Microsoft Lync

The Next Generation is Here: Transforming Communications Today

In response to today’s changing work styles and the need for real-time collaboration, organizations are looking for integrated productivity tools that enable users to communicate from anywhere in a cost-effective and secure manner. Microsoft Lync™ Server 2010 delivers a fresh, intuitive user experience that brings together the different ways people communicate in a single interface. This unified experience facilitates rapid user adoption, while the ability to support a full range of communications from a single platform reduces both capital and operational costs. 

New Connected Experience

Find and communicate with the right person, naturally. With native Active Directory® integration, Lync Server 2010 helps users find the right person to connect with, view their presence, and then communicate with them in the most effective way—via voice, video, or sharing an application or PowerPoint. If desired, users can initiate these connections directly from the new Contact Card. With Skill Search powered by SharePoint®, users are also able to search for others based on skills, expertise, and group information. 

Stay connected from virtually anywhere, with just a standard Internet connection. Microsoft Lync 2010 offers the same rich functionality and security features outside the firewall without requiring a Virtual Private Network
(VPN) connection, and enables mobile and Web access across leading browsers and platforms. 

Build social connections and stay up to date on colleagues’ activities. Lync 2010 encourages closer social connections with a new Activity Feed that shows updates from contacts when they change status note, picture, title, or office location. 

Integration with Microsoft Office

Communicate with context from Microsoft Office applications. Lync Server 2010 works with Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft Office applications for a richer collaborative experience with consistent presence, click-to-call options, and a new Contact Card.

Office Backstage™ integration. The new Office Backstage view integrates various communication options so users can share documents and presentations via instant messaging (IM), share the application itself, or click to call directly from the application.

Converged Communications

Enhanced virtual meetings for improved productivity. Users can schedule a meeting from Microsoft Outlook® and join through Lync 2010 via the PC, phone, or Web interface. Lync Server 2010 provides a meeting user interface with integrated audio and video that enables participants to share presentations, annotate slides, superimpose text, and use visual pointers for more effective discussions. Additionally, users have the option to create ad hoc meetings, moving from an IM conversation, for example, to a Live Meeting, directly from the Lync interface.

 
Complete set of enterprise-grade voice features. Lync Server 2010 delivers a standalone voice offering to enhance or replace traditional PBX systems, and extends these capabilities outside the office via Internet access without requiring a VPN connection. This includes common calling features such as answer, forward, transfer, hold, divert, release, and park, along with Enhanced 9-1-1 calling* for North America, and support for legacy devices and a broader range of IP and USB user devices from partners. The solution is designed to support high availability through Call Admission Control, branch office survivability, and extended options for data resiliency.
 

Interoperable and Extensible

Connect across networks. Lync Server 2010 supports federation with public IM networks such as Windows Live™, AOL, Yahoo!, and, through the XMPP Gateway, Google Talk, allowing workers to use their corporate identities to connect to customers and partners. Lync Server 2010 supports audio and video calls
with users on Windows Live Messenger. 

 
Utilize existing A/V infrastructure. Conferencing interoperability enables organizations to use existing infrastructure including room systems and high-end conferencing solutions. 
Integrate with existing PBX systems. Lync Server 2010 works with almost any PBX system either through Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or qualified gateways, and integrates with qualified third-party SIP Trunking Service Providers.

Embed communications in business processes. New and improved client-side APIs allow developers to embed Lync functionality into Microsoft Windows® and Microsoft Silverlight®-based applications with supported, ready-to-use code snippets. Enhanced server-side APIs make it easy to instantiate and deliver alerts via IM or phone, find experts, enable Web chat, and provide automated self-service using query-response bots and IVR.
 

Simpler Deployment

 

Easily deploy systems of any scale, and manage with ease. Lync Server 2010 can provide presence, IM, and conferencing for organizations of literally any size, with up to 10,000 users per server, 100,000 users per pool, and an unlimited number of pools. Automated tools not only simplify capacity planning and topology design, but also automatically push configuration information and changes to all servers in the network, thus eliminating manual work and the associated chance for errors. The new Lync Server Control Panel consolidates scenario-driven tasks in a single interface, while PowerShell support allows administrators to automate
repetitive tasks using a familiar tool. Lync Server 2010 relies on Active Directory, eliminating the need for separate user and policy databases, and uses Role Based Access Control (RBAC) to allow the assignment of appropriate management roles and scopes to different administrators. 

Support for on-premises and hosted environments. Lync Server 2010 can be deployed on-premises or in a service-based (hosted) or hybrid environment. It offers full and seamless integration with Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, allowing customers to choose how to best deliver enterprise messaging and collaboration capabilities to end users.