Server Reports include handy out-of-the-box features such as Drill-down, Tool Tips, and Highlighting that help make troubleshooting your Lync environment easier and more fun! (As if troubleshooting wasn’t already fun, right!?)</p> <p>So please do take a look at these videos as they give great return for a very short amount of time investment. Enjoy!</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2011/10/10/monitoring-and-troubleshooting-lync-call-videos.aspx">http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2011/10/10/monitoring-and-troubleshooting-lync-call-videos.aspx</a></p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-29200267663288354042011-09-15T16:33:00.001-04:002011-09-15T16:47:33.264-04:00Review: Plantronics Blackwire C435-M<p>This is the first device review I have done for this blog, and my inspiration comes from the great posts over at <a href="http://voipnorm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">VoIPNorm’s blog</a>. Thanks, Chris!</p> <p>Also, <strong>please note</strong>, since my last post I have joined the wonderful team at Microsoft Canada. Please take a quick peek at the Disclaimer in the side bar of this blog.</p> <h4>Get on with it, man!</h4> <p>OK, OK, so I recently acquired the new <a href="http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/blackwire-435?skuId=sku5810016" target="_blank">Plantronics Blackwire C435-M</a> and it really is the headset I’ve been waiting for.</p> <p>First off, this is a corded headset optimized for Microsoft Lync, which immediately makes it awesome. But why do I like it so much? First of all, it provides an over-the-ear wearing experience, either one ear or two, with a very light feel and an extended boom microphone for great pick-up. Second, it comes with a sturdy and also light carrying case.</p> <p>So I don’t have to worry about a headband messing up my stylish (!) hair and I get a great always-on experience (as opposed to potential dead time if a wireless headset isn’t charged when you need it).</p> <h4>The Details</h4> <p>Let me take you for a tour around this great headset.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-EVvoqrutOVY/TnJhHHKDZUI/AAAAAAAAAMM/xqseJ-8qLso/s1600-h/PlantronicsC435M%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="PlantronicsC435M" border="0" alt="PlantronicsC435M" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-WZTk2xxQUVg/TnJhHyRZwRI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/L09kS56Rj1A/PlantronicsC435M_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="416" height="322"></a></p> <p>First of all, it’s optimized for Microsoft Lync so it’s plug and play via USB. You’ll notice a handy Velcro wrap to keep the cord tidy. Further along the cord you’ll find the call control buttons including answer/hang-up, volume up and down, and mute microphone. I tend to use the desktop controls on my PC, but it’s handy to have these nonetheless.</p> <p>You’ll see the two ear buds, but as you look along the cord you first come to a very nice feature – a clip. I have found this to be very useful to take the (albeit minimal) load off my ears and onto my shirt, again increasing the comfort of long-term wear.</p> <p>Finally, you see the two ear buds, one with the extended microphone and one with just the earpiece. These can be worn on either ear and there are multiple ear bud styles and sizes included to fit your ear.</p> <p>Finally, below is a picture of the very handy, sturdy and lightweight carrying case which is really important in my opinion. This is where shortcuts are often made but Plantronics has thankfully not succumbed to the temptation.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KTwzIxIa1Xw/TnJhIxSzEgI/AAAAAAAAAMU/YwO4O8yA9OY/s1600-h/PlantronicsC435MCase%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="PlantronicsC435MCase" border="0" alt="PlantronicsC435MCase" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2k2x0VFqlDs/TnJhJmVJODI/AAAAAAAAAMY/1yQ3iUEB6mo/PlantronicsC435MCase_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="353" height="273"></a></p> <h4>Summary</h4> <p>So great job, Plantronics, and I think you will find a good market for this particular device at it’s price point of around $99. Microsoft Lync allows for partners to create unique solutions for many use cases, and here is another great example IMHO. Comments are most welcome.</p> <h4>From Plantronics</h4> <blockquote> <p>Meet the first corded headset designed for Unified Communications that’s as discreet as it is professionally sound. The headset’s modular over-the-ear design can be worn with two ear buds for stereo, or converted to one ear bud for mono use depending on the user’s preference. The ultra-discreet design and superior audio quality you’ve come to expect from Plantronics make this headset ideal for video conferencing, PC telephony and multi-media applications. Even more, it comes with a rugged protective carrying case so you can easily take it with you. With the Blackwire 435, you don’t have to compromise between style and sound quality.</p></blockquote> <blockquote> <p><a title="http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/blackwire-435?skuId=sku5810016" href="http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/blackwire-435?skuId=sku5810016">http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/blackwire-435?skuId=sku5810016</a></p></blockquote> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-41203653803597292542011-02-10T11:41:00.002-05:002011-10-18T16:35:34.719-04:00Quit staring at that conference phone and change the dynamic of your meetings<p>Have you ever been involved in a conference call where one or more participants are in a meeting room and one or more participants are not? Those of you in the room were likely sitting around a conference phone that looks something like this…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14lGypojNVXODK47p1poH_kByqnGTqObrog-1W_VhZQI0GOx1efWwYK7Dxd-KUoT7x4tei0lkgbE4rNYJwWM-gme9yAom9wiq2FuaSPOcPyTBxjc19M0IIMVpEBUna2SPYcFdr0IHjN5A/s1600-h/image%5B6%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVDob6zGI/AAAAAAAAAIk/Wfe39GNoNA8/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="132"></a><br>Those of you who were not in the meeting, dialled into an audio conference bridge. Perhaps you called from the car. More likely you called while sitting next to a PC (more on that later).</p> <p>Whether you were in the room or not, chances are you experienced some challenges.</p> <h3>Challenges while in the room</h3> <p>When you’re in the room, you tend to forget there is someone “on the line”. You remember when one of them finally tries to get a word in edgewise.</p> <p>When someone does speak who is not in the room, you struggle to first identify who is speaking and then to fully comprehend what they are saying. This becomes more of a challenge if the person speaks softly or with an accent with which you are not familiar.<br>You try to overcome these challenges by looking really hard at the conference phone on the table. A quick glance reveals that everybody else in the room is doing the same.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVD6fGCnI/AAAAAAAAAIo/iDbX_-VrBXg/s1600-h/PeopleOnConferenceCallStaringAtPhone%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="PeopleOnConferenceCallStaringAtPhone" border="0" alt="PeopleOnConferenceCallStaringAtPhone" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVEKZLkwI/AAAAAAAAAIs/3R7s36kH_L4/PeopleOnConferenceCallStaringAtPhone_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="161"></a><br>Oddly, this does not seem to help.</p> <h3>Challenges while not in the room</h3> <p>If you are not in the room, and have dialed in using a phone, you face a similar challenge identifying the speaker, but the problem is often much worse because there are usually more people in the room. You have no idea to whom comments are directed – it may be that the speaker is targeting someone directly with what he/she is saying, but you have no way of knowing this.</p> <p>You have a lot to offer...you’ve got something brilliant to say...you put up your hand! </p> <blockquote><em>Nobody notices.</em></blockquote> <p>You wait patiently to jump in, but in the end, you can’t help it. You go against everything your parents ever taught you about manners – you cut in. It’s the only way, sorry, Mom.