Digital Press 4 Exchange Server

As you all know LYNC Server 2010 has changed quite a lot from OCS 2007.

Here are some of the Questions answered about LYNC 2010.

►Does Lync 2010 conform to standards like SIP, RTP?
Lync architecture is based on Open Standards for Signaling, Media, Remote Access,
Federation etc. Lync also offers interoperability through certified partner solutions

►What interop capabilities does Lync Server 2010 have?
Lync offers rich interop choices for IM, Presence Voice & Video through use of Open Standards,
