"When you replace a 20-year-old phone and voice-mail system with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Unified Messaging, there’s no comparison." Director of Informational Technology.

1. Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
IT Services Firm Helps University Improve
Communication, Cut Costs with New Solution
Overview “I can communicate much better…. I can instantly see
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Education—Universities
if someone is on a call or in a meeting, and then I just
click on his or her name in Office Communicator 2007
Customer Profile
One of the oldest universities in the
to call or send an instant message.”
American Midwest, Indiana University has Michael Lucas, Director of Telecommunications Infrastructure, Indiana University
more than 110,000 students, faculty, and
staff. It is one of the largest universities in Indiana University, with eight campuses, is one of the largest
the United States.
universities in the United States. Thousands of university
Business Situation employees, including the school’s IT staff, rely on voice mail and e-
A growing number of university IT
employees work outside of their offices, mail to communicate and perform their jobs. Over the last several
often splitting their time between years, however, the number of mobile employees has grown
campuses. It is often challenging for them
to communicate with colleagues. dramatically. In an effort to help those workers communicate more
effectively, the school sought to integrate its voice network and
Solution
Indiana University implemented a unified computer applications. In late 2007, Microsoft® Gold Certified
communications solution that combines Partner Enabling Technologies helped the school implement a
Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Unified
Messaging and Microsoft Office unified communications solution based on Microsoft Office
Communications Server 2007. Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Unified
Benefits Messaging. This growing solution has streamlined and enhanced
 Improves communication for mobile communications for employees and increased their productivity. It
workers
 Increases IT staff’s ability to meet
has also reduced travel time and costs and simplified IT
regularly administration.
 Saves time and money
 Increases employee productivity
 Simplifies IT management

2. Situation separate campuses. It’s hard getting them all
Indiana University is a large university system together in a central place, even with our
with more than 110,000 students, faculty, existing video conferencing environment.
and staff on eight campuses. It is one of the
biggest universities in the United States, as Using rooms for a video conference in several
well as one of the oldest state universities in buildings means we tie up several conference
the Midwest. rooms with one meeting. Staff members also
like having access to their office, e-mail, and
More than 36,000 faculty, staff, and students phone while away from their offices, so they
on all eight campuses use a Microsoft® don’t miss important phone calls or urgent e-
Exchange Server 2007 e-mail messaging mail messages. ”
account Faculty and administrative
employees depend on e-mail to schedule In an effort to improve communications and
appointments and communicate with each collaboration for its increasingly mobile IT
other. Until recently, they also relied solely on staff, Indiana University decided to
the university’s Private Branch Exchange implement a software solution that would
(PBX) phone system to communicate through provide more flexibility and increased
voice mail. functionality. The school determined that it
needed a solution that would build on its
However, communicating effectively through telephony capabilities while seamlessly
e-mail and voice mail had become integrating with the university’s investments
increasingly challenging as more IT in Windows®-based IT infrastructure. “We use
employees began working away from their the Active Directory® service to manage the
offices. Employees are using laptops and network, and the majority of our users now
mobile devices more often, and collaboration have the 2007 Microsoft Office system
between the various campuses is growing. applications on their computers,” says Lucas.
“Mobility is definitely on the rise within the IT “In terms of growing our telephony and e-
department,” says Michael Lucas, Director of communications infrastructure, we needed
Telecommunications Infrastructure, Indiana better integration. Specifically, we needed to
University. “Many of us work on different be able to better integrate our IP PBX
campuses over the course of a week. For communication capabilities with the
example, I work on the Indianapolis campus Microsoft applications people use every day.”
up to three days a week, but I still need to
stay in touch with the main office in Solution
Bloomington. I really need to be reachable no In October 2007, on behalf of Indiana
matter where I am.” University, Microsoft enlisted the help of its
Gold Certified Partner Enabling Technologies,
The need for IT staff members to be mobile a global IT consulting company based in
makes it challenging for them to meet Baltimore, Maryland. The organization
regularly. “We’re supposed to have monthly specializes in implementing integrated
meetings,” says Paul Clegg, Manager of Voice unified communications solutions based on
Networks, Indiana University. “But I have staff Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified
located in four different buildings on two