</p> <h3>The Problem</h3> <p>The fundamental problem in this scenario is not being able to see who is speaking. Right now you don’t have much of a choice, though, do you? People can’t always be in the same room at the same time. There are geographic boundaries to consider and management has cut business travel spending to combat the economic downturn and to reduce your company’s carbon footprint. Talk to me, you say, when that phone magically allows me to see everyone on the call as well as hear them.</p> <p>OK, let’s talk.</p> <h3>The Solution</h3> <p>I’d like to introduce you to the <a href="http://www.polycom.com/products/voice/conferencing_solutions/microsoft_optimized_conferencing/cx5000.html" target="_blank">Polycom CX5000</a>, powered by <a href="http://lync.microsoft.com/en-us/launch/Pages/launch.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Lync Server 2010</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVENnrFdI/AAAAAAAAAIw/8jnjKOirN2E/s1600-h/cx5000_1sm%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="cx5000_1sm" border="0" alt="cx5000_1sm" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihzgL3hEe-gPSuE77AjopESLC40CK06O67Etr6ZMefvV0Yckg-VKZHbDAtMIkBzOd81rBCQGdazwSevt88IzXoYZAvpAJ6mRW7HSIFNs0YWt5LAatmvG63mg18pMJsp3woomg2ALiPbM3/?imgmax=800" width="200" height="200"></a><br>This wonderfully futuristic device takes the audio conference to the next level by adding immersive video to the experience. The bottom circular platform is similar to your existing conference phone with an integrated dial pad and directional microphones and speakers.</p> <p>The stem holds on its top 5 cameras arranged in a circle. These cameras collect a real-time 360 degree panoramic view of the room. It looks like this…</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVFHJGAoI/AAAAAAAAAI4/tti6liAOYSU/s1600-h/image%5B11%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVFgMf5DI/AAAAAAAAAI8/dg15A5Ns5Ik/image_thumb%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="498" height="79"></a></p> <p>This view allows participants to see everybody in the room, and the dynamics between them. Now we can see if someone is directing his/her comments to someone in particular!</p> <p>The CX5000 also takes care of automatically displaying the current speaker. So while you always see the full panoramic view, you also get to see the person currently speaking.<br></p> <p><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/kruc/archive/2010/06/16/3338432.aspx" target="_blank"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" border="0" src="http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-66-53-metablogapi/6648.clip_5F00_image002_5F00_2.jpg" width="246" height="300"></a><br>No more trying to figure it out based on what you hear, and with the visual you have a much better chance of understanding what is being said. One study at UCLA indicated that up to 93 percent of communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal cues. (<a href="http://humanresources.about.com/od/interpersonalcommunicatio1/a/nonverbal_com.htm" target="_blank">More</a>)</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVFxMm6dI/AAAAAAAAAJA/CtLDklwZE5Q/s1600-h/D630%5B6%5D.gif"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="D630" border="0" alt="D630" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVGCN11WI/AAAAAAAAAJE/sUCO-rrIHhI/D630_thumb%5B4%5D.gif?imgmax=800" width="88" height="70"></a>I mentioned earlier that most of the time, those who are joining from outside the room are sitting at their PC, be it a desktop in an office or more likely a notebook computer while on the road at a customer site or in a hotel room. This is where the game really changes, because again most of the time you are gathering on this call to review something tangible such as a budget spreadsheet or design layout. You need to look at a document or screen during the session.</p> <p>Add Microsoft Lync to the equation and we have finally reached utopia!</p> <h3>Turn a basic conference call into an Online Meeting</h3> <p>Microsoft Lync Online Meetings provide the rich collaborative experience you’ve been looking for, including a real-time view of the active speaker whether they are in the room or not, a full view of the people in the meetings rooms involved, and an integrated document and screen sharing environment . When you pull it all together it looks like this…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdu3JP_QSxC3KsdgQ2YQeNo3Bj-PLQ3mmkJGER03ZHh-KfWVkSwJVOVQeN4B650xSEv4YO6dWbwI1QaR-yTbMAtL-UVkxfAYzIu9flaV4mwItTHaOGENug2lHnM2noOENStaxovGNczpOJ/s1600-h/image%5B16%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TVQVIHp3-9I/AAAAAAAAAJQ/n4w0pjZJfEQ/image_thumb%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="330" height="311"></a><br>This is all accomplished with a single client on the desktop (Microsoft Lync) and a combination of standard webcams and Polycom CX5000 devices. And you can join from anywhere in the world with a standard internet connection – no Virtual Private Network (VPN) required!</p> <h3>Summary</h3> <p>Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and the Polycom CX5000 combine to provide an immersive and empowered collaboration experience. Gone are the days of struggling to understand what someone is saying on a call and emailing around documents, or worse, printing multiple copies for participants to review in a meeting.</p> <p><strong>Warning!</strong> There is no turning back from this experience. Once you’ve lived the good life, you will find yourself asking “where’s the video” and “show me your screen”.<br>Please feel free to add your own stories and comments, and if you’re interested in learning more, <a href="mailto:mhickson@hotmail.ca" target="_blank">drop me a line</a>!</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-34385226050541172842011-01-15T16:59:00.001-05:002011-01-15T16:59:23.682-05:00Tip: View your Lync Contacts in a 1-line View<p>Lync 2010 introduces a more informative view of each contact in your buddy list, including Name, Availability Status, Personal Note, and Contact Photo.  It looks like this…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvp4J2QXn_JThhqHfjSf2IwIeXsQYJJkLxkUCcDJXyARugrgd0JKEd_ZlSezoetBvfml0OQ9dXQIERVpcrbdAmjYF3lRjGoJyo3_t10bzqkJdLB4GS1Sd1Yw5o-Y3-_lgQlBTmFGEXukWd/s1600-h/LyncContactPhotos%5B6%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="LyncContactPhotos" border="0" alt="LyncContactPhotos" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYry-xl2I/AAAAAAAAAH8/IWFuba4p3WI/LyncContactPhotos_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="230" height="483" /></a></p> <p>But what if you want to streamline your view a bit, and see only your contacts’ Name and Availability Status, similar to what you may have had using Office Communicator 2007 R2?</p> <p>The trick is to change the display to <strong>Name View</strong>…</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYsQt_r3I/AAAAAAAAAIA/AP7nmuLdcO0/s1600-h/image2.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm7HkLIYS0NrhqLraHOHo9o0by76VobNTcUaHODXZcLF-o-AZMnWxzOtmsbOExvM1yrzG82lEVE-PTh6Y9FOe8wLdtDTNhV6XfDosy5fFr1nwn37PjpbXzfz-hy2Actif_73A9qDeWFHhs/?imgmax=800" width="244" height="103" /></a></p> <p>Your buddy list will no longer show Contact Photos, and instead switches to a 1-line view.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYtcLZnII/AAAAAAAAAII/Tn4hllaQWhM/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYtib-VHI/AAAAAAAAAIM/-RaLkcAaqUU/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="230" height="414" /></a></p> <p>You can toggle between these views by clicking the <strong>Display Options</strong> icon, or click on the down-arrow at the right-hand side of the icon to see more <strong>Layout Options</strong>.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYuMN40TI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/nuU9Fiun4mQ/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYub_2F3I/AAAAAAAAAIU/LBS8aAnMdKA/image_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="242" height="244" /></a></p> <p>Enjoy!  <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TTIYuwF6I0I/AAAAAAAAAIY/Zv-P2_a6ZPw/wlEmoticon-smile%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" /></p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-6562482511934280452010-11-28T19:14:00.001-05:002010-11-28T19:14:15.929-05:00Find Me with Exchange UM Call Answering Rules<p>For the longest time I have been using the Simultaneous Ringing (Sim Ring) feature of Lync Server 2010, previously Office Communications Server 2007 R2.  This feature ensured that all my Unified Communications (UC) endpoints and my mobile phone would ring for all inbound calls, allowing me to take the call wherever it was most convenient.  It also ensured I did not have to publish my cell number which is a huge benefit – people only needed to call one number to reach me.</p> <p>Well, I no longer use Sim Ring, and instead am enjoying life with Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging’s (UM) Call Answering Rules.  Why, you ask?  Read on!</p> <p><strong><font size="2">One Voicemail</font></strong></p> <p>First of all, my cell phone does not have voicemail associated with it.  This saves my company $5 per month, but more importantly, it means I only have one voicemail inbox to manage.  Of course, with Exchange UM my voicemails are available to me right in my regular Email Inbox as well.  Bliss!</p> <p>So, I have a Lync DID and a cell number, but only one voicemail (Exchange).  What if people call my cell number directly?  How can people reach me on my cell, if they don’t know the number?  Sim Ring was one way to accomplish this, but I found I always had to manage the timing of the rings, and many times I wouldn’t pick up that inbound call on my cell anyway as I was otherwise occupied.  I needed a way to selectively allow people to ring my cell – I found most of the time calls weren’t important enough for me to be interrupted.</p> <p><strong><font size="2">Call Answering Rules to the Rescue</font></strong></p> <p>Exchange UM Call Answering Rules allow me to configure a personal message and choice of options for callers who reach my voicemail.  Instead of just leaving a message, those who call me are provided with an option to try me on my cell phone if the call is important enough.  It goes like this…</p> <ol> <li>Someone calls me at my Lync DID.</li> <li>If I don’t pick up, the user is transferred to my voicemail, which is where my Call Answering Rule kicks in.</li> <li>The user hears this:  “You have reached the voicemail for Mark Hickson.  To try me on my cell phone, please press 1.  To leave me a voicemail, please press #.”</li> <li>If the user chooses 1, one of two things happens:</li> <ol> <li>If the caller is outside of my organization, the caller is asked to speak their name.  Exchange records it as “Name”.</li> <li>If the caller is within my organization, their GAL name is used and they just go to the next step directly.</li> </ol> <li>The caller is asked to hold while I am tried on my cell phone.</li> <li>My cell phone rings and I pick it up.</li> <li>Exchange tells me that “Name” is trying to reach me.  I have the option of accepting the call or rejecting it.</li> <li>If I accept the call, I am connected to my caller without them ever having to know my cell number.</li> <li>If I reject the call, the user is told that I was not able to be reached (they don’t know if I just didn’t pick up or if I picked up and chose not to connect the call) and the user is given the chance to leave a voicemail.</li> </ol> <p>So far this has accomplished two things:  Users are able to reach me on my cell phone without knowing the number, and urgent calls are selectively filtered from regular calls because callers have the option of trying my cell phone or not.</p> <p><strong><font size="2">What about direct calls to my cell phone?</font></strong></p> <p>If I make an outbound call from my cell phone, the caller ID will show my cell phone number.  Only by running a client on my phone, such as Communicator Mobile,  and using the Call Via Work feature would I be able to make a call appear to people as coming from my office number.  So if someone has my cell number, won’t they just dial that?  Maybe, and I can’t stop this.</p> <p>So what about voicemail?  I said earlier that my cell phone does not have voicemail service associated with it.  I simply set Call Forwarding on my cell phone to transfer unanswered calls to my Lync DID!</p> <p>In this way, voicemail for all calls to me, regardless of where they target, will end up in my Exchange Inbox and, of course, on my cell phone as an item in my Inbox!  Utopia!</p> <p><strong><font size="2">Sounds great!  How could it get any better!?</font></strong></p> <p>All of the above is accomplished with a single Call Answering Rule, but Exchange UM allows me to create many rules and with many different options!  I can have different rules applied based on the calling number, the contact’s name, the time of day, and more.</p> <p><strong><font size="2">Creating a Call Answering Rule</font></strong></p> <p>To create a Call Answering Rule, go to Outlook Web App (this cannot be done from the Outlook rich client), click on <strong>Options</strong>, and then <strong>Phone</strong>, and then <strong>Voicemail</strong>.</p> <p>This is what my rule looks like:</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TPLwVVp0b1I/AAAAAAAAAHM/xU4opqiMYjQ/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TPLwV_jZX7I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/meP3wYX3gGU/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="515" height="436" /></a></p> <p>As you can see, you have options to set both <strong>Conditions</strong> for the rule and <strong>Actions</strong> offered to your callers..</p> <p><strong>Conditions</strong></p> <ul> <li>If the caller is…</li> <li>If it is during the period…</li> <li>It my schedule shows that my status is..</li> <li>If automatic replies are turned on… (i.e. Out of Office)</li> </ul> <p><strong>Actions</strong></p> <ul> <li>Find me at the following numbers…</li> <li>Transfer the caller to…</li> </ul> <p>So multiple scenarios can be handled with many different conditions.  For example, during business hours callers are provided with options to transfer to my Assistant, the Operator, or my cell.  But at all times of day, my wife is given the option to try my cell phone.  The possibilities are endless!</p> <p>So give it a try if you have Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging, and if you don’t, go get it!  Note that you do not need Lync Server 2010 for this – Lync just happens to be my PBX.  Lucky me!</p> <p><strong><font size="2">Tip</font></strong></p> <p>Be sure to set the Dialing Rule Groups and Dialing Restrictions on your UM Dial Plan and UM Mailbox Policy such that your cell, or other numbers, can be dialed.  These are the same rules required to enable the Play on Phone feature for voicemails.</p> <p>More details on Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging Call Answering Rules can be found at <a title="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979788.aspx" href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979788.aspx">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979788.aspx</a>.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-69275574901003886512010-10-25T20:57:00.001-04:002010-10-25T20:57:26.661-04:00Lync Server 2010 Audio Test Service<p>An exciting new feature in <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/default.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Lync Server 2010</a> is the Audio Test Service.  This built-in tool allows you to place a test call prior to making a real call, to ensure there aren’t any severe network or other issues that might affect the quality of your call.</p> <h5>Easy to Use</h5> <p>There are tools available for OCS 2007 R2, such as the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=3596A10D-65CC-4CCA-8470-3F23D5EA55B2&displaylang=en" target="_blank">Deployment Validation Tool</a> and the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7B6AB4F3-2949-4E97-856E-9C4AE323C75A" target="_blank">VoIP Test Set</a>, that can also help to monitor and evaluate call quality.  But these tools are unfortunately hard to deploy and manage, and so their usefulness has been diminished.