Utilities

Unified Communications Production Pilot

Unified Communications Production Pilot
*** ATTENTION ***The Unified Communications pilot is closed to new participants.
We plan to add new users in spring of 2012
 
Contact LyncMigration@vanderbilt.edu for more details.

Information Technology Services is now offering a production pilot of Unified Communications (UC). This service offers many new features including integrated calendar, electronic messaging, and voice and video integration. It enables the community an easy way to bring people, resources, and ideas together at the precise moment in a discovery, learning, or clinical experience. Spontaneous collaboration becomes easier, and avenues for discourse expand as a result of this new service offering.

Participation in the production pilot is currently by invitation only. The service will become more fully available to the community in coming months.

Office Communications Levels of Service

Service Level Features Available with Communicator 2007 Office 2011 for Mac
(See Requirements for OS X Lion.)		 Requirements 
Standard Instant Messaging Yes Yes PC with XP, Vista, or Windows 7, Outlook 2007 or 2010 Communicator 2007 R2 Client software OR Macintosh OSX 10.4.9 or later.

OS X Lion users need to upgrade their Communicator 2011 client. Download the patch here.

Office 2011

Optional camera Optional headset
Presence Yes Yes
Access levels to control amount of presence info available to contacts Yes No
File Transfer Yes Yes
Video Communication Yes Yes
Shared Desktop  Yes Yes
Client to Client Voice (Audio Communication) Yes Yes
Look up names using Global Address List (GAL) Yes Yes (may be limited off campus)
Microsoft Office Live Meeting Sessions Yes No
Integration w/MS Office Yes w/Office 2010 Yes ,limited with Office 2011
Enterprise Voice (includes All Communicator standard functionality) A unique phone number  Yes Yes UC Optimized phone or headset, center number for billing long distance charges
Ability to make and receive calls (PBX and PSTN integration) Yes Yes
Transfer calls  Redirect calls to other phones Yes No
Simultaneously ring on another phone Yes No
Group video/audio Conferencing Yes Yes (limited
Unified Communications  (includes all functionality above standard and enterprise)  Voice mail with Exchange integration (Email, Calendar, and Contacts)  Yes Yes All of the above, plus and account on the Exchange 2007 environment UC Optimized  phone or headset
Receive voice mail in Outlook  Yes Yes
Voice access to calendar  Yes Yes
Manage voicemail options through Outlook or OWA  Yes No
Communicator Moblie (Communicator client for your mobile phone  Presence Yes (mobile version) No Communicator R2 Mobile Client  Download from PhoneWindows Mobile v. 6.x or higherSupported Mobile Devices
Single Number Reach Yes No
Global Address List (GAL) support Yes No
Multi-party IM Conversations Yes No
Outlook  integration Yes No

Expectations of the UC production pilot

  • To use the full functionality of UC you must be on Exchange 2007. If you cannot move to Exchange 2007 immediately, you will not have UC "Enterprise Voicemail."
  • UC is not yet a highly available production environment - it still has single points of failure.
  • Participants may experience service outages as changes are made to upgrade the service. ITS will make every effort to communicate with you when these changes are scheduled to occur.
  • Support for the production pilot is currently "best effort."
  • If you use the enterprise voice functionality you must provide a budget cost center for long distance call billing.
  • ITS offers a list of approved phone and headset devices that work with the UC service. Participants are responsible for purchasing their own device.
  • Only online training available through Microsoft will be offered for the production pilot.

Devices

Handsets, headsets, cameras, and other devices that will provide seamless integration with Microsoft Communicator display the Optimized for Microsoft Office Communicator logo. See the example below.

Optimized Logo

List of Microsoft's Unified Communications Partners and Products