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Exchange UM: Filling a Gap in the World of UC

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In a recent article, Blair Pleasant observes that many organizations are taking a long time to reap the potential benefits of Unified Communications. She explains that they see difficulty and expense, whether they (1) upgrade their existing systems to full UC, or (2) try to extend them with systems from other vendors.

It’s not hard to see why a third alternative (the “forklift upgrade”) is often not considered. Companies make substantial investments in their internal telephone systems, especially those multi-button feature phones that no-one seems quite to know how to use fully. The cost of replacement is not easy to justify.

In many of the same organizations, Microsoft Office Communications Server is the platform of choice (and with good reason) for presence, instant messaging, and many kinds of rich collaboration. However, the PBX and its constellation of phone extensions may remain isolated from this world as the customer contemplates their depreciation.

One day, users will take a fully integrated UC solution for granted. That will include not only voice communication, but video, and other forms of media and interaction. For those customers already running Microsoft Office Communications Server, the path ahead is clear: they can choose to enable Enterprise Voice, video, conferencing and so on, when they retire the PBX.

Customers now using (or planning to use) Microsoft Exchange 2007 or 2010 have another path on the route to Unified Communications. Exchange Unified Messaging (UM) provides voice mail, and speech-enabled access Exchange and Active Directory. UM works excellently in conjunction with the voice capabilities of Office Communications Server, of course. But it also works with most popular (and some not-so-popular) makes and models of PBX and IP PBX.

This allows the customer to obtain the benefits of UM while continuing to extract value from their investment in the PBX. And when the time comes to migrate to Office Communications Server for voice, UM will be ready for that, too.