</p> <p>But now you can place a test call directly from the Phone tab in Lync 2010, simply by clicking on <strong>Check</strong>…</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TMYncsJj-ZI/AAAAAAAAAG8/pE1BV5cXI30/s1600-h/Check%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Check" border="0" alt="Check" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TMYnc51JV9I/AAAAAAAAAHA/kqlOlxQfaUo/Check_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="325" height="640" /></a></p> <p>This places a call into the Audio Test Service in Lync Server 2010…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp5PLtIkhbQXEdaDNv3N8kwPjWBAw4UEa8_Q-F4qA38A9qaFHg0pZdqBy3lYpHzeZtUpGJsEIVnaWAQ7vGNvypHu84cNXuEOyyjSNJVk-sqgCJbWy08zsQza3Pnsg4hwEWzKc6Zt_gXvu/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TMYndVqKG_I/AAAAAAAAAHI/03tvKwx4Yvc/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="322" height="148" /></a></p> <p>You are prompted to speak a few words, and then what you said is played back to you as it was heard by the Audio Test Service.</p> <h5>Call with Confidence</h5> <p>Laptop chugging away?  Unclear how good your wireless connection really is at the hotel?  This tool can help you ensure the best possible call quality <strong>before</strong> you make that all-important customer, or otherwise, call!</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-16132376343913049752010-10-14T11:23:00.001-04:002010-10-14T11:23:43.765-04:00Top 5 New Features in Microsoft Lync 2010<p>There are so many <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/new-features.aspx" target="_blank">new features in Lync 2010</a> it seems almost cruel to list just 5, but alas, here are the five I am most excited about.</p> <h5>1.  No more Live Meeting client</h5> <blockquote> <p>I have nothing against the Live Meeting client – I think it’s intuitive and powerful, and being able to use the single client for both on-premise OCS conferences and Live Meeting hosted conferences is fantastic.</p> <p>Having to switch between two applications that were obviously not built with the other in mind is troublesome, however.  Users have to remember and understand which application should be used for what purpose.  And managing the different ports and protocols is non-trivial.</p> <p>Alas with Lync we have one unified client – <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/lync-2010.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Lync 2010</a>.  Escalating from an Instant Message conversation, to a Video Call, and to Desktop Sharing is not new, but being able to also upload and share PowerPoint presentations, whiteboards, and polling pages with annotation tools is and very easy to use and understand.</p> <p>Scheduling a conference?  Easier than ever, and no need to decide between a Conference Call or a Live Meeting – everything is an Online Meeting with various modalities available to participants.</p> <p>I can’t keep the smile off my face!  :-)</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgckOlcJI/AAAAAAAAAF4/REi_cE2wA-o/s1600-h/image%5B18%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgdE_pneI/AAAAAAAAAF8/r0SqlA57wB4/image_thumb%5B12%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="246" /></a></p> </blockquote> <h5>2.  New cost-effective IP phones</h5> <blockquote> <p>One of the biggest barriers to adoption of OCS for telephony has been people’s hesitation in linking their phone availability to that of the PC.  “My phone must be available, even when I’m not signed in to my PC,” is often heard. Also, “my phone is unavailable if my PC crashes.”</p> <p>While I can argue that you’d be hard-pressed to find any information worker who sits at a desk without being signed in to a PC, and also count on 1 hand the number of times my PC has crashed in the past 3 years, the solution to this dilemma is a dedicated IP phone.  Unfortunately with OCS there is only one supported device, codenamed Tanjay.  This device is $600+ and thus the uptake has been minimal.</p> <p>Enter new IP phones from <a href="http://www.aastra.com/products-mobility-families.htm?curr_cat=Microsoft+Lync+Telephones&curr_fam=Aastra+6720ip&curr_type=Product&mode_f=1&mode_c=1&mode_l=2" target="_blank">Aastra</a> and <a href="http://www.polycom.com/products/voice/desktop_solutions/microsoft_optimized_devices/index.html" target="_blank">Polycom</a> at the $200-300 price point, including servicing new scenarios such as conference phones and common-area phones.</p> <p>The Information Worker models (<a href="http://www.aastra.com/aastra-6725ip.htm" target="_blank">Aastra 6725ip</a> and <a href="http://www.polycom.com/products/voice/desktop_solutions/microsoft_optimized_devices/cx600.html" target="_blank">Polycom CX600</a>, <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgdrjfdvI/AAAAAAAAAGA/VkuHa-kwN7Q/s1600-h/cx600_NoLogos%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="cx600_NoLogos" border="0" alt="cx600_NoLogos" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgd8x98gI/AAAAAAAAAGE/Ilxr-F604OY/cx600_NoLogos_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="151" height="109" /></a>pictured here) are always-on phones that also include the ability to connect to your PC via a USB cable to enable features such as click-to-call.  It really is the best possible UC phone experience, and at a price that organizations can more than justify.</p> </blockquote> <h5>3.  Branch survivability</h5> <blockquote> <p>Another barrier to adoption of OCS for telephony has been the lack of branch survivability – branch offices are reliant on the core OCS pool in the head office or datacenter; if the WAN link goes down the branch office loses phone service.</p> <p>With Lync 2010 comes the introduction of the Survivable Branch  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9kbCEoPEZeqbwAObDJC9feuhTTWhFVurR8H3zyM1O2xvUnw-oJ7jv3cLYVmiF8h68BshgNhSllRzmkCQ9-_YQERx134_VPuZQKFint6UwpIVpAPxTDxPndgC2AIkvtya79kfyYOi9J7-/s1600-h/image%5B23%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgeUUopiI/AAAAAAAAAGM/bL3CqkPqprI/image_thumb%5B15%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="151" height="27" /></a>Appliance which enables phone service to continue in branch offices in cases where the WAN link is unavailable.  Calls between users in the branch still stay on the local LAN; calls to other company locations and external parties use the PSTN.</p> <p>This simplifies multi-site architectures and provides a more robust telephony solution with Lync 2010.</p> </blockquote> <h5>4.  Virtualization and Fewer Servers</h5> <blockquote> <p>“Too many servers!”  This is a very common complaint with OCS.  There is not enough support for collocation and adding resilience to your deployment is a very costly endeavor.  Similarly, minimal support for virtualization in OCS (only IM and Presence is supported, effectively rendering this support useless) has gone against the grain for organizations implementing virtualization strategies.</p> <p>Now with Lync 2010 all workloads are supported for virtualiz<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKx3dLNlUzIbw2b_nx1My9KTR99M0vGD_7dF_uh7FAGsuHa9dCbjB-eOl42B4-PflMv6XZPLNPp5trlbfeajhMWKi4IuA45V_WwUTRqE-XhfPTecuaFiYdBnOMIMUmvoJr6yc8yW93adE/s1600-h/image%5B29%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgeywuAhI/AAAAAAAAAGU/F-dPn5SC1hw/image_thumb%5B19%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="149" height="85" /></a>ation  including voice and video.  There are many topology choices for what is physical and what is virtual, which should give organizations the flexibility they have been looking for.</p> <p>And more server roles are supported for collocation, including the Mediation Server being collocated on the Front End server.</p> </blockquote> <h5>5.  Enhanced Office and SharePoint integration</h5> <blockquote> <p>Integration of presence and related features within the Office suite of products and SharePoint has been a big reason why OCS has gained the market share it has thus far.  No other UC applications can claim as tight an integration with the business applications used by most organizations – namely, Office.