The Live Meeting service is core part part of Microsoft’s content-management, collaboration, search and business-intelligence efforts
Microsoft said Tuesday it would debut an upgraded version of its Office Live Meeting Web-conferencing service later this year with a redesigned interface, hooks into VoIP and support for its 360-degree live Web cam technology.
The company made the announcement at its annual TechEd conference in Orlando.
The Live Meeting service is part of Microsoft’s Office branded products that form the foundation of its content management,collaboration, search and business-intelligence efforts. The lineup includes the traditional Office applications, Office Communications Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007, the Office Communicator 2007 client including a version for phones, and Live Meeting.
In March, Microsoft’s strategy for real-time communications came under fire from an unlikely source when Cisco bought Web-conferencing giant WebEx for $3.2 billion.
That acquisition combined with Cisco’s unified communications lineup – such as Call Manager, Unified Presence Server MeetingPlace and MeetingPlace Express – gives Cisco the ability to build a unified-communications infrastructure for any size customer.
Microsoft is now hitting back by upgrading its Live Meeting service, which it established in late 2003 after buying Placeware for $200 million.
Microsoft also plans to offer on-premise deployment of Web-conferencing features available through Office Communications Server 2007, which is in beta and slated to ship this fall. Those features will be based on the Live Meeting technology.
Both Web-conferencing options will use the same client interface.
When the products are both out, users of Live Meeting and the Office Communications Server can participate in the same conference. Both types of users will see the same Web interface and have the same experience, said Roger Muff, director of marketing for Microsoft’s unified communications group.
“The fact that we’re making Web conferencing available . . . through a server as well as Live Meeting is a good example of software plus services in action,” he said.
With the updated service users will have the option of using VoIP to integrate audio, the ability to embed video and audio files, including Windows Media Format and Adobe Flash, and to use Microsoft’s Roundtable 360-degree Web cam hardware.
The service also is integrated with Microsoft’s Forefront virus-scanning technology.
The IDG News Service contributed to this report.
