Global Service Network provider SIPCOM are soon to release a fully intergrated hosted Blackberry Enterprise Service and Microsoft Office Communicator client for the Blackberry.

This service will allow you to engage in immediate interactive communication while you’re on the go. Exchange text messages with other Microsoft® Office Communicator users on your BlackBerry® smartphone*, whether they’re using a desktop computer, BlackBerry smartphone or other mobile device.

Full features to folow soon.

The forthcoming proposed tube strikes throughout the summer have been widely covered recently on news sites, and are likely to leave thousands of London commuters stranded and place a massive strain on other forms of transportation.

It isn’t just strikes however, which can effectively directly impact the productivity of an organisation; inclement weather conditions, terrorist alerts, volcanic eruptions and viral outbreaks, particularly in large urbanised areas such as London, can affect whole offices. Indeed, during the winter of 2009/2010, most employees affected by the snow were advised to stay at home, despite the economic domino effect.

It is therefore vital that all commercial and public sector enterprises familiarise themselves with the term unified communications. Many are still of the opinion that they are unable to afford an upgrade in technology at this time but are unaware of the benefits that unified communications can deliver, and the cost savings that can ultimately be made.

Unified communications is effectively a step up, technologically-speaking, from remote working facilitation. Now, rather than simply being able to dial into your office system from your home PC, you can effectively transfer your whole office – software applications, data and telephone communications, into your living room.

Once considered an unaffordable luxury to many businesses, managers are now being forced to realise that working practices are changing. Increased workloads and the demand for flexible working hours, as well as increased geographic dispersement has meant that unified communications are moving from a “nice to have “ to a “need to have”.

So what could be the turning point for some managers and business owners? What will convince them to look at unified communications as a serious option? Well, apart from the fact that it can offer substantial cost reductions, looking at an empty office with employees unable to make it into work might do the trick….

Microsoft have just released the feature list of the latest instalment of Office Communications Server 14 or the new 2010 OCS.

Microsoft Communications “14” now delivers complete presence, instant messaging, conferencing and enterprise voice capabilities through a single, easy-to-use interface that is consistent across PC, browser, and mobile device. Administrators benefit from a single, consistent management infrastructure, new capabilities to increase availability, and interoperability with existing systems.

Unified Experience

Get easy access to presence, instant messaging, voice, and audio, video, and Web conferencing—all from the new Microsoft Communicator “14” client. Use one set of contacts across Microsoft Communicator “14” and Office applications. Communicate with context from within the applications you use most, including Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft SharePoint. Deliver access to presence, instant messaging, and other capabilities for workers on the go via PCs, browsers, and mobile phones.

Connect and Collaborate

Find the right people, make connections, and communicate more effectively with new rich presence features including pictures and location. Leverage internal expertise more effectively with Microsoft SharePoint-based Skill Search.

Simple, Essential, Reliable Conferencing

Collaborate more effectively with built-in desktop and application sharing, PowerPoint upload, and rich white boarding, including the ability to copy and paste images and other content. Schedule and join meetings with a single click in Microsoft Outlook or the meeting reminder. Place attendees in a virtual lobby for greater security and control over who can attend.

Complete Enterprise Voice Features

A wide range of IP and USB devices, and the ability to work in the office, at home, or on the road. Architect your deployment for high availability using data center resiliency and survivable branch appliances. Manage bandwidth utilization and increase Quality of Experience with Call Admission Control, QoS markings, and an adaptive media stack that works well even on unmanaged networks like the Internet. Meet North American regulatory requirements with flexible Enhanced 9-1-1 capability.

Powerful Deployment and Management Tools

Work with a PowerShell-based foundation for administration consistent with Exchange Server, Active Directory, and other Microsoft server products. Get consolidated management tasks in one location with dramatically improved navigation through the new Silverlight-based, scenario -driven unified graphical management tool. Improve security and administrative productivity with Role-based Access Control (RBAC) with built-in and customer-defined roles. Get support for server virtualization across all roles.

Extensibility

Easily embed Communicator UI elements in your applications, build your own client experience in .NET with open and documented APIs, and enhance contextual collaboration by launching applications right from Communicator. Get platform support for sophisticated contact center and help desk scenarios, enable access to all UC-enabled services from any phone, and deliver state-of-the-art speech technology in 26 languages. Significantly simplify deployment, operations, and interoperability with added features that improve provisioning, load-balancing, fail-over, and draining.

We have put together the frequently asked questions we are asked when talking about Unified Communications.