Mumbai: Microsoft Corp has announced the launch of its unified communications software in India, which it said would help corporates streamline workplace communications and reduce average cost of the voice over internet protocol (VoIP) system by half.

The unified communications software includes:

• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007: software that delivers VoIP, instant messaging, video, and presence within the applications people already know and use.
• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007: client software for phone, instant messaging, and video communications that works across the PC, mobile phone and Web-browser.
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007: advanced conferencing service that enables workers to conduct meetings, share documents, utilize video, and record discussions from any computer.

The software would enable employees within organisations to communicate and collaborate through emails, phone call, instant messaging and video-conference in a simple and efficient manner with the use of computer, mobile phone or even a public phone, the company said.

Users can leverage existing IT and telephony infrastructure thereby saving substantial costs, it said.

The new software, which succeeds Live Communications Server (LCS) 2005, supports voice over IP (VoIP), video calling, instant messaging and webconferencing.

Partners will play a critical role in the success of the unified communication system. These partners include telephony providers, independent software vendors, phone and device manufacturers, and systems integrators. In Asia Pacific, some of the partners committed to providing the right solutions for customers in the region include Alcatel-Lucent, HP, Nortel, Polycom, and 3D Networks.

Globally, Microsoft said that almost 800 of its partners have achieved the `unified communication specialisation'' in less than four months since it was launched. These companies stand ready to help customers deploy Microsoft unified communications software globally.