Microsoft dials in with Telstra

Telstra and Microsoft have bought out hosted IP telephony service integrated with Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS).  

The product will enable organisations to place Telstra IP Telephony calls directly from applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office Communicator and Microsoft SharePoint.

The offering of Microsoft OCS on Telstra IP Telephony (TIPT) services allows customers to see if their contacts are on a phone call, busy or available to be contacted.

If available, the user simply clicks on their name to initiate and then manage the telephone call.

Philip Jones, product management executive director, Telstra, said that until now Microsoft OCS integration was limited to customers with premise-based IP telephony services.

"Customers can utilise services such as remote office and simultaneous calling integrated with Microsoft's unified communications suite of products to improve their productivity across," he said.

The integration between TIPT and Microsoft OCS means, customers can start an instant messenger conversation with a colleague using Microsoft Office Communicator and then escalate this to a TIPT phone call.

Jones said alternatively, customers can receive an email in Microsoft Outlook, check the availability of the sender and then initiate a phone call using their TIPT service all within an integrated Outlook experience.

To support the deployment and integration of the necessary Microsoft software, Telstra and Microsoft are jointly training  Unified Communications partners.