</p> <p>Lync 2010 adds Quick Contacts to Outlook 2010 (pictured here), Office <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TLcgffV4a4I/AAAAAAAAAGY/JMXTmHzA2EA/s1600-h/image%5B43%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkr-lRLtZ6mmrrZMtqHG_CYJVsRtwbDwMeTHnFAsko3sM_KsEh7psUSOP1Dpcao1v2LZKr2iadvFJO7c6eWhiuyJ8QONsWGMY4Ze4zSjEmNQ3BpYXZUFMchpzkt1Aq5EOOthA8pOPE59v/?imgmax=800" width="186" height="188" /></a>Backstage integration, shared contacts, and SharePoint skills search.</p> <p>A redesigned and more powerful Contact Card, coupled with contact photos which come from SharePoint My Sites, all add to the experience and enable users to find the right person at the right time. </p> </blockquote> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p>I have been a strong advocate for OCS since the beginning, and there are many amazing stories to tell where organizations have <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000005581" target="_blank">reduced costs</a> and <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000000868" target="_blank">improved productivity</a>.  Microsoft has caused a massive shift in the UC market, and Lync will surely help keep them planted firmly in the <a href="http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol10/article19/article19.html" target="_blank">leader</a> position!</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-74868485835900823772010-09-29T11:31:00.001-04:002010-09-29T11:31:57.113-04:00Microsoft UC Cost-Savings Calculator<p>In today’s economy, IT budgets continue to shrink, and organizations are having to look closely at every project to ensure it makes sense for their business.</p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">There exists a much broader <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/40118464" target="_blank">UC Business Value Assessment</a> that Voice Partners such as Navantis can offer, but to get a quick sense of potential savings, you can use this…</font> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TKNb6hKqZFI/AAAAAAAAAFg/hVR-TN2ZwTs/s1600-h/clip_image0014.jpg"><font size="2" face="ca"></font><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TKNb6hKqZFI/AAAAAAAAAFk/FRk5O4LdV54/s1600-h/clip_image001%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="clip_image001" border="0" alt="clip_image001" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TKNb7NGuL6I/AAAAAAAAAFo/7L3qB0ho1Hk/clip_image001_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="484" height="346" /></a></a></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/uc/en/us/uc-calculator.aspx"><font size="2" face="ca">http://www.microsoft.com/uc/en/us/uc-calculator.aspx</font></a></p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-58983503599743204802010-09-28T21:06:00.001-04:002010-09-28T21:06:27.913-04:00Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging Availability Quick Reference<p><font size="2" face="ca">How does Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging respond to certain outage scenarios? Here’s a quick look, but be sure to click the link at the bottom for the full details…</font> </p> <p><b><font size="2" face="ca">Mailbox Server Unavailable</font></b> </p> <blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="ca">If a Mailbox server for a user is unavailable, the UM server will continue to accept calls on behalf of the user. But the user's custom greeting won't be played. Instead, a standard greeting will be used for calls to that user</font></p> </blockquote> <p><b><font size="2" face="ca">Hub Transport Server Unavailable</font></b> </p> <blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="ca">If the Hub Transport server is unavailable, the UM server will continue to accept calls and queue the calls, depending on how you've set up the queuing limit, until the Hub Transport server is available.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><b><font size="2" face="ca">Domain Controllers Unavailable</font></b> </p> <blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="ca">In a situation where all domain controllers are unavailable, the UM server will be unable to accept calls.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232197.aspx"><font size="2" face="ca">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232197.aspx</font></a></p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-86937904158827869942010-09-23T12:04:00.001-04:002010-09-23T12:05:23.991-04:00Clickable Phone Numbers<p><font size="2" face="ca">Now that we have the ability to click-to-call with Office Communicator, it’s natural that we come to expect to be able to click phone numbers wherever we see them!</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">Just like web links and email links in the past, what we really need is a ubiquitous way to identify phone numbers and make them clickable…</font></p> <h2>tel: to the Rescue</h2> <p><font size="2" face="ca">In Windows, where <strong>http:</strong> makes a web link clickable, and <strong>mailto:</strong> makes an email address clickable, <strong>tel:</strong> makes a phone number clickable.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">So looking at my screenshot below, the first number is just text, the second number has “tel:” in front of it so is now clickable, and the third has the visible text different from the hyperlink value – so the user doesn’t see the “tel”.</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TJt6p9JiDpI/AAAAAAAAAFM/aGYCfW5ir_M/s1600-h/clip_image0014.jpg"><font color="#4c4c4c" size="2" face="ca"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TJt6p9JiDpI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/sXROp2oDhCU/s1600-h/clip_image001%5B2%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="clip_image001" border="0" alt="clip_image001" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TJt6qTP7o_I/AAAAAAAAAFU/741igoLazKs/clip_image001_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="513" height="261" /></a></font></a> </p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">The conversation window is what came up when I clicked on the link.  It gives you the second chance to actually dial, because as I’ve shown, the visible text can be different from the actual hyperlink text.  The number could show 905… but really be 900!</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">Applications can render their phone numbers this way, so that the consuming application, in this case Outlook on Windows, can display the number as clickable.</font></p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-72134022852596332812010-09-12T20:10:00.001-04:002010-09-12T20:13:18.031-04:00Top 5 Reasons or Motivations for choosing Microsoft Unified Communications<p><font size="2" face="ca">In no particular order…</font> </p> <p><font size="2" face="ca"><strong>Conferencing</strong></font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="2" face="ca">The company wishes to save monthly costs for third-party audio (i.e. Telus or Bell) and web (i.e. WebEx) conferencing</font> </li> <li><font size="2" face="ca">The company wishes to reduce travel, but is concerned about sacrificing the quality of in-person meetings</font> </li> <li><font size="2" face="ca">The company wants to empower their users to collaborate more effectively by removing barriers, and providing an easy-to-use and robust collaboration infrastructure</font></li> </ul> <p><font size="2" face="ca"><strong>Remote Access </strong></font></p> <ul> <li><font size="2" face="ca">The company has a lot of remote users and they need access to communications tools while outside the office and away from their desk, including full telephony, without the need for a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection</font></li> </ul> <p><font size="2" face="ca"><strong>Presence</strong></font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="2" face="ca">The company is challenged with inefficient communications and the inability to reach the right person at the right time</font> </li> <li><font size="2">Providing access to a person’s willingness and availability to communicate overcomes these challenges and increases the efficiency of communications in the organization</font></li> </ul> <p><font size="2" face="ca"><strong>Extend the life of existing PBX</strong></font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="2">The company needs to add some phones, but the cost of doing so is prohibitive (new line cards, sets, licenses, etc.)