I ran into an issue at a client that they wanted the ability to turn off Communicator to Communicator voice calls for users. Even though OCS R2 with Mediation is in the environment, only those users that are Enterprise Voice enabled should be able to use Communicator as a voice client.
Using the supplied OCS R2 ADM template, you can accomplish these goals. The usual rules about how you filter and use GPOs apply here just like anywhere else. A nice piece of the ADM template though is that the policies in question here are in both the User and Computer container of the GPO.
The Policies in question are
The most important of these is Telephony mode, but the remainder will ensure that the Communicator clients affected can’t do PC-PC video, or use communicator to join or start an audio or video conference.
The TelephonyMode subkey can have the following values:
0 = Enable computer-to-computer calling only. No call control is enabled. (default).
1 = Enable enterprise voice telephony features.
2 = Enable RCC and computer-to-computer calling.
3 = Enable both enterprise voice and RCC.
4 = Enable RCC without computer-to-computer calling.
5 = Enable IM and Presence only. Do not enable audio.
Microsoft recommends setting it to 4 in the KB titled “You cannot disable the Communicator Call option in Office Communicator 2007”. I personally prefer 5. This turns the Communicator client into an IM and presence client only. The other two settings are self explanatory, simply enable them and those functions don’t work.
Please let me know if this helps you and you find value in configuring your clients in this manner.
Happy Communicating.
