The following has been announced by Microsoft today
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Content: (copy-pasted): (take not of the underlined part!!!)
Communicate quickly and efficiently, and share presence and instant messaging (IM) with users of Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, AOL and Yahoo! public IM service providers.Office Communications Server 2007 R2 provides organizations with the capability to connect their existing base of Office Communications Server-enabled users to the top public IM service providers.
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Users can add contacts on Windows Live, AOL, and Yahoo! networks to their contact list. With the Office Communicator 2007 R2 client, users can share presence status information and participate in instant messaging with colleagues and customers who use public IM connections.
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With Office Communications Server 2007 R2, IT administrators can control access to public IM connections on a per-user or per-group basis; select the public IM service providers to which users can connect; and log and archive messages that are sent to users of public IM services.
Supported Features
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Add contacts on federated public IM services to Communicator contact list
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View presence status of public IM users in your Contact list
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Participate in one-on-one IM conversations with users of public IM services in your Contact list
Unsupported features: Multiparty IM, file transfers, audio/video sessions
Licensing Requirement
Licensing requirements for Public IM Connectivity depends on the service providers you want to connect with and your Communications Server client access licenses.
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Windows Live: Customers with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard Client Access License or Office Communications Server 2007/ Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 Standard CAL license with active Software Assurance (SA) qualify for federation with Windows Live Messenger without additional licensing requirements. Customers who do not meet the qualifying requirement should buy the Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity license for federation with Windows Live Messenger.
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AOL/Yahoo!: Federation with AOL and Yahoo! requires the Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity (PIC) per user subscription license. The PIC License provides connectivity to both IM service providers. There are no license options for connectivity to only one provider, but administrators can choose which service provider they provision.
The Office Communications Server PIC license is sold separately on a per-user, per-month basis as a Microsoft service. PIC service licenses are available for Microsoft Volume License customers only.
Provisioning Requirements
To provision your Office Communications Server environment for federation with public IM service providers, the following information is required:
If Public IM Connectivity licenses were purchased through Microsoft Volume Licensing, details on how to submit this information will be available through the Microsoft Volume Licensing website.
If you qualify for federation with Windows Live through Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL, please contact your Account Manager for details on submitting information about provisioning your network.
For more information on the provisioning process, please read the Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity Provisioning Guide.
-Ilse
Posted
07-01-2009 8:24
by
Ilse Van Criekinge