As announced previously, I have been part of a long-term review of Microsoft Communications Services. Provisioned for me by Alteva LLC, I have been using the hosted – read that as ‘cloud’ versions of Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office Communicator, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. To this, Alteva added their impressive VOIP telephony service, sending me a Polycom IP desk phone.

To adequately test this product, I decided to use the staff at MedikLabs for my ongoing review. I added two providers and their support staff to the test.

UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect my inadvertently replacing Microsoft Lync for what Alteva is correctly using: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, since Microsoft does not yet offer a hosted version of this product for it’s partners. We are currently in a beta for that product (Lync), though that is not what is in use here. My apologies for the error.

Provisioning

Setup and provisioning was a snap.

Alteva created the user accounts needed for Exchange, Office Communications Server 2007, and SharePoint, and emailed me the default passwords, which were not ‘password’ and which I changed immediately upon connecting.

For the telephony part of the process, it could not have been more idiot-proof: I was sent the afore-mentioned Polycom IP phone. I plugged it into a switch, connected the power. The phone went through a boot-up process and voilà; I was ready to make calls.

Using Microsoft Communications Services

I started using MCS immediately. Everyone on the Microsoft Communications Services test was available to me, and we have proceeded to form some closer working relationships.

I also created a SharePoint community for MedikLabs, in order to allow staffers to interact not only with each other, but also with designated patients.

MCS Messaging: Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook & Outlook Web Access
As a primarily Microsoft shop, we are versed in the use of Outlook and Outlook Web Access, with Exchange Server as our backend.

Messaging using Exchange brings a lot more functionality to businesses, and using Outlook as a front end is as sweet as it gets.

In hosted MCS guise though, this solution is taken to a higher level with all the heavy-lift of design, maintenance, patching, etc. removed from you. This is A Good Thing!

In late 2009, I moved my family from a local Exchange Server managed by me to Microsoft BPOS, the forerunner to MCS. It eliminated the babysitting I had to give the server and the support phone calls I had to field from siblings on four continents whenever there was an issue with Exchange.

MCS has afforded the same level of reliability to the MedikLabs team. Messaging is more fluid, and coupled with the other components of MCS below, staffers are able to stay on top of messages better than before.

MCS Collaboration: Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint is a product that I use extensively at the ‘day job’ and one I have designated as the next frontier I would like to introduce Logikworx’s clients to. It is a powerful platform for collaboration, and sharing of knowledge.

Because of that, it has been in use at MedikLabs, albeit sparingly. With the use of MCS, I was able to expand the use of SharePoint, especially since I did not have to worry about maintenance.

SharePoint is the most widely used of the MCS components I have exposed MedikLabs staffers to. They have been using it extensively, and have already come up with ideas for us to use it as an information portal for validated patients at the clinic.

MCS Telecommunications: Microsoft OCS 2007 & Alteva Telephony 
OCS 2007 functionality includes video messaging, instant messaging, and VOIP telephony all integrated into the OCS 2007 client. Without a doubt, OCS 2007 now determines unified communications.

In our use, OCS 2007 allows other users in the workgroup to determine the presence of providers and general staff immediately.

Since Microsoft Communications Services does not include a specific VOIP telephony applet, MCS partners are free to use one of their choosing. As a pioneer in this field, Alteva uses their own VOIP service, of which I had an account.

Alteva’s service is simple to use, and just works. The delivered IP headset was designed to work with a connection to any switch or router. Why is this important? In the past, I have tested solutions that required a connection to a router, making them less portable that they could have been. And talking about portability, the Alteva VOIP solution was able to give me signals everywhere. I have used it in hotel rooms; and on the road connected to my trusty CradlePoint 3G router/hotspot, while I was being driven around.

What does this all mean?

What it means is that Microsoft Communications Services is here now, and ready for Prime Time, the beta tag notwithstanding.

It takes the best-of-breed components of Exchange, Outlook, SharePoint, Office Communications Server, Microsoft’s cloud, and in this case, the superb Alteva VoIP telephony service and creates a truly easy product that delivers communications productivity to users at an affordable cost, and with easy implementation.

Conclusions

This product is a win. I like it; we use it, and the users who are testing it unknowingly, as impressed with it. It has improved productivity, and continues to do so, with new usage recommendations being swiftly discovered.

One of the uninformed comparisons I read about is that of MCS with Google Apps. In a forthcoming follow-on to this post, I shall delve into the differences between them, and let you know why you should not be fooled into taking a plunge into Google’s offerings.