I just tested my CCU-650 through CAT CDMA EVDO rev 0 on my corporate computer to a colleague in Norway.And i am quite pleased with the performance that Live communications server 2007 and the client “Office communicator” delivered.

Quite pleased at the fact that it delivers a good communication experience despite the fact of the limited upload speed delivered by EVDO rev 0.

To deliver some basics first, Microsoft delivers a system called Active Directory or “AD” for short.This is a system which is used for system administration in several large organizations throughout the world.

They in turn also delivers a system called Microsoft Exchange, this system is integrated into Active directory so that each and every Active Directory user is also represented in the Exchange system with their own mailbox, and users can in turn use the functions of this system through mail and calendars to communicate.

Many of you might already be familiar with the mail and calendar functions in Exchange.

But Microsoft does not stop there, now they have delivered a fully fledged “presence” based solution through Live communication server 2007.

You log on to this one very much the same way as you would log on to MSN, the only difference is that this system is integrated into Active Directory, and you will use your already existing user credentials from there to log onto the Live Communication server.

And since this system is integrated into Active Directory already you will be able to reach all of your colleagues there.

For voice and video calls and/or conferencing

.There is another perk aswell, and it is not a small feat, through this system Microsoft has also delivered “adaptive codecs” which will adapt to your bandwidth, and testing has shown that this codec even beats Skype.

They tout delivering the best quality in low bandwidth situations.

I wanted to test their claim so i fired up my VPN connection from Hat Yai to Norway using my CCU-650 and the CDMA account delivered by CAT telecom, it is not low bandwidth when it comes to download, but it is very poor when it comes to upload. My upload is of course the key for the other side to hear my voice in any VOIP solution.

In addition to the already low bandwidth my traffic in this example gets routed through a VPN tunnel, and there is some overhead even to that.

A VPN tunnel is a secure way to transmit data from one location to another, a good way to stop unwanted parties in this case listening in to your corporate secrets.

But the extra security through such a tunnel also costs you some bandwidth, because extra information will wrap itself around your already existing data like a protective layer.

I was able to have conversation with my colleague in Norway, the participant did say he noticed there was some packet loss, but he was able to comprehend what i was saying, which is not bad considering the fact that my effective upload at the time was probably around 20-40 kbit/s.

From the time i speak on such a solution like this since i am located in Thailand and the other party is located in Norway, and also because of extra latency added by the fact that this is a CDMA solution it will take time for those words to reach him on the other side, more time than what is normal for a face to face conversation, but once you and the other party adapts to that you will be fine.

It is also the same with skype as some might already be familiar with.

The quality will be even better than this once we go on Rev A of EVDO from CAT telecom, delivered through the CCU-680 card in April.

With the CCU-650 i was able to do 2 way voice communication of good quality, and also one way video of my collegua to my screen. CCU-650 is rev 0 of EVDO.

With the CCU-680 the voice quality will be improved, the latency will be less, and we will be able to do 2 way video of good quality over the EVDO rev A connection. CCU-680 will deliver rev A of EVDO.Something to think about and consider for many organisations organizing their communication infrastructure.