In the Feature column, Rob Smithers and Mike Hommer of Miercom report on the results of their test of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Perhaps surprisingly, they found OCS quite scalable, at least when doing basic call setup and teardown. They also enountered a few hiccups when it comes to latency. And their conclusion about OCS has less to do with how it does than with what it does.
In the Feature column, Rob Smithers and Mike Hommer of Miercom report on the results of their test of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Perhaps surprisingly, they found OCS quite scalable, at least when doing basic call setup and teardown. They also enountered a few hiccups when it comes to latency. And their conclusion about OCS has less to do with how it does than with what it does.Rob and Mike write:
OCS 2007 is not going to replace your PBX for large enterprise environments, as it lacks some of the basic features such as call park, group pick-up and music on hold. It also provides alternative means to accomplish other basic features. For example there are no "speed dials;" you simply click on a frequent contact and place a call.
But the degree of integration into applications will help further the push of voice away from how it has always been done and into how it will be done in the future.
But the degree of integration into applications will help further the push of voice away from how it has always been done and into how it will be done in the future.
I think they've got this right. If you want Microsoft OCS to be your phone system, it has to be scalable, and Miercom provides at least the beginnings of an answer to that question. But right now, at least, OCS won't do many of the other things a phone system does--call park, etc.
But if your strategy is to use OCS to augment your phone system, to put a layer of communications into your business applications, that's what OCS is built to do.
