OCS 2007 R2 rumors

Finally they put the keyboard!
As a replacement for the polycom CX200 phone, there are rumors of a "improved" model to hit the market after the OCS 2007 R2 release.

Phone and devices for moc at this time

OCS 2007 R2 Documentation

New documentation about OCS 2007 R2
Here

OCS 2007 R2 prepare active directory

Before you deploy and operate Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2, you must prepare the Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS) by extending the schema and then creating and configuring objects. The schema extensions add the Active Directory classes and attributes that are required by Office Communications Server.

Before!

Before you start the process of preparing Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, ensure that your Active Directory infrastructure meets the following prerequisites:

• All domain controllers in the forest where you deploy Office Communications Server run Windows Server® 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows Server® 2008.
  
  
• All global catalog servers in the forest where you deploy Office Communications Server run Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows Server 2008.
  
  
• All domains in which you deploy Office Communications Server are raised to a domain functional level of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. You cannot deploy Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in a Microsoft Windows® 2000 mixed, Windows 2000 native, or Windows 2003 interim domain.
  
  
• The forest in which you deploy Office Communications Server is raised to a forest functional level of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. You cannot deploy Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in a Windows 2000 mixed, Windows 2000 native, or Windows 2003 interim forest.

Schema

The schema preparation step extends the Active Directory schema to include classes and attributes that are specific to Office Communications Server. It is run once, on the Schema master in the root domain, for each Active Directory forest where you plan to deploy Office Communications Server.

Forest

The forest preparation step creates the following for Office Communications Server use:

• Active Directory global settings and objects
  
  
• Active Directory universal groups
  
  

This step creates objects that contain global settings and information about your Office Communications Server deployment. Global settings are stored either in the Configuration container or in the System container of the forest root domain. This step also creates objects that contain property sets and display specifiers used by Office Communications Server, and stores them in the Configuration container.

Forest preparation must be performed once in the root domain for each Active Directory forest where you plan to deploy Office Communications Server.

Domain

The domain preparation step adds to universal groups the necessary access control entries (ACEs) that grant permissions to host and manage users within the domain. Domain preparation creates ACEs on the domain root and three built-in containers: Users, Computers, and Domain Controllers.

OCS 2007 R2 New feature

What is new for OCS 2007 R2

* New Call Delegation Feature

The new Call Delegation feature in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 enables managers to delegate phone-call handling to one or more administrative assistants or other delegates. When a delegate answers a call, the manager is notified that the call has been answered, along with the name of the delegate who answered.

* New Team Ring Feature

The new team ring feature in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 makes it possible to forward incoming calls to a defined team. When a team receives a forwarded call, each member’s phone rings, and all members can see who forwarded the call. When a team member answers the call, the phones of all other members stop ringing.

The team ring feature is essentially a call-forwarding option that the team leader configures in Office Communicator 2007 R2. In the Call Forwarding Settings dialog box, the leader can set up a team, add members, and configure how calls are forwarded to other team members.

* New Response Group Service

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Response Group Service enables administrators to create and configure one or more small response groups for the purpose of routing and queuing incoming phone calls to one or more designated agents. These response groups can be deployed in departmental or workgroup environments and in entirely new telephony installations.

* New SIP Trunking Support

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 simplifies and reduces the cost of deploying Enterprise Voice by enabling an enterprise to connect its voice network to a service provider offering Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) origination, termination, and emergency services.


* New Group Chat Feature

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat enables users to engage in persistent, ongoing IM conversations. Group Chat differs from group IM in that the latter is not persistent. After a group IM session has ended, its state is lost. With Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat, however, the conversation persists, along with all IM, files, Web links, and other associated data.

* New Desktop Sharing Feature

Desktop sharing enables users to transmit a view of their desktop to others. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 introduces a Web-based client to enable users to initiate desktop sharing during any Web conference that is hosted by the server. The desktop sharing client is based on and integrated with the 2007 R2 release of the Microsoft® Office Communicator Web Access client.