Two great announcements today on Office Communications Server

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 1, 2009 — Microsoft today announced two new offerings for Microsoft Office Communications Server, which delivers streamlined communication for users to find and communicate with the right person, at the right time, from the applications they know and use most.

First, Microsoft is releasing the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway at no additional licensing cost; it allows basic presence sharing and instant messaging (IM) with Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol networks Cisco Jabber and Google Talk. For Office Communications Server customers, this means Cisco Jabber and Google Talk users can now be part of Office Communications Server IM contacts. Starting today, the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway can be downloaded here, while a video that explains how the Gateway works can be viewed here.

Second, Microsoft is changing its public instant messaging connectivity (PIC) license requirements for Office Communications Server connectivity to the Windows Live and AOL public IM networks. Now, customers with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL (or equivalent Software Assurance rights) will no longer require an additional license to connect with the millions of people who use Windows Live and AOL for instant messaging and presence. This change took place in July for Windows Live, and is scheduled for AOL in October 2009.