Microsoft Greenwich beta to be released Friday

crn.com | at | by Mike

The beta version of Microsoft's realtime communications (RTC) server, code-named Greenwich, will be available on Friday, Microsoft Product Unit Manager David Gurle confirmed Tuesday during a meeting with CRN at the Instant Messaging Planet Conference & Expo here.

Yet even as Microsoft prepares to ship its long-awaited RTC server into beta testing, version 2.0 is already in the works, according to Gurle. The next version of Greenwich beyond Windows Server 2003 will offer richer PC-to-PC communications, connected meetings and integration between the phone and PC, as well as video and voice instant messaging over the corporate firewall, he said.