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Enterprise Voice 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 for Office Communicator 2007 users who are enabled for Enterprise Voice.

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 now offers Enterprise Voice, the IP telephony component of the Unified Communications solution. Enterprise Voice combines software and telephony to give users a full-featured softphone. With Enterprise Voice, Office Communicator 2007 becomes the primary phone, allowing users to use the computer as their primary business phone. Enterprise Voice offers users a wide range of features for managing their everyday communications. For example, Enterprise Voice-enabled users can manage multiple phone calls simultaneously. Each call is handled through a separate Conversation window, so users can take advantage of Communicators call control features such as call holding, call resume, and call transfer to efficiently manage their calls.

Enterprise Voice also provides robust call forwarding features that are integrated with Communicators rich presence model and allow interruptions feature to give users greater control of their time and workday. For example, users can manually set their presence state to Do Not Disturb, and Communicator will automatically forward all calls that are not from Team members to voice mail. Users can also set call forwarding options from their computer to forward calls to another phone, contact or voice mail, or simultaneously ring another number. In addition, with Enterprise Voice, users can add context to a call by adding a Subject line and Importance indicator to the call.

The following provides a list of features available for users enabled for Enterprise Voice:

  • Work Phone Numbers Converted to VoIP. With Enterprise Voice, calls made to work phone numbers are automatically converted to VoIP calls, so users get VoIP calling features, while still using the familiar method of placing a call to a user's work number.

  • Multiple Calls and Intelligent Call Controls. Enterprise Voice gives users intelligent call controls for managing multiple calls. For example, when a user answers an incoming call, other active calls are automatically put on hold. Users can easily resume calls on hold by selecting the Resume button in the Conversation window that represents the call.

  • Voice Mail and Presence Integration. Users can set their Presence state to Do Not Disturb to control interruptions and Office Communicator, by default, will automatically redirect incoming calls that are not from Team members to voice mail.

  • Call from e-mail. With Enterprise Voice, users can click links within an e-mail to return a call to a user. In addition, users can right-click a Presence button in an Outlook item to display a contextual menu that allows them to place a call to a selected contact or contacts involved in the e-mail conversation.

  • Call Forwarding and Redirect to Voice Mail. Users can set Call Forwarding settings to automatically forward calls to voice mail, and control the time interval that an incoming call rings before it is forwarded to voice mail. With Enterprise Voice, users can also redirect incoming calls to voice mail from Communicator's actionable call alerts.

  • Call-Forwarding Rules. Office Communicator 2007 offers call forwarding settings that can be easily configured by users. Users can set up call handling forwarding settings to:

    • Forward call to. Incoming calls can be forwarded to another number such as a mobile phone, to a new phone number specified by the user, to another contact or voice mail.

    • Simultaneously ring this additional number. If users are mobile or between phones during their work day, they can configure call-forwarding settings to ring an additional number at the same time that their default phone number rings. They can also use the Simultaneously ring this additional number feature to ensure that they receive phone calls on their mobile phone, even if they are not logged on to Office Communicator on their computer.

    • Redirect unanswered calls. Users can configure call-forwarding settings to specify that if a call is not accepted within a specified time interval, the call is redirected to another number, contact, or voice mail.

    • Apply call-forwarding rules only during working hours. If users are running Outlook 2007 and Exchange 2007, they can configure their working hours in the Outlook Work Calendar by selecting Tools, Options, and then Calendar Options in Outlook. They can then use the Call-Forwarding Settings dialog box in Office Communicator to apply call-forwarding settings only during the work hours specified in the Outlook Work Calendar.

  • Add Subject and Importance to a call. Users can add a conversation subject and an importance flag to a call, enabling the call recipient to quickly determine the reason for the call, as well as its urgency.