ServerIron Brings Optimization to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

Improved efficiency and uptime key for enterprise unified communications services.

In today's complex world of enterprise networks and applications that have to support hundreds or thousands of users, server load balancing technology and application acceleration have become critical features for companies to improve the scalability, availability, and security of their IP-based applications.

Foundry Networks ServerIron® family of application delivery switches includes networking and application intelligence and provides the rich features and high performance that's absolutely required for building a massively scalable and highly secure application infrastructure.

End user spending on application acceleration products will reach about $3.7 billion by the end of 2008, according to Gartner. This expenditure will be spurred by the increasing use of IP applications as the business foundation for most organizations and the subsequent need to maintain always-on services with optimized performance in the data center and server farm.

Foundry Expands Reach of ServerIron
Foundry has recently announced that its ServerIron switches are supporting load balancing for Web conferencing, Voice over IP (VoIP), audio and video conferencing, and instant messaging (IM) services that run on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. This robust server software allows users to communicate with other people in real time, directly from programs they are familiar with, using a variety of methods such as IM, voice, and video.

Office Communications Server 2007 builds on the foundation of presence and IM, federated communications, and remote call control. Key new product features include a number of enhancements to IM and presence capability such as integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 distribution lists as well as the addition of software-powered VoIP. This new communication feature allows users to make, receive, and manage VoIP calls using Office Communications Server 2007 running on their computer and multi-party on-premises audio/video and Web conferencing.

The server, which brings true unified communications to the enterprise, also supports the Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) framework of protocols, which allows users to take advantage of these communications' capabilities from wherever they are without needing to establish a VPN connection.

"Unified communications will become business critical for most enterprises going forward, and our customers look to us for scalable and highly secure application delivery solutions that offer some of the most advanced capabilities," says Bob Schiff, vice president and general manager for Foundry's Enterprise Business Unit.

The combined strength of Foundry and Microsoft will help enterprises realize significant improvement in the performance and uptime of their critical Office Communications Server 2007 applications and services. "The combination of Microsoft's unified communications software and ServerIron switches provides a powerful new way for people to collaborate while taking the complexity out of communications," says Yancey Smith, group marketing manager, Unified Communications Group, Microsoft. "ServerIron complements the features in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, powering communication across the applications, networks, and devices businesses already know and use."

ServerIron Explores New Frontiers
In addition to optimization of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Foundry's ServerIron products will go beyond that and become truly intertwined with the companies solutions.

"Foundry Networks is expanding the reach of the ServerIron product line by participating in certification programs with Microsoft," says Steven Schuchart, principal analyst, Enterprise Network Systems, at Current Analysis. "Application acceleration products are becoming more and more focused on specific applications, and this partnership for Office Communications Server 2007 is good for current Foundry customers and will draw new potential customers to consider the ServerIron product line."

Once these customers see the significant benefits of a joint Foundry-Microsoft solution, they will be ready to make the call to boost their unified communications services.