We earlier mentioned that Microsoft’s Office Communications Server beat out hardware-based VoIP telephone systems in terms of quality. Now Microsoft has launched the public beta of its Office Communications Server 2007.

Microsoft says virtual PC images of the OCS 2007 will be available for download this week on www.microsoft.com/uc, with supporting video demos being made available soon after. The OCS 2007 is meant for use with both software clients and a yet-to-be-announced Microsoft office communicator VoIP phone. In short, this means Microsoft is serious about getting into the VoIP business, both in the server and client space.

Should this be a reason to worry for open-source solutions providers that run off Asterisk? It’s too soon to say now, but that’s one thing being pointed out by some VoIP industry analysts.

One advantage touted by Microsoft is the audio and video codec that runs on the Office Communications Server. They say that this not only provides for clear and crisp audio-visual communications in high speed scenarios, but also in limited bandwidth (including dial-up!). The codec is also meant to run smoothly on Windows Mobile 5 devices (which includes some cellphones). Microsoft credits its forward error correction (FEC), which makes their codec work well even with high packet loss. These are, however, similar features used by other providers, such as those that use the Global IP Sound (GIPS) codec, including Skype, Google Talk and a handful of other software-based VoIP phones.

While this is not about Asterisk per se, it might be interesting to note some serious competition from the big guy over at Redmond. TMCnet has screenshots here.

Don't miss a post! Subscribe to the RSS feed or by email today!