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Microsoft's new Office Communications Server wants to unify email, instant messaging, and phones calls - and replace the standard office telephone.

Microsoft is getting set to unveil a public beta of its Office Communications Server 2007, which is designed in part to replace the standard office telephone with smart device which unify email, instant messaging, and voice communications. The Redmond company has announced partnerships with nine companies to offer hardware products that tie into Microsoft's messaging infrastructure—and plans to offer a few of its own, too.

"Today's office phone is marooned on an island, separate from the rest of the communications tools that information workers rely on to do their jobs," said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, in a release. "By weaving the business phone together with email, instant messaging, presence, conferencing, and the productivity software people use most, we are putting voice communications back into business."

The move underscore's Microsoft's belief that business communications will increasingly shift away from traditional hard-wired solutions like traditional office phones, and toward a unified set of Internet-based communications services including phone, audio, video, and messaging. The new market could become a significant source of revenue for the company, which already has strong inroads in the enterprise and business worlds with its Exchange messaging, directory services, and office productivity products.

Microsoft is set to unveil 15 phones and devices tomorrow at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Los Angeles, including a VoIP phone from NEC, a Bluetooth-savvy headset, desktop phones from Vitelix, Polycom, NEC, and LG-Nortel, as well as headset products from Plantronics and Jabra. Microsoft will also show its RoundTable Web panoramic video conferencing camera.

Businesses who want to take part in the beta of Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator can sign up at Microsoft's Unified Communications Web site.