Support for External Users

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

By default, users outside the network have no access to Office Communications Server. You can enable one or more users for external access for the purpose of instant messaging, A/V conferencing, Web conferencing, or Enterprise Voice; however, Office Communications Server 2007 requires additional server roles to support access by external users.

What specific server roles are required depends on the types of external access that you want to enable. Office Communications Server 2007 Front End Servers, whether Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition, support access by external users. Communicator Web Access also supports external user access.

If a user has the necessary permissions, the same combinations of client and operating system that are supported and required inside the network are supported and required for external user access to the same features and functions of Office Communications Server 2007.

This section contains the following topics:

• Perimeter Network

• Federation

• Public IM Connectivity