</font> </li> <li><font size="2">The company instead can tie into an OCS deployment via SIP or TDM and a gateway, and light up phone users off the new OCS platform</font> </li> <li><font size="2">This could serve as a slow transition to an eventual full OCS telephony deployment, but it doesn’t need to – this company is by this point enjoying Instant Messaging, Presence, and Conferencing from OCS!</font></li> </ul> <p><font size="2" face="ca"><strong>Exchange Voicemail</strong></font> </p> <ul> <li><font size="2">The company is paying high maintenance costs for its legacy voicemail system which requires separate management skills to administer and support it</font></li> <li><font size="2">The company is already enjoying email in Exchange Server</font></li> <li><font size="2">The company can decommission its legacy voicemail system and enjoy Unified Messaging for all users, with a single directory, management, and security infrastructure!</font></li> </ul> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-89828959051097105062010-09-07T20:18:00.001-04:002010-09-07T20:18:56.253-04:00Restricting called numbers in OCS Enterprise Voice<p><font size="2" face="ca">When configuring a route for Enterprise Voice, you want to match long distance numbers but you do not want to match high-risk numbers, such as 900 and 976.</font> </p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">How do you do that in a regular expression?</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">It looks like this...</font> </p> <p><font color="#008000" size="2" face="Courier New">^(\+411)|(\+1(?!(900|976|242|246|264|268|284|340|345|441|473|649|664|758|767|784|809|876|868|869|939))(\d{10}))$</font> </p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">This expression is allowing +411 or +1 XXX YYY ZZZZ, but <strong><em>not</em></strong> any number where XXX is 900, or 976, or 242 ... you get the idea.  </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">Incidentally, the XXX set above is a comprehensive list you can use in your dial plans as a best practice.</font> </p> <p><font size="2" face="ca">So the basic syntax for "except" is <strong>?!()</strong>.  Anything in the brackets will be excluded in the match processing.</font></p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-86054654725757241872010-09-07T19:33:00.001-04:002010-09-07T19:35:16.715-04:00IM/Presence in Office? Be sure to buy the right version!<p>It recently came to my attention that in order to enjoy Presence and Instant Messaging from within Office applications such as Outlook, you must be running the Professional version of the Office Suite.  Even if you have Office Communicator and Office Communications Server deployed!</p> <p>It’s all outlined in the comparison of server integration features between Office suites available through volume licensing:</p> <p><a title="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-server-integration-features-between-office-suites-available-through-volume-licensing-FX101850719.aspx#d" href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-server-integration-features-between-office-suites-available-through-volume-licensing-FX101850719.aspx#d">http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-server-integration-features-between-office-suites-available-through-volume-licensing-FX101850719.aspx#d</a></p> <div id="cdCntPane" jquery1283902001648="8"> <div id="cdCnt"> <div id="cdCntMid"><form id="aspnetForm" method="post" name="aspnetForm" action="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-server-integration-features-between-office-suites-available-through-volume-licensing-FX101850719.aspx"> <div class="wholelayout cdHPLayoutMargins"> <div style="display: block" class="cdHPRowTable cdHPZeroTopMargin"> <div class="cdHPZoneWholeRow webpartzonedynamic"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody> <tr> <td id="MSOZoneCell_WebPartWPQ1" class="s4-wpcell-plain" valign="top"> <table class="s4-wpTopTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"> <div id="WebPartWPQ1" webpartid="3c16aa5e-baf2-4775-9564-8675ed676d8d" haspers="false" allowminimize="false" allowremove="false" allowdelete="false" allowexport="false" width="100%"> <div style="clear: both" id="fxwebwpdomid23753" class="cdHomepageWpAllDiv cdHomepageTopMargin"> <div style="clear: both" id="fxwebwpdomid23754" class="cdHomepageWpContentDiv cdOOHomepageWpZoneMetrics" name="{"ma":"FH101850715","mt":"BuyServerIntegrationFeatures","pa":"FX101850719","wp":"middle_1_100"}"> <div class="basiccontent_Title"> <blockquote> <div class="cntHCMBlurb"><b>Unified instant messaging, presence, and voice</b></div> <div class="cntHCMBlurb">Easily communicate with others in different locations or time zones using familiar Office tools. Communicator and Office Communications Server operate with popular Office programs to provide a range of different communication options, including instant messaging (IM), phone, and voice, video, or Web conferencing.</div> <style type="text/css"><br />.pmg_centered {text-align: center;}.cnthcmpmgcomparisontable_tc_first {vertical-align: top;} .spacetable {display: block; padding: 20px 0; float: left; clear: both; width: 100%;} .pmgtblblurb {font-size: 1.2em;} .pmgorangeheading {background-color: #f79646; color: white; font-weight: bold;}</style> <div class="SpaceTable"> <table class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable" width="100%" align="left"><tbody> <tr class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tr_odd pmg_centered pmgOrangeHeading"> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc_first" width="338"> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="87"> <p align="center"><strong>Office Standard</strong></p> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="90"> <p align="center"><strong>Office Professional Plus</strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tr_even"> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc_first pmgtblblurb" width="338"> <h6>See the availability of others—via author indicators when co-authoring to the address field when composing an e-mail—from directly within Office applications through Office Communications Server.</h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="87"> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="90"> <h6 align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></h6> </td> </tr> <tr class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tr_odd"> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc_first pmgtblblurb" width="338"> <h6>Initiate IM and voice directly from Office applications, through integration with Office Communications Server. Point to an author’s or manager’s name in File Properties—available from the Info tab in Backstage view—to surface a contact card and initiate a voice or IM conversation.</h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="87"> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="90"> <h6 align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></h6> </td> </tr> <tr class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tr_even"> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc_first pmgtblblurb" width="338"> <h6>Record and listen to name pronunciation recordings wherever presence is found with the new contact card, which includes a recording tied to the user's voice-mail box for name pronunciation.</h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="87"> <h6 align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="90"> <h6 align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></h6> </td> </tr> <tr class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tr_odd"> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc_first pmgtblblurb" width="338"> <h6>Have IT staff configure MailTips to give users of Outlook 2010 and Exchange Server 2010 important information before they click Send to avoid distributing messages to inappropriate recipients. For example, users can be notified that they are about to send a message outside the organization or are using Reply All.