Being a Microsoft partner i'm really looking forward to the launch of the new Ofice Communications Server product - OCS R2 - on Wednesday morning. Its not a major upgrade from the existing OCS product but it does add a few new features, including the ability to use SIP trunks, ring groups and a new client that can be used as operator console.
I'm aware that most of these 'new' features have been available in other systems for several years - i first tested a commercial, intel server based phone system with sip trunking and all these other features back in 2003/2004. What I like about the OCS approach is that voice is treated as just another service along with instant messaging, audio/video conferencing and presence and it does a nice job of integrating everything at the client end.
The launch is a web event starting on Wed morning 6.30 am (NZ Time) and available here if you're interested:
www.ocsr2launch.com