Office Communications Online

Microsoft Office Communications Online is a hosted, enterprise-class communications solution based on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Office Communications Online provides your organisation with real-time communications capabilities including secure instant messaging and delivery of "presence" information. Presence enables users to see at a glance if someone is available online to receive an instant message.

Key Features:

• Secure Access: Microsoft Online Services are accessed via 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. Anyone who intercepts a communication sees only encrypted text.
• Business Continuity: Redundant network architecture is hosted at geographically dispersed Microsoft data centers to handle unscheduled service outages. Data centers act as backups for each other: If one fails, the affected customers are transferred to another data center with limited interruption of service.
• Intrusion Monitoring: Microsoft continuously monitors the Microsoft Online Services systems for any unusual or suspicious activity. If Microsoft detects such activity, it investigates and responds as appropriate. In the unlikely event that a significant incident occurs, the customer is notified.
• Security Audits: Ongoing assessment of the Microsoft Online Services infrastructure ensures installation of the latest compliance policies and antivirus signatures, along with high-level configuration settings and required security updates.
• High Availability: Microsoft Online Services has a 99.9 percent scheduled uptime. If a customer’s service is affected, Microsoft Online Services offers financial remedies subject to the terms and conditions of the service level agreement (SLA).
• Support: Web form and phone support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the service administrator.
• Administration Center: This easy-to-use Web site is made available to your service administrators for managing all Microsoft Online Services. This is also where service administrators can download software, such as the Microsoft Online Services Sign In application, Directory Synchronisation tool, and Migration Tools.
• My Company Portal: Users log on to the My Company Portal Web site to launch Microsoft Online Services. There they can access services such as e-mail, create a SharePoint site, download the Sign In applicationand more.
• Sign In Application: This tool conveniently allows Microsoft Online Services end users to sign in once and access all services without being prompted repeatedly for their password.
• Virus Filtering: Microsoft Online Services helps guard against online threats that could potentially affect Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft SharePoint Online users. Microsoft Forefront Online Security for Exchange automatically removes viruses and spam in incoming and outgoing e-mail. Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint scans for viruses in intracompany e-mail and in all documents that reside in SharePoint Online sites.
• Directory Synchronisation Tool: For subscribers with an on-premise Active Directory service deployment, this tool helps keep the on-premises Active Directory and the Microsoft Online Services directory in sync.

Office Communications Online - Features

Standard Edition Features include:

• Display and detect presence availability of other users on the network
• Instant messaging over the internet or a corporate network with IM text encrypted
• Integration with Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Word for presence awareness and collaboration
• Presence integration with SharePoint sites
• Users can add distribution lists to contact lists and IM with individuals or the entire list
• Person-to-person (1:1) audio and video inside a company LAN (between firewalls) environment
• Remote access to the service over the internet
• Increased network security with the Intelligent Instant Message Filter program
• Sign In application installed on user's computer to provide a single sign-in point.

Dedicated Edition Features include:

• Instant messaging with text based chat, file transfer and 1:1 or peer-to-peer audio and video communication
• Secure instant messaging via the Intelligent Instant Message Filter (IIMF) program
• Presence awareness enabling users to detect another users availability on the network
• Access to instant messaging via intranet and the internet connections
• Dedicated hosting in Microsoft data centres
• Directory synchronisation from Microsoft Active Directory providing single sign-on capability
• Dedicated servers and networks
• Upgrades to new Office Communications Online release versions at no additional charge
• Full instant messaging and presence capability in an alternative and geographically diverse data centre within 24 hours
• Federation with Microsoft includes a dedicated trusted connection between the customer and Microsoft.

Optional Services:

• Federation to enable two or more disparate instant messaging and presence installations to inter-connect
• Public IM Connectivity (PIC) providing connectivity with users from the Microsoft Network (MSN), American Online (AOL) and Yahoo public instant messaging services
• Content archiving to capture and retain text instant message content for all users
• Web access.

Office Communications Online - System Requirements

System Requirements

• Office Communicator
  Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 client, available with Office Pro Plus or as a standalone application
• Windows Vista
  1 gigahertz (GHz) Pentium processor or faster and 1 gigabyte (GB) or more of system RAM
• Windows XP
  500 megahertz (MHz) Pentium processor or faster (recommended 1 GHz) and 256 megabytes (MB) or more of system RAM