Since the running of our Collaboration event last month we have been to a number of meetings with clients all interested in CS 14 and the overarching question is do I deploy OCS 2007 R2 now or wait?
Ultimately it comes down to what your strategy for OCS is now and in the longer term, do you plan on integrating with your existing telephony environment is your PBX up for renewal and how far into the future do you plan?
These questions can help determine which is best. Upgrading or deploying to OCS 2007 R2 now, or waiting until the end of this year when CS 14 arrives.
Advantages in Upgrading Now
- You'll get a jump on preparation. It takes time to survey and prepare.
- You'll need an inventory of the user pool, and what they want.
- You'll need to decide which services you want to use (VoIP or not, which servers are needed).
- You'll need to decide what architecture to use (all local, all hosted, virtual?).
- And you'll need to add necessary server hardware.
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- OCS 2007 now, CS 14 later is NOT mandatory. You don't have to upgrade again (at least not right away) if your new OCS 2007 R2 system works for you.
- An OCS 2007 R2 system removes the need for (and cost of) third-party conferencing solutions.
Advantages in Waiting for CS 14
- It's intended to replace the PBX. OCS 2007 R2 can replace a PBX, but it requires some add-ons (ex., media gateway). CS 14 however is intended as a full PBX replacement.
- Fewer servers needed.
- Even more prep time.
Based on all this and the two questions I mentioned earlier, this is what I recommend:
If you intend to move to VoIP, plan for transitioning to CS 14.
If you're already using VoIP or don't want to use it, implement OCS 2007 R2 now.