Communicator 14 and Voicemail

This post will be more about look see with the client than a deep technical dive. I wanted to talk a little about two new OC features that I really like in Communicator 14. The first one is the dial pad that has been added. This is really more about comfort levels than feature/function improvement as you have always been able to type in a number in OC 2007 R2 to make a call. I know from experience one of the first things people asked when using OC R2 was where do I enter a number. Well, now you have two options. This feature is cool in respect to adoption. I think once people get used to Communicator they will minimize dial pad but certainly those new to Communicator will really like this option.



Note: Screen shot was edited to hide certain details (phone numbers etc.)

The second one is visual voicemail. I get more excited about this option. Firstly because I no longer have to have outlook open to get my voicemail and listen to it and secondly I can launch straight from Communicator to Outlook if I want to reply with email. This uses Exchange Web Services (MAPI is also supported) to retrieve voicemail which is delayed after startup to ensure there is no delays in the clients registration. This tight integration is really a great evolution of Microsoft’s UC appraoch of tightly integrating across its product line of CS, Exchange and Sharepoint.



Although not related to voice directly the contact card was a really nice addition as well. This really opens up all the communication channels without need to go to another application. I use this functionality a great deal not just in Communicator 14 but also in Outlook 2010.

Over the next few months I will be talking a great deal about CS 14 since the NDA is lifted. It is really an exciting new product that I am happy to be able to finally talk freely about.

Comments welcomed.

VoIPNorm