</h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="87"> <h6 align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="90"> <h6 align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></h6> </td> </tr> <tr class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tr_even"> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc_first pmgtblblurb" width="338"> <h6>Take advantage of voice-mail transcripts that are now sent directly to a user's inbox along with the recording. The Microsoft's voice-to-text engine automatically transcribes a text preview of recorded messages.</h6> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="87"> <p align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></p> </td> <td class="cntHCMPMGComparisonTable_tc cntHCMBlurb" width="90"> <p align="center"><img border="0" alt="Included" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-gb/files/571/967/ZA101812626.gif" /></p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> </blockquote> <a name="#e"> </a></div> </div> </div> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div> </div> </form></div> </div> </div> <p>I’ve been fortunate enough to have been running the Professional version for so long that this hasn’t come up for me, so I thought perhaps others might benefit from the information as well.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-9719758583466714782010-09-03T11:18:00.001-04:002010-09-03T11:18:26.865-04:00Synchronizing a SharePoint 2007 Document Library with SharePoint Workspace 2010<p>Synchronizing SharePoint Document Libraries is a great way to enable both offline access and redundancy.  I don’t need to worry about accessing my files while offline, and I also sleep easy knowing there are two copies of my data, both of which are easy for me to access (as opposed to trying to get a tape backup, for instance).</p> <p>I recently tried to synchronize a SharePoint 2007 Document Library using SharePoint Workspace 2010 (formerly Groove).  This was not allowed, however.  I received the message below:</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKu4Jxw-A1CXp7ePc7B4JBf3gyh76hFZpy4SxaEJr9m9gRgfsygFDFNfidiZpNd-oiOJR-CrzpQDCV0CLNpJJYYuPv3Z_5o6GZIfK04DVcsWnHhbQ0lh26F3DtArCTlEwVZvJg1vHxwUJI/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERuMHh85I/AAAAAAAAAEU/wIMy70htGgw/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="353" height="152" /></a> </p> <p>Yikes!  I have to wait until SharePoint 2010 is deployed before I can benefit from this?  Do I have to find the Groove 2007 install bits and try to revert back?</p> <p>The answer is, thankfully, no.  The way to get around this is to create a <strong>Groove Workspace</strong> instead…</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERudSvW_I/AAAAAAAAAEY/nCVS5AcDRk4/s1600-h/clip_image002%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="clip_image002" border="0" alt="clip_image002" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERuzKn-5I/AAAAAAAAAEc/n5V1BnddWk8/clip_image002_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="343" height="338" /></a></p> <p>… and pick 2007 as the Workspace version (I have not confirmed if 2010 will also work) …</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERvOudmhI/AAAAAAAAAEg/RPb9KlUKWWw/s1600-h/clip_image004%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="clip_image004" border="0" alt="clip_image004" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERvrkFMdI/AAAAAAAAAEk/U0y5JZlCqVY/clip_image004_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360" height="181" /></a></p> <p>… then use the <b>SharePoint Files</b> tool …</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERv-N4F6I/AAAAAAAAAEo/dvSVvB2kgqk/s1600-h/clip_image006%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="clip_image006" border="0" alt="clip_image006" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TIERwHjr44I/AAAAAAAAAEs/Wq5k2R8lHvY/clip_image006_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="368" height="448" /></a></p> <p>… to point to a library on the server (Click the Setup button and enter the URL to your Document Library) …</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tu26zTDjJ6kKwU92m0r-0V6C908oaKXTeIO2jT6BlTligRR3m1MXlPUZEymcZMMIoo8txNhRZUjCj4EJTms1IDjPH59y150EGwk5C19CluDfBfY6Bjk6zCqsrlaTBYWZ6w7vDCEwj4V8/s1600-h/clip_image008%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="clip_image008" border="0" alt="clip_image008" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7_pPo3k0A_L6MYFmnu0wOMxPMXjIXcPGh4VEHBpW1oVx_Hiuu4jNc-mHcwyTIZAJzgnzr7CTFkQ_YM6aeoqCLmyWSS6QqT8T2bRKh9glZvfhZ8fAJzitOm1oHBw1_Flu5RFMChCl1u7H/?imgmax=800" width="380" height="230" /></a></p> <p></p> <p>I can sleep easy again!</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-71882698358153195912010-08-07T14:25:00.001-04:002010-08-07T14:29:09.384-04:00A New Beginning<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_D4JgjFcYC7g/TF2lEy1dsWI/AAAAAAAAAEA/ULpK_9P3B0o/s1600-h/Navantis_Logo_trans%5B4%5D.gif"><strong><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Navantis_Logo_trans" border="0" alt="Navantis_Logo_trans" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXVptWAxrYPpBfo1Ne4l4odsvMwYxB1-SBF48R4jZAOygro6C1GLiibc-teb8MOSaHrUWkPvWwWv-44F7PVRjxtVx3LWMKibyZ8fnTNIINRazNSVElUxzofZ2cQcmBfgOylfdBkJcMLB2/?imgmax=800" width="138" height="33" /></strong></a> <p>With much excitement and anticipation, I recently started working at <a href="http://www.navantis.com" target="_blank">Navantis</a>, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in Toronto.  My role is <strong>Unified</strong><strong> Communications Consultant</strong>, and I will be assisting the sales team in helping to articulate the value of Microsoft Unified Communications to customers, and to help merge solution features with requirements to positively transform customers’ businesses.</p> <p>Navantis is the result of two great, historic Microsoft partners coming together: <strong>Navantis Inc</strong>. (Canada's leading application platform Microsoft partner) and <strong>LegendCorp </strong>(Canada's top Microsoft enterprise infrastructure boutique). Together, Navantis is Canada's proven one-stop-shop for Microsoft enterprise needs. </p> <p>With offices in North America and South Asia, Navantis has helped drive business value for leading blue chip companies and government organizations for over a decade.</p> <p>Much of my excitement to join the Navantis team is based on the fact that not only do we hold the <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40124646" target="_blank">Unified Communications Competency</a> within the Microsoft Partner Program, but also the following 13 (!) others:</p> <p><b></b></p> <p><b></b></p> <h1><b></b></h1> <blockquote> <p><b></b></p> <p>Business Intelligence</p> <p>Content Management</p> <p>Customer Relationship Management</p> <p>Desktop</p> <p>Identity and Security</p> <p>Mobility</p> <p>Portals and Collaboration</p> <p>Search</p> <p>Server Platform</p> <p>Small Business Specialist Community</p> <p>Software Development</p> <p>Systems Management</p> <p>Web Development</p> </blockquote> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p>Our ability to service our customers across the entire Microsoft stack truly sets apart, and being able to design, architect, and deliver <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_Enabled_Business_Process" target="_blank">Communications Enabled Business Processes</a> allows our customers to realize the promise of business transformation via Unified Communications solutions.</p> <p>Onwards and upwards!</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-48714799238455383952010-05-25T09:53:00.001-04:002010-05-25T09:53:01.855-04:00Microsoft updates RCC supportability statement<p>In the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=78814f28-2df5-4cff-a166-73622c7830bb" target="_blank">document</a> outlining supportability between Cisco and Microsoft, including:</p> <ul> <li>Direct SIP Interoperability </li> <li>Cisco UC Integration for Microsoft Office Communicator </li> <li>Remote Call Control </li> </ul> <p>…there has been a recent adjustment.  Previously, Remote Call Control (RCC) was only to supported for <em>existing</em> customers in the next version of Communications Server.  But the document has been updated to include <em>new</em> customers as well.