Today Microsoft released the XMPP gateway for OCS R2 (press release, download page). This gateway enables connectivity to systems such as Google Talk and Jabber. Simultaneously Microsoft has also announced that Public IM Connectivity (PIC) with AOL is now included in the licensing price, along with Windows Live, which was announced a few months ago. Folks that need connectivity to Yahoo! will still require licensing but the license will be half price.
This significantly opens the connectivity options for OCS customers. Albert Kooiman gives an architectural overview in a Channel9 interview (skip to the 4:00 mark to see the whiteboard architecture session). More details forthcoming once I have a chance to install and configure the gateway…