3. Messaging and Microsoft Office and lets Indiana University users access
Communications Server 2007. Office Communications Server 2007 through
a virtual private network (VPN) connection.
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unified The Edge Server role also gives university
Messaging gives employees a unified inbox in employees the ability to use Web
which they can receive voice-mail messages conferencing with outside organizations.
and e-mail messages through Microsoft
Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and The university initially deployed Office
collaboration client. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to a user group
Communicator 2007 provides a single user of 50 IT employees. “Our goal was to build a
interface to combine telephony, conferencing, resilient environment with scalability and
presence, and instant messaging functions failover capabilities,” says Matt Dixon,
directly from employees’ PCs. They can also Messaging Systems Engineer, Indiana
use it to perform remote call control for any University. The deployment team also
desk phone connected to an IP-PBX. implemented Office Outlook 2007.
“Every user in the
university already has Microsoft contracted with Enabling With the new solution, Indiana University
Technologies to integrate Exchange Server faculty members and IT professionals can
an account set up 2007 Unified Messaging and Office send and receive e-mail messages and
through Active Communications Server 2007 to the existing instant messages; place and answer phone
IP-PBX phone system through a direct SIP calls; and initiate audio, video, and Web
Directory.... As we scale connection, a process that took two weeks to conferences from their Microsoft Office
the solution, it will be complete. “We largely provided technical applications. They can also use Office
expertise for the Office Communications Communicator 2007 or any desktop phone to
simple for us to activate Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 place calls, and can easily communicate with
existing accounts for Unified Messaging installations,” says Brian other internal IP-PBX users by dialing five-digit
Vrieze, Project Manager, Enabling internal phone extensions. Additionally,
Office Communications Technologies. employees can use the Office Communicator
Server 2007.” 2007 client to answer calls made to their
Enabling also installed Exchange Server desk phone, even if they’re working remotely.
Michael Lucas, Director of 2007 Unified Messaging software, set the
Telecommunications Infrastructure, Indiana solution’s dial plans, and integrated In February 2008, Indiana University
University Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging expanded the solution to 400 users at both
with Office Communications Server 2007. the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses.
The Enabling deployment team also The university plans to further expand the
configured the Exchange Server 2007 Unified user group across all of its campuses, with
Messaging auto attendants, which give users the idea that all 36,000 accounts on the
the ability to listen to their e-mail messages network will be offered the same unified
over their phones. communications capabilities.
Additionally, Enabling implemented the Office Benefits
Communications Server 2007 Edge Server The capabilities provided through the new
role, which provides federation capabilities Office Communications Server 2007 and

4. Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging
solution greatly improve Indiana University IT By using the solution’s voice features,
employee communication and make it easier Indiana University employees have much
for them to conduct regular meetings. The better integrated and enhanced call
solution ultimately saves time and money and functionality than before. “With Office
significantly enhances employee productivity. Communicator 2007, placing and receiving
With its single integrated architecture, it also calls is so much easier,” says Lucas. “When
simplifies overall IT management and my IP-PBX phone rings, I get a message on
reduces costs for the university. my computer screen with the caller’s number
and name. At that point, I can choose to
Improves Communication for Mobile answer the call on my computer or on my
Workers desk phone. Or, if I’m rushing out the door, I
With the new solution’s unified can forward the call to my cell phone.”
communications capabilities, mobile IT
employees at Indiana University now have a Increases IT Staff’s Ability to Meet
“Organizing meetings better ability to get in touch with each other. Regularly
through Office Using Office Communications Server 2007 Because they now have integrated
features like presence awareness, employees communication tools, IT employees at the
Communications Server can quickly and easily see whether a university can meet more easily and regularly.
2007 and scheduling colleague is available. “I can communicate “Organizing meetings through Office
much better with my colleagues,” says Lucas. Communications Server 2007 and
them through Office “I can instantly see if someone is on a call or scheduling them through Office Outlook 2007
Outlook 2007 is very in a meeting, and then I just click on his or is very easy,” says Clegg. “No matter where
her name in Office Communicator 2007 to employees are located, they can join a
easy. No matter where call or send an instant message. I don’t have Microsoft Office Live Meeting on their
employees are located, to use more than one client to do all that.” computer. They only need a video camera
and USB headset, and we can conduct a
they can join a Microsoft Using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 meeting as if we were in the same room. That
Office Live Meeting.” Unified Messaging, employees can easily has given us the opportunity to meet anytime
receive both voice-mail and e-mail messages we choose.”
Paul Clegg, Manager of Voice Networks, on their computers through Office Outlook
Indiana University 2007. As a result, they can communicate Lucas reports that impromptu meetings are
effectively without being tied to their offices. also on the rise as a result of this technology.
This gives some employees a greater ability “My boss was in a hotel in California recently
to telecommute. “I can work from anywhere while I was in Indianapolis,” he says. “Using
now,” says Jennifer Van Horn, Manager of Office Communicator 2007, he sent me an
Network Distribution, Indiana University. instant message to ask if I had time for a
“Recently, we’ve had some heating and phone call to discuss some work issues, and
cooling issues in our main Bloomington we were able to take care of that business
building, and I was able to take my laptop very quickly. If we had wanted to, we could
and go to another part of the building and also have easily escalated that call to a video
continue taking phone calls and e-mail conference. It’s remarkably flexible.”
messages.”