</p> <p>It only goes so far as to say it is supported for the next version – <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/en/us/whats-new.aspx" target="_blank">Communications Server “14”</a>.</p> <p>I see this more as a concession that customers need a bit more time to move away from their standard desk phones, and not as an indication of a go-forward plan to always include and support the RCC scenario.</p> <p>RCC is a key component to help in the early adoption of Microsoft UC, but it represents a model that is completely counter to Microsoft’s PC-centric communications model, and I would be surprised if support remains in the next version of Communications Server.</p> <p>Alas, for now this is a good sign, I think, that will only help in removing barriers in adoption of Microsoft’s communications and collaborations vision.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-19641980111931797712010-05-19T11:27:00.001-04:002010-05-19T11:27:57.249-04:00The Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF)<p>Recently announced is the <a href="http://www.ucif.org/" target="_blank">Unified Communications Interoperability Forum</a> (UCIF).</p> <p>According to their website:</p> <blockquote> <p>The UCIF’s vision is to enable interoperability of UC hardware and software across enterprises, service providers, and consumer clouds, as a means of protecting customer’s existing investments, simplifying their transition to more extended UC networks, and generating incremental business opportunity for all stakeholders in the ecosystem.</p> </blockquote> <p>This is a <strong><em>very</em></strong> good thing, as interoperability is a key issue for customers looking to adopt Unified Communications in their organizations.</p> <p>Customers are asking:</p> <ul> <li>How can they leverage existing investments?</li> <li>How can they communicate effectively with business partners and customers?</li> <li>How can they ensure their architecture and product selections don’t paint themselves into any corners?</li> </ul> <p>The members of UCIF “will collaborate to ensure products and solutions from different manufacturers and service providers will work together, enabling more choice in the supply chain and better user experiences.”</p> <p>I can’t wait to see where this goes, and how quickly we start to see everybody playing nicely for the greater good.</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-59121029097955181142010-05-14T15:35:00.001-04:002010-05-14T15:35:31.348-04:00The power of IT reaches far beyond the technology itself<p>Recently I spent some time reviewing Microsoft’s materials on <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/pages/default.aspx#fbid=Op2Vpm5-HxO" target="_blank">Business Productivity Infrastructure</a>, and I came across this statement:</p> <p><strong>IT averages only about 5% of the total cost in a business. Shrinking IT costs by 50% will generate fewer savings than cutting business operations costs by 3%. Thus, IT leaders may help a firm weather a recession better by increasing the efficiency of business processes than by cutting IT spending.</strong></p> <p>Quite compelling when you consider that most organizations and IT leaders are currently focusing on IT cost-reductions, and not engaging in discussions with Vendors Systems Integrators to explore opportunities to increase the efficiency of existing business processes.</p> <p>A brief conversation with me, for example, would reveal to an organization that:</p> <ul> <li>Enabling efficient communications and anywhere access to people and information for employees will reduce sales cycles and help projects complete faster </li> <li>Consolidating voicemail platforms, and leveraging existing investments, will not only save money but help users manage message overload </li> <li>Bringing conferencing services in-house, and extending video conferencing to the desktop, will save money and enhance collaboration within the organization and among business partners </li> </ul> <p>Each of the above scenarios directly affect business outcomes, and each would contribute to the desired business operation efficiencies that have a greater effect on an organization’s bottom line then a reduction in IT spending.</p> <p>Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?</p> Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679656314824986978.post-86613196370089904172010-05-06T09:18:00.002-04:002010-07-28T10:52:19.744-04:00Can't leave voicemail - Early Dialog Terminated SIP message<p class="ExternalClass45B6BA5787964D429F2D54D525F51B93"><span style="font-family:Calibri;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><u>Environment</u></strong></span></span></p><ul><li><div class="ExternalClass45B6BA5787964D429F2D54D525F51B93"><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">PSTN (T1 PRI) — CUCM 7 – Dialogic 2030 IP-to-IP GW – OCS 2007 R2</span></div></li></ul><p class="ExternalClass45B6BA5787964D429F2D54D525F51B93"><span style="font-family:Calibri;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><u>Problem</u></b> </span></span></p><div class="ExternalClass45B6BA5787964D429F2D54D525F51B93"><ul><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">Some calls to cell phones from OCS would terminate unexpectedly either while leaving a voicemail or before the greeting finished playing.</span> </li><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">Calls to cell phones in the West and East exhibited this behaviour, but calls to cell phones in Montreal didn’t seem to.</span> </li><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">One user said he had this problem calling the US and the Niagara area, too.</span> </li><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">The same call made from a Cisco phone would be fine.</span> </li><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">The OCS error logs show the SIP message <b>199 Early Dialog Terminated</b>.</span> </li></ul></div><p><span style="font-family:Calibri;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><u>Resolution</u></b> </span></span></p><ul><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">Changed the <b>TCP Inactivity Timer</b> on the Dialogic GW from default 30 s to 90 s.</span> </li><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">Test to cell in the East was successful.</span> </li><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">Also verified that <b>cell vs. home phone is not relevant</b>, and call connect time is in play</span> <ul><li><span style="font-family:Calibri;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Changed the number of rings on a home phone, before voicemail pickup, to 6 (cell phone had a lot of rings before pickup, too) and<b> the same behaviour was seen</b></span></span> </li></ul></li></ul><p><a href="http://intranet.unislumin.com/sites/Practices/uc/markhickson/Lists/Posts/Attachments/358/image_2_3666DD48.png"></a></p><p><a href="http://intranet.unislumin.com/sites/Practices/uc/markhickson/Lists/Posts/Attachments/358/image3_3666DD48.png"></a></p><p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">Below is text from trace on MOC log file: </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;">04/20/201015:02:36.547 1784:8D0 INFO :: Data Received - 172.20.1.120:5061 (To Local Address: 172.20.2.46:49856) 726 bytes:<br />04/20/201015:02:36.547 1784:8D0 INFO :: SIP/2.0 199 Early Dialog Terminated<br />Proxy-Authentication-Info: Kerberos rspauth="602306092A864886F71201020201011100FFFFFFFF4147CAB224E8230B8A11DD2DC5ADE3B1", srand="F7B56919", snum="1584", opaque="35F8D7D2", qop="auth", targetname="sip/ulocs02.domain.com", realm="SIP Communications Service"<br />Content-Length: 0<br />Via: SIP/2.0/TLS 172.20.2.46:49856;ms-received-port=49856;ms-received-cid=47E600<br />From: "First Last";tag=61e9453d78;epid=d2b3504585<br />Call-ID: 06cd7690782c4d27ad5c3d92646b08b3<br />CSeq: 1 INVITE<br />To: ;tag=fed66b776<br />Server: http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2FLCS%2FOutboundRouting(Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 3.5.6907.0)<br />04/20/201015:02:36.547 1784:8D0 INFO :: End of Data Received - 172.20.1.120:5061 (To Local Address: 172.20.2.46:49856) 726 bytes </span></p>Mark Hicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17093206647047379860noreply@blogger.com0