Microsoft has provided beta testers with Release Candidates for Office Live Communications Server 2005 (LCS 2005) and Windows Messenger 5.1, one of the server's primary real-time communications clients. This distribution marks the software's first major milestone since Microsoft publicly announced the opening of the beta program in May.

The current production version of Office Live Communication Server, Live Communications Server 2003, was originally developed under the code-name "Greenwich." LCS 2003 bundled presence-awareness and real-time communications capabilities in a single package, but limited interactivity within the boundaries of a single corporate network.

BetaNews reported exclusive details on version 2 of Greenwich, known as Vienna (LCS 2005), in October 2002. Since that time, Microsoft has altered its product roadmap in light of heightened competition and the software's release schedule has been modified.

In the 2005 release of LCS, Microsoft has federated presence awareness between organizations, and has extended instant messaging capabilities to the world outside of the corporate network. Off site access does not require users to establish a Virtual Private Network (VPN); instead, the software relies on mixture of advanced user authentication, message encryption and identity management for security.

Microsoft claims that its method is more secure than traditional secured socket access.

Secure instant messaging is a must for businesses. A May report by the Radicati Group states that, "31% of corporations that have not deployed instant messaging have not done so due to security concerns, followed by 27% who are skeptical of IM's added value."

Additional enhancements in LCS 2005 include tweaks to the server's tiered architecture that are designed to provide customers with better reliability, availability and scalability. Microsoft has also included additional management options and administrative tools.

According to the 2002 roadmap viewed by BetaNews, Greenwich v2 was due for deeper integration with Microsoft Office, would be able to conduct multi-party audio and video and data collaboration, and provide extended access to mobile devices.

Live Communications Server 2005 is due for release later this year.