Nortel Buzzboard

Microsoft has recently qualified Nortel’s CS 1000 as the world’s first IP-PBX tested to work seamlessly with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. 

In October 2007, Microsoft formally introduced its Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program as part of its larger unified communications launch.  This exacting qualification program was created to ensure that customers have a seamless experience with setup, support, and use of qualified telephony gateways and IP-PBXs with Microsoft’s unified communications software.  

With Nortel’s official qualification (which you can see on Microsoft’s site here) the Nortel Communication Server (CS) 1000 is now the world’s first IP-PBX to be qualified Microsoft Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program for enterprise telephony infrastructure.  Not only that, but it has also been proven to support Dual Forking and Dual Forking with Remote Call Control (RCC).  

Why is that important?  Because Dual Forking with RCC is the deepest the deepest level of integration possible as part of Microsoft’s qualification program.  While multiple gateways have been qualified since the program’s inception, their level of integration can’t match that of Nortel’s CS 1000. 

Dual Forking provides users with great flexibility in how they communicate by fully “twinning” their Nortel desk phone with the soft phone capabilities of the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client.  For example, with an incoming call the user is alerted to the call on both the desk phone and Communicator 2007 client and has the choice of answering the call on the device most appropriate to the situation (i.e. a user in his hotel room would answer on the Communicator 2007 client).

Remote Call Control, which can be used in conjunction with Dual Forking, allows users to control their desk phone from Communicator 2007.  In addition, RCC provides user call status to the Office Communications Server so that its presence information reflects the user’s on-phone/off-phone status, allowing a more integrated UC experience across Office Communications Server and non-Office Communications Server enabled phones.

What was involved in the testing, you ask?  Achieving this leading position did not happen overnight.  As the lead IP-PBX tested as part of this process, Nortel and Microsoft teams worked in concert for almost a full year to ensure that the joint solution provided a seamless experience for end customers. 

Four Nortel CS 1000 systems were shipped to Microsoft’s testing labs in Redmond, and a team of eight Nortel engineers were involved in supporting the testing process at the lab.  In all over 20 Nortel employees were directly involved in the design, testing, support and documentation of the project.

During the extensive testing, Nortel and Microsoft collaborated on a number of issues to ensure that their joint Converged Office solution met market expectations of enterprise customers planning to use CS 1000 and Office Communications Server as a joint UC solution.  This included both companies delivering software updates to align their architectures and weekly (sometimes daily) meetings to resolve interoperability bugs, align on design intent, and develop configuration standards.  Only through all of this detailed cooperating could Nortel and Microsoft deliver a simple, seamless, user-friendly solution.