Integration with Live Communication Server 2005

[Anonymous]

Hi,
is there away i can connect LCS with 3cx and use the call control features in Office Communicator?

regards
Imran

 

[N_G]

Integration with LCS

At the moment there is no way. We have to research Live Communication Server better, however it does not seem to be standards compliant and its not clear to us what position this product will take in the market. It might very well become an IP PBX in which case it would make no sense to integrate with it.

 

[Watashi_FR]

LCS is now integrated in Exchange 2007 Universal Messaging. Exchange 2007 supports SIP. It's a huge resource hog though, so I'll stick with 3CX :wink:

 

[[email protected]]

Exchange 2007 does contain a Unified Messaging System which supports SIP over TCP, however, LCS 2007 is still in development and due to ship March/April 2007 with public betas available shortly.

 

[Anonymous]

You're wrong (watashi) :

LCS is not integrated in Exchange 2007. Exchange 2007 include voice mail capabilities (and much more) but no chat/visio features like LCS. UM stands for Unified Messaging, not universal messaging. Office Communication Server 2007 will be the next generation Audio/Video conferencing server, that will replace LCS.
And Exchange 2007 is RTM since December 6, and you can even download evaluation bits now.
I will not compare 3cx and Exchange as their are completly different products and i will not also comment on the resource hog since it seems that you don't even installed the product...
I precise that 3cx announced a strong integration with E2K7 UM in the final version that will let 3cx customers use E2K7 for voice mail.

And finally

 

[Watashi_FR]

You're wrong (watashi)

LCS is not integrated in Exchange 2007. Exchange 2007 include voice mail capabilities (and much more) but no chat/visio features like LCS. UM stands for Unified Messaging, not universal messaging. Office Communication Server 2007 will be the next generation Audio/Video conferencing server, that will replace LCS.

Point taken.

I will not compare 3cx and Exchange as their are completly different products and i will not also comment on the resource hog since it seems that you don't even installed the product...

Mind you, we have been using Exchange since v5.0 (and even MS Mail before that), and let's be frank, Exchange requires a lot of resources to operate properly, and most certainly more than a typical 3CX installation, but like you say, these products cannot be compared. However, the original issue in this topic was not a comparison between Exchange and 3CX, but a question regarding the integration of LCS and 3CX. I merely pointed out that Unified Messaging in Exchange 2K7 now supports SIP (a feature it therefore seems to have in common with 3CX, but what would I know? ), but that either one should not be regarded as an alternative to the other. As for the integration of LCS functionality in Exchange UM, there are may features that were found in LCS that are now available in UM, although specific features will only be available in the next version of LCS/OCS.

 

[N_G]

LCS 2007

My understanding of LCS 2007 is that it will be an IP PBX. So for now we dont see any added value for customers running both LCS and 3CX. That said it would make sense to wait with any judgement until the LCS product is released so we can see what its really about.

Apart from learning curve and resource requirements, pricing of LCS will be pretty steep too: The server with 5 clients will start at $1200 plus $31 for each additional CAL. Conversely, pricing for 3Cx will be a fraction of that.

In regards to exchange 2007 integration: The API to integrate with Exchange 2007 is open, and 3CX can achieve the same exchange integration that LCS 2007 can. We plan to integrate completely with Exchange 2007, allowing you to use the voice mail and auto attendant features of Exchange 2007.

Bear in mind that Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging requires a separate server install and additional licensing. If all you need is voice mail delivered to your inbox, you can do that with 3CX phonesystem already at no extra cost and without the need for an extra UM server. Voice mail will be attached to an email with the message details.

In regards to the Office communicator - its not clear whether this will be a proper, open SIP client or whether it will be just another proprietary Microsoft client. If its a SIP client we will of course support using it as a client.

In general our plan is to integrate with any product that adds value and has an open interface.

 

[ketilgri]

I really think you should take a closer look at what LCS really is. LCS 2005 is here, and 2007 will just add functions to the existings version. The integration with phone systems is a very important part of LCS. Its SIP call routing and most important: it is phone integration where you can use the Communicator client to make calls through your existing PBX. If 3CX is not going to support this functionality it will greatly reduce the value of the system both for us and many of our customers. Please take a closer look at where you can integrate with LCS as I think it is one of the most significant communication product evolving today.

 

[RTCBloke]

Huge Potential !

I agree ..
Take a look at OCS 2007 and what she can do ...and what it can

 

[Konrad]

LCS and OCS acts like a gateway beetween office communicators and IPPBXs. They can connect users for Instant Messaging and make phone connections beetween them, but they can't connect PSTN or other VoIP phones together. So here is a place for 3CX. I started testing 3CX/Exchange 2007 integration and later planning to test OCS integration.

Regards

Konrad

 

[Anonymous]

It would be REALLY NOT smart for 3cx not to integrate with LCS. Like you guys pointed out LCS is been doing IP routing but only within the M$ space, so once you want to interact with the big wild world the wheels fall of.

My point of view is (do not get me wrong i am a M$ shop) to have 3cx as the main gateway and PBX simply because it is proven to be stable, it works and it is no frills configuration.

Phone is becomming more and more importante so I do not want to fiddle arround with complex systems to make it work (hence I am NOT using Astrix)

I think 3CX can be a big player in this field, having 3CX passing off call handling to apps like Exchange and LCS would be excellent. If it could be just that little bit of glue between the M$ products and the outside world than we are in business.

I have not started doing work with exchange and 3cx as yet (appart from voice mail) but will do that soon, got the Exchange server CD last week so will have a go at it soon.

 

[Konrad]

You're right. Microsoft started working on its own IPPBX - it's called Response Point, but it will be finished 3Q07 or maybe later. This is the real competitor, but it's a future.

 

[N_G]

Response point will be a competitor, but this product will be tied to hardware from a particular vendor, for example D-link. Basically you're back to square one since you have to buy the hardware from D-link.

3CX Phone system is hardware independent.... This is the key advantage.

 

[Anonymous]

Nick you correct, I think mS wants directly compete with Call Manager from Cisco on this one.

Nevertheless, a seemless integration (where possible) with the MS products would be excellent.

Handing off calls to eg LCS and have CLID matching address books in Exchange would be excellent. But for sure that is not an easy task and there are more priorities than that I guess.

I think one of the key advantage is the easy configuration (although some forum members might disagree) it simply works and most of the time out of the box.

I installed 3cx 4 times now (from scratch I have only one copy running) and it just behaves good. Now I should get my act together and finish that doco i promised you some time ago .

Ill be back to work next week so migth have some more time than (Hmm that does not really make sense does it :lol: )