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Microsoft Readies Office Communicator 2005 and Delivers Updates for Live Communications Server 2005

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 March 2005, 12:00 CST

SAN FRANCISCO, March 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advancing the integrated communications vision detailed by Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates during a keynote address this morning, Microsoft Corp. announced the name for its integrated communications client, Microsoft(R) Office Communicator 2005, formerly code-named "Istanbul," and announced timing for its delivery. Microsoft also announced updates to the award-winning Microsoft Office Live Communications Server (LCS) 2005. These include a service pack (SP) and public instant-messaging (IM) connectivity (PIC) that together deliver enterprise-grade connectivity from an LCS enterprise to the MSN(R), AOL and Yahoo! public IM networks. Microsoft executives demonstrated Communicator and LCS 2005 during a global Web conference event today. (See related announcements issued today at the Microsoft Real-Time Collaboration Group unified launch event.)

(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

"Communicator and Live Communications Server demonstrate how we are bringing integrated communications to life for our customers as rich presence and multimodal communications become an integrated part of the Microsoft Office System," said Jeff Raikes, group vice president of the Information Worker Group at Microsoft. "Users now can view rich presence information for colleagues, partners and customers; select the most efficient mode of communication, whether it's IM, a phone call, a Web conference or e-mail; and instantly share ideas and information."

Microsoft Office Communicator 2005: Unifying Real-Time Communications

As the preferred client for LCS 2005, Communicator provides rich presence; integrates IM, voice, video, telephony and access to Web conferencing; and is the client interface for PIC. Communicator provides information workers with the following:

-- Rich presence. Communicator enhances presence with additional

availability data, including next-available-meeting timing and

out-of-office information. Communicator also routs incoming

communications based on users' presence and personal preferences.

-- Integrated communications capabilities. Communicator helps business

users take advantage of advanced communications capabilities easily by

consolidating communication and collaboration into an intuitive, more

integrated, single application interface. Communicator customers can

quickly initiate and move between communications modes with IM, audio,

video, Web conferencing, and traditional telephony and

conference-calling scenarios.

-- Enhanced Microsoft Office System integration. Communicator and Live

Communications Server enable presence and real-time communications

capabilities across Microsoft Office System applications, including

Outlook(R), SharePoint(R) Portal Server and Live Meeting. Users can

quickly initiate communication and collaborate directly from familiar

Office applications.

Communicator brings together siloed communications capabilities and makes them accessible in Office and line-of-business applications. Its rich presence and integrated capabilities represent a major advance in enabling users to find, connect, communicate and collaborate in real time with colleagues, partners and customers, regardless of location.

Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005: Supporting SP and PIC

Building on the success of LCS 2005, the new service pack delivers support for Communicator, connectivity to public IM networks, and improved management capabilities including enhanced federation and "spim" control:

-- PIC for LCS 2005. A result of customer feedback voicing the need to

communicate with users on three major public IM networks (MSN, AOL and

Yahoo!), PIC support allows organizations to exchange security-enhanced

IM and presence information with customers, partners and suppliers on

those networks.

-- Enhanced federation. Connecting two or more organizations using Live

Communications Server has been simplified, reducing the IT

administrator workload for enabling enterprise-to-enterprise

federation.

-- "Spim" control. Corporations can get help defending against spam sent

via instant messaging (or "spim") by restricting instant messages and

the sharing of presence information to contacts specified in each

user's profile. They can apply additional "spim" filter settings for

each federated connection to reduce the number of unauthorized or

unsolicited messages.

"With LCS and Communicator, organizations have a safe, easy way to IM and share presence information with colleagues, partners and customers," said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of the Live Communications Team in the Real-Time Collaboration Group at Microsoft. "With the reach that PIC and enhanced federation provide, enterprise IM becomes a first-class business tool -- as useful and ubiquitous as e-mail."

Availability and Licensing

Following are availability details for Communicator, LCS and PIC:

-- Microsoft Office Communicator 2005. Communicator is scheduled to be

released to manufacturing in the next 90 days. Pricing and licensing

information will be announced before the release.

-- Live Communications Server 2005 service pack. Current LCS 2005

customers will be able to download the service pack at no additional

charge from the Microsoft Download Center

(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads ). It is scheduled to become

available in April. New customers should visit their Microsoft Volume

Licensing site to download or order a fulfillment kit.

-- Public IM connectivity. PIC licenses will be available on a per-user,

per-year subscription basis as of April 1. The license will include

access to all three major public IM networks (MSN, AOL and Yahoo!). A

current LCS client access license and the service pack upgrade are

required.

For specific pricing and licensing questions, customers should visit http://www.microsoft.com/rtc or contact their Microsoft sales representative.

Launch Promotion

Through the delivery of technologies such as Live Communications Server, Communicator and Live Meeting, Microsoft is delivering on its integrated communications vision. Customers who qualify for Select and Enterprise Agreement programs will have an opportunity to save by acquiring these solutions at a discount through a promotional package being offered between now and June 30. This promotion gives customers an extensible standards-based platform for enterprise real-time communications that integrates with back-end and desktop systems. For more promotion details, customers should go to http://www.microsoft.com/rtc or contact their Microsoft sales representative.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

NOTE: Microsoft, MSN, Outlook and SharePoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: Jevon Fark, +1-425-638-7000, or jevonf@wagged.com, or RapidResponse Team, +1-503-443-7070, or rrt@wagged.com, both of Waggener Edstrom,for Microsoft Corp.

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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