The authors of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit want to thank the numerous members of the Office Communications Server product team and other key contributors who helped make this second edition of the Resource Kit as comprehensive and accurate as possible. These people have contributed their time and effort to this project in several important ways, which include:

We acknowledge and thank the following product experts for their extensive and invaluable technical reviews. If we have forgotten anyone, please forgive us!

We acknowledge and thank the following product experts for their informative real-world sidebars. If we have forgotten anyone, please forgive us!

We acknowledge and thank the following key contributors, without whom this book would be a dream, rather than a reality.

Rui Maximo for his role as lead author and technical lead on this project. Rui worked with dedication and passion, reviewing each chapter draft to ensure technical accuracy, logical presentation, consistent level and approach, cohesion, and coherence across 22 writers, 50+ technical reviewers, and 22 chapters. The enormity of this undertaking and its successful execution awes and humbles us.

Rick Kingslan for his role as tireless, optimistic champion and angel (in times of dire need). In addition, Rick was the book’s technical reviewer and thus spent numerous hours testing procedures and identifying errors so that we can now ensure this book is an accurate and comprehensive resource for our customers.

James O’Neill for his role as developer of more than 100 Windows PowerShell functions for the CD, all of which he reviewed, tested, and updated to conform to the newest best practices. These functions demonstrate how an Office Communications Server environment can be administered using PowerShell commands. James completed this work while travelling extensively as an IT Pro Evangelist, making him our hero. Thank you, James, for being such a dedicated customer advocate.

James O’Neill, Mitch Duncan, and Rick Kingslan for their long hours and commitment in testing the PowerShell functions. Their goal was to ensure that the functions work perfectly for the many users who found them to be an invaluable aid in the first version of the Resource Kit and for those who have yet to discover how effective these functions really are.

Diane Forsyth for her role as glossary editor. Thanks to Diane’s determined and effective efforts across the team, this version of the Resource Kit now has an extensive list of key terms and definitions.

Janet Lowen for her role as technical editor. Thanks to Janet, authors who needed assistance received an extra level of editorial support. In addition, Janet was instrumental in helping us complete the long list of tasks that went into finalizing the Resource Kit.

Mitch Duncan for his role in creating and managing the lab environment and art process. Mitch’s efforts ensured that all screenshots in the book reflect the final product build.

Patricia Anderson, Office Communications Group User Assistance Senior Content Publishing Manager, for believing in the value of this book and for allocating writers from her team in our time of dire need.

Remco Stroeken, Senior Product Manager, for his belief in the importance of this book, and for providing the funding needed to create the second edition.

Susan S. Bradley, our tireless, fearless Project Manager, who managed this project from inception to delivery. Try convincing a large group of volunteers with full-time jobs to work for you during their personal time; then you will begin to understand the magnitude of the challenges Susan had to overcome. Without her leadership and perseverance, we would be trying to write this book still. Her humor and good will (and infectious laugh!) were instrumental in managing the stress of this project. On behalf of all the authors, thank you for leading us to the finish line!

Martin DelRe, Microsoft Learning Program Manager, who championed and supported this book and this project team from the first version. Without Martin’s vision and continuing support, the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit would not exist.

Tim Toyoshima, Office Communications Group User Assistance Principal Group Manager, for his role as cross-team project sponsor and ever resourceful champion of providing customers with the product information they need. Without Tim’s vision, leadership, and continuing support, the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit would not exist.

We also thank our outstanding and dedicated editorial team at Microsoft Learning, including Karen Szall, our Development Editor, and Victoria Thulman, our Project Editor. Their dedication and tireless effort were key to the successful delivery of this book. Thanks also to Custom Editorial Productions, Inc., who handled the production aspects of this book and to Sarah Wales-McGrath, our copy editor.

—The Author Team