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Istanbul Becomes Office Communicator 2005

Microsoft will call its new integrated communications client Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 and release the product to manufacturing in 90 days, the company said Tuesday.

Formerly code-named "Istanbul," Communicator is Microsoft's preferred client for Live Communications Server 2005. When LCS 2005 originally shipped in December, the primary client was Windows Messenger.

Communicator is designed to provide presence information and offer communication through IM, voice, video, telephony and access to Web conferencing.

In April, Microsoft will release a service pack for LCS 2005 that adds support for the Communicator client. In addition, Microsoft delivered public instant-messaging connectivity (PIC) for enterprise-grade connectivity from LCS to the MSN, AOL and Yahoo! public instant messaging networks.

PIC licenses will be available on a per-user, per-year subscription basis beginning April 1. The license will include access to the three major public IM networks. The PIC license will be an additional charge on top of the LCS license and Communicator Client Access Licenses.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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