The following section summarizes the elements that form the security framework for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. It is helpful to understand how these elements work together when you deploy Communicator Phone Edition in your organization.

These security elements are as follows:

  • Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) provides a single trusted, back-end repository for user accounts and network resources.

  • PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) uses certificates that are issued by trusted CAs (certificate authorities) to authenticate servers and to help ensure data integrity.

  • TLS (Transport Layer Security) and MTLS (Mutual Transport Layer Security) enable endpoint authentication and instant messaging (IM) encryption. Media streams are encrypted by using Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP).

These fundamental elements work together to define trusted users, servers, and connections. The resulting trust relationships provide the foundation on which the complete Office Communications Server 2007 R2 security framework is built.

This section includes the following topic: