Executive Summary:
Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 are complementary parts of Microsoft's UC strategy. Exchange 2007 SP1 adds Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) dial plans and E.164 dial plans to enhance this relationship. Microsoft added a three-step fax-tone detection process to Exchange 2007 SP1 to assist IP PBX systems pass inbound fax CNG tones correctly to the UM server. One key scenario enabled in Exchange 2007 SP1 with OCS 2007 is support for remote and mobile users running Microsoft Office Communicator. |
Microsoft has made much of the fact that Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 are complementary parts of its overall unified communications (UC) strategy, and the enhancements that came with Exchange 2007 SP1 deepen the relationship between these two applications. Exchange provides several key pieces of call answering functionality, including the ability to build automated attendants and record and deliver voice messages to users’ Inboxes. OCS provides presence, IM, conferencing, VoIP, and integration with conventional telephone systems. Understanding how these two systems work together, and what they can and can’t do, is critical to properly planning and executing their deployment. The Better Together Story
Exchange 2007 SP1 makes significant improvements to the interoperability between Exchange and OCS. To understand these improvements, it’s helpful to understand that both Exchange and OCS use dial plan objects in Active Directory (AD). These objects are containers that represent the physical dial plan set up on your PBX systems. The dial plan specifies how many digits make up extensions and which extensions can dial which other extensions. Exchange 2007 RTM supports only ordinary PBX-based telephone extensions as a dial plan type. Exchange 2007 SP1 adds support for two additional types: . . .
