Part II of the Resource Kit describes several key features and usage scenarios that are enabled by Office Communications Server, Office Communicator, Communicator Web Access, and other components. These scenarios each have an introduction explaining how they are useful and why they are of technical interest to understand in depth. Each chapter also has an overview of the scenario from a user's perspective and then a detailed technical walk-through of the scenario.
Office Communications Server can be installed in many different ways in order to build server infrastructure to enable secure communications within and across enterprise networks. When Office Communicator connects to and authenticates with the Office Communications Server infrastructure, many useful communications scenarios become available. This infrastructure enables users to send instant messages to others individually or as a group and allows presence information that identifies how and whether to contact each person to be managed and shared. Security infrastructure is in place to help prevent anonymous spam, to prevent sharing more information than is desired, and to be able to prevent connectivity from undesirable external organizations. Chapter 4 will explain the basic login, instant messaging, and presence scenarios and then go into depth about how the technology supports this functionality.
Office Communications Server also introduces conferencing functionality that allows individuals to easily establish large virtual forums. Attendees can be contacted and brought into a conference directly, or a scheduled conference invitation can be sent out. These meetings can be open to anyone, open to any authenticated party, or locked to prevent uninvited participants. Because conferencing can support enterprise users connecting from the enterprise network, enterprise users connecting from the Internet, anonymous users from the Internet, and users from other federated partner networks, setting up remote meetings with a wide variety of contacts can be done easily, securely, and inexpensively compared to service-based, charge-by-the-conference hosting systems. Chapter 5 will provide an overview of conferencing and then go into depth explaining the technology behind conferencing.
Because Office Communications Server supports bridging networks with the Edge Server role, it is possible to configure an enterprise network so that enterprise users connecting from the Internet can authenticate and communicate almost as if they were inside the enterprise. Via the Edge Server role, Office Communications Server enables remote users and trusted partners who are also running Office Communications Server to operate almost as if they were inside the enterprise. Chapter 6 explains what is possible when connecting from outside the enterprise network and provides background on the security technology involved. Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 show how server infrastructure can be configured for the enterprise to enable secure, managed communications with other enterprises as well as public instant messaging providers like AOL, MSN and Yahoo!.
Office Communications Server also introduces telephony capabilities. Office telephony can now be integrated and controlled based on a user's commands or presence information. Chapter 9 explains how Office Communicator can be used to configure and control how phone calls are initiated or incoming calls forwarded and provides background information to help configure the network or troubleshoot to ensure smooth integration. Finally, Chapter 10 introduces the new devices that can be used with Office Communications Server, the way a phone network can be set up without a traditional phone system, and details on the technology used to enable these scenarios.