5. Saves Time and Money Uses a Single, Complementary Architecture
Indiana University may also be able to reduce to Simplify IT Management
travel time to handle specific kinds of The unified communications solution is based
employee training thanks to Office on a single, complementary technology
Communicator 2007. “We just hired an IT architecture, which means that there are
person in Bloomington, and I needed to train fewer components to deploy, operate, and
him even though I was on the Indianapolis support. In addition, the system uses Active
campus,” Clegg says. “All I had to do was Directory as the single directory for the IT and
open Office Communicator 2007 to telephony environment, which simplifies
demonstrate everything to him in real time. management for Indiana University IT
What might have taken a full day, considering managers. “Every user in the university
the travel time, only took a few minutes.” already has an account set up through Active
Directory,” says Lucas. “Students, IT staff,
Lucas adds, “By not driving so much between and faculty are all in the directory. That is one
campuses, there’s no doubt we’ll reduce of the keys to this solution for us, because it
travel costs,” says Lucas. “That’s a very big simplifies administration. As we scale the
advantage, considering how fuel prices keep solution, it will be easy for us to activate
going up.” existing accounts for Office Communications
Server 2007.”
Increases Employee Productivity
With the ability to take advantage of The single architecture also means that IT
integrated voice and computer functions, administrators will not have to work on more
university IT employees can be more efficient than one system as the number of online
and productive at work. For instance, by meetings and conferences grows. “More and
using Active Directory as the single directory more, we will be doing conference calls
for contacts, employees can quickly and through Office Communications Server
easily find colleagues. “I no longer have to 2007,” says Clegg. “We won’t have to expand
spend time looking for a person in an the ports on our existing conferencing
outdated online directory,” remarks Van systems. It really streamlines everything for
Horn. “That actually means I can get more us.”
accomplished during my day.”
The presence awareness feature in Office
Communications Server 2007 will help boost
employee productivity. “By using this solution,
I can see that my boss is on another call,”
says Lucas. “All I need to do is send him an
instant message telling him to call me when
he’s free. So I don’t have to put effort into
leaving voice-mail messages or trying to track
him down. I can keep working until he calls
me back.”

6. For More Information Microsoft Office System
For more information about Microsoft The Microsoft Office system is the business
products and services, call the Microsoft world’s chosen environment for information
Sales Information Center at (800) work, providing the programs, servers, and
426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft services that help you succeed by
Canada Information Centre at (877) transforming information into impact.
568-2495. Customers who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text For more information about the Microsoft
telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) Office system, go to:
892-5234 in the United States or (905) www.microsoft.com/office
568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50
United States and Canada, please contact
your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide Web, go
to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about Enabling
Technologies products and services, call
(443) 625-5100 or visit the Web site at:
www.enablingtechcorp.com
For more information about Indiana
University products and services, call (812)
855-4848 or visit the Web site at:
www.indiana.edu
Software and Services  Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
 Microsoft Office − Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
− Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007 Partners
− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007  Enabling Technologies
− Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published September 2008