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Conferencing Features

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.

The following new features are available to Office Communicator 2007 users who are enabled for Enterprise Voice and Conferencing.

With Office Communicator 2007, conferencing has been optimized to support multiple modes of communication, including instant messaging, audio, video, and data-sharing. Now users can seamlessly transition between modes, without leaving the Conversation window or re-inviting users. For example, a user can escalate a one-to-one IM session into a multi-party conference call, and add data sharing through Live Meeting to share slides, documents, or applications on their desktop. The following provides a list of the new conferencing features available with Office Communicator 2007:

  • Starting an ad-hoc IM conference or a conference call by selecting a distribution group, contact group, or multiple users. Users can now start a conference call from the Office Communicator Contact List by selecting a distribution group, contact group, or by multi-selecting users in the Contact List, and then selecting the Start a Conference Call option.

  • Seamless switching of phone conversations to a conference call. Users engaged in one-to-one phone conversations can invite additional participants to a conversation to create a multi-party conference.

  • Improved Conferencing Infrastructure. Office Communicator 2007 users can be configured to connect to Office Communications Servers Audio\Video and Web Conferencing Servers, so users have a smooth and secure conferencing experience.

  • Ability to dial out to a PSTN phone number. Users can now dial out to PSTN/PBX and mobile phone numbers to invite users to a conference. Users can invite users from PSTN/PBX and mobile phone numbers to start a conference or during a conference.

  • Improved rejoin experience. With the improved conference rejoin experience, users can over-ride the defaults when rejoining a conference. Users disconnected from a conference can now easily rejoin the conference from the Communicator Conversation window or from an item in the Outlook Conversation History folder.

  • Improved Live Meeting Escalation. Users can now escalate from an IM, phone or audio/video session to a Live Meeting session. With a Live Meeting session, users can share slides, documents, applications, and their desktop. Note that Live Meeting is an alternative to application-sharing feature previously offered in Communicator.

  • Start Live Meeting from the Office Communicator 2007 Contact List. With Office Communicator 2007, users can right click a contact or contacts in the Communicator Contact List, and then select one of the following options:

    • Share Information Using Live Meeting. Users can right-click a contact or contacts in the Contact List, and then select this option to send an invitation to start Application Sharing with the selected contacts. When this option is selected, contacts are connected to Live Meeting through the Office Communications Server.

    • Meet Now Using Live Meeting Service. Users can right-click a contact or contacts in the Contact List, and then select this option to launch a Live Meeting session with the selected contacts. When this option is selected, contacts are connected to Live Meeting through the Live Meeting service.

  • Improved connection in conference roster. New icons in the conference roster provide additional conference connection status, indicating whether a user's status is Inviting, Connecting, or Connected.

  • Conferencing Add-In for Microsoft Office Outlook. Users will now have the ability to install the Conferencing Add-In for Microsoft Outlook and schedule Live Meeting Conferences and Office Communicator Conference calls from Office Outlook.