Microsoft

Cisco Unified Communications with Microsoft

For more than ten years, Cisco and Microsoft have provided innovative business solutions for their customers. Today the two companies are working together to help customers design Unified Communications solutions that closely align with their productivity, communication and collaboration objectives.

Cisco offers several categories of unified communications interoperability with Microsoft:

• Cisco IP Telephony with Microsoft: Use Microsoft Office Communicator to click-to-call with Cisco Unified IP Phones and Cisco IP Communicator. Enable Cisco Unified Communications Manager to interoperate with Microsoft Exchange 2007 as a companion unified messaging solution.

• Cisco Presence with Microsoft: View the presence status of Cisco Unified IP Phone users directly in your Microsoft Office Communicator client.

• Cisco Conferencing with Microsoft: Easily set up and attend Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferences directly from the Microsoft Office Communicator client or Microsoft Outlook. Quickly escalate instant messaging sessions to audio conferences.

• Cisco Messaging with Microsoft: Choose enterprise unified messaging or integrated messaging deployment options with Microsoft Exchange and Cisco Unity or Cisco Unity Connection.

• Cisco Contact Center with Microsoft: Provide immediate information about inbound and outbound calls, fast and easy "click to dial" functionality from CRM database records, call duration tracking, information capture, and record creation with the Cisco Unified CallConnector for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

• Cisco Network with Microsoft: Provide the ideal foundation for delivering secure business-class unified communications applications with Cisco Integrated Services Routers. Cisco Integrated Services Routers are Microsoft-certified gateways for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 deployments.

For More Information:

Additional Resources

• Cisco-Microsoft UC Interoperability Flash Demo
  View this flash demo for a tour through the areas of interoperability between Cisco Unified Communications and Microsoft applications.
• Cisco Unified Communications with Microsoft At-a-Glance (pdf - 85 kb)
• Cairns Regional Council Customer Case Study (pdf - 192 kb)

Documentation

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Application Notes
• Cisco Voice Gateways Application Notes
• Solution Reference Network Design (SRND) Based on Cisco Unified Communications Manager 5.x
• Solution Reference Network Design (SRND) Based on Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.x
• Installation & Administration Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 6.0 with Microsoft Office Communicator
• Cisco ISR certification with Microsoft OCS

Secure Information Sharing Architecture (SISA)

To more effectively serve constituents and protect the homeland, the federal government must share information and collaborate closely. Increasingly, agencies are expected to proactively store, access, and share information so that they can respond quickly to requests from other agencies as well as the public. Secure collaboration architectures that support dynamic communities of interest (COIs) would usher the federal government into the digital economy by enabling collaboration while maintaining security.

Cisco, Microsoft and EMC have formed an alliance to help solve this problem by developing a comprehensive approach for enabling information sharing and consolidation among agencies. That is what Secure Information Sharing Architecture (SISA) offers; a flexible platform that enables governments to dynamically establish secure collaborative communities across organizational boundaries. For more information, please go to the SISA website.

Press release: July 10, 2007 - Cisco, EMC, Microsoft Align to Offer Comprehensive Technology Architecture for Helping Protect and Share Sensitive Government Information

Security

Security is a top priority for both Cisco and Microsoft, and we are conducting ongoing development in many areas including policy enforcement, VPN, wireless and protocols.

• Cisco and Microsoft Unveil Joint Architecture for NAC-NAP Interoperability
• Cisco and Microsoft Join Forces to Help Customers Address Security Threat
• Cisco Network Admission Control and Microsoft Network Access Protection Interoperability Architecture (PDF - 195KB)

High Performance Computing Solutions

Cisco collaborates with Microsoft to provide a unified compute fabric that supports high-performance computing (HPC) clusters running Microsoft® Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003.

IPTV

Microsoft TV and Cisco share the vision that Internet Protocol can improve entertainment and communications services while providing service providers with new revenue opportunities. Cisco Systems, through its acquisitions of Scientific Atlanta and KiSS Technology, is part of the Microsoft TV IPTV ecosystem, delivering advanced set-top boxes and the latest encoding solutions to help make IPTV a reality.

Set-top boxes and video encoders are key components of the overall Microsoft TV IPTV Edition solution and critical for successful IPTV deployments. Microsoft and Cisco are working together on a number of Microsoft’s largest global deployments, featuring the Microsoft IPTV Edition software platform and Cisco set-top boxes and video headend equipment.

• Deutsche Telekom's T-Online to Offer High-Definition IPTV Service over Cisco IP Next-Generation Network
• Microsoft TV
• Cisco Video/IPTV Solutions for Wireline Carriers

• Cisco Microsoft IPTV Q&A (PDF - 20KB)

IPv6

IPv6 support in Cisco Systems® Cisco IOS® routers and switches and Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows Server™ 2003, Windows Vista^TM (now in beta testing), and Windows Server "Longhorn" (now in beta testing) enables enterprises to support a larger network address space while eliminating the need for NAT or other workarounds. There are many techniques that enable an enterprise to transition to an IPv6 environment. One easy to manage transition solution is Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol or ISATAP. ISATAP provides a solution that enables enterprises to deploy IPv6 within their infrastructure with little time and effort.

• Cisco IPv6
• Microsoft IPv6

• Cisco Microsoft Whitepaper "Manageable Transition to IPv6 using ISATAP: An Executive Overview (PDF - 480KB)
• Bechtel Well Positioned to Serve Customers by Using Microsoft and Cisco IPv6 Solution (PDF - 313KB) Case Study on Bechtel Corporation and their implementation of IPv6. Learn about the benefits they expect to see as well as how Cisco, Microsoft and Command Information supported their deployment efforts.
• Planning and Accomplishing the IPv6 Integration: Lessons Learned from a Global Construction and Project-Management Company (PDF - 329KB) White paper on best practices for deploying IPv6 in your enviroment of Cisco network and Microsoft software.

Cisco and Microsoft SMB Solutions

The Cisco Unified CRM Connector integrates Cisco Unified Communications with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application to provide all staff in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—not just call center agents—with an easy-to-use and more complete customer relationship management (CRM) solution. The Cisco Unified CRM Connector quickly and easily integrates Cisco Unified Communications solutions with Microsoft CRM at the desktop, without the need for additional hardware. The solution helps provide a complete view of the customer, including current and past purchases, sales information, order status, account relationships, and billing information. When a call is received, the Cisco Unified CRM Connector 3.0 integration automatically links into the Microsoft Dynamic CRM system and provides screen pops of the customer contact record and phone call activity record to track the call.

• Greenstone Success Story Video

Network Optimization for Microsoft Application and Platforms

Within the application networking technology, Cisco and Microsoft are empowering businesses with the tools to optimize application availability, performance, and security and to reduce application ownership costs. This site includes marketing and technical collateral, Podcast, videos, and other reference materials.

• Cisco Application Networking for Microsoft SharePoint Solutions - Soution Overview (PDF - 317 KB)
• Application Networking Solutions - Cisco and Microsoft
• Cisco and Microsoft Drive New Vision for Application Delivery (WMV - 24 MB)

Windows Server® on WAAS

Cisco® WAAS (“Windows Server® on WAAS” or “Wow”) is a jointly developed and supported solution from Microsoft and Cisco to optimize branch IT services delivery. Wow reduces the cost and complexity of supporting branch office IT operations by integrating Microsoft Windows Server® with Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) technology. Wow increases branch employee productivity by delivering LAN-like performance of centralized applications and increased efficiency and availability of local IT infrastructure services.

Click here to read more about the announcement of Windows Server on WAAS availability.

Click here for our joint website with comprehensive information on this solution. Be sure to bookmark this page!