Datasheet

The Business Value of Presence

While mobile communications have brought contacts closer than before, the game of “phone tag” is

still being played. Instant Messaging technologies present something that telecommunications compa-

nies do not offer regarding the ability to view the status of a given contact. Within Instant Messaging

applications, contacts can utilize basic presence settings such as Offline, Online, and Away, but with

Microsoft Office Communicator 2005, contacts have enhanced presence status settings with features

such as integration with PBX and PSTN services and the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Calendar pres-

ence and schedule. With the provided integration functionality, the Communicator 2005 client will

update status automatically based on the availability of the individual. For example, if individuals

are scheduled to be in a meeting per their Outlook 2003 calendar, then their Communicator 2005 client

will automatically update to the status of “In a Meeting.” Now, an individual’s co-workers can see that

the contact is signed into the system but is in a meeting and should not be disturbed unless absolutely

necessary.

Many organizations are now globally dispersed, with employees working in other countries and in multi-

ple time zones. With presence-enabled applications, co-workers, customers, and business partners

can decide to use e-mail instead of Instant Messaging to send a communication, expecting a response

whenever the individual is online again. This is part of the Microsoft Unified Communications vision

combining Exchange Server and Outlook with Live Communications Server, Communicator 2005, and

Live Meeting. Another scenario includes waiting for an individual to become available. With Microsoft

Office Communicator 2005, contacts can not only see each other’s presence, but also when they will be

available again. With the Communicator 2005 “tagging” feature, contacts can tag one another so that

when they become available or online, a message is presented to the awaiting contact letting them know

that the contact they tagged is now available for communication. The value of presence is so great that

Microsoft decided to build presence integration within many products, starting with the Office system as

the foundation, by enabling presence within Microsoft Office, Live Meeting, and SharePoint (SharePoint

Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services). To further extend presence integration, Microsoft has

provided an application interface for Live Communications Server to enable presence functionality within

custom developed applications.

Providing Secure Communications

In many businesses today, Instant Messaging has become the preferred method of interpersonal commu-

nication, surpassing e-mail, and it will likely become the preferred method of online communication

within the next 5–10 years. Many companies are already heavily dependent upon Instant Messaging

applications, specifically within trading organizations and call centers. Most messaging occurs between

co-workers, but a recent trend has seen a shift in which partners and customers are reliant on Instant

Messaging as well. This dependency has also attracted parties that are interested in leveraging these com-

munications for their own purposes, both benign and malicious. As SPAM has attacked the e-mail com-

munity, SPIM, a new form of SPAM, is quickly becoming prevalent in Instant Messaging applications

Chapter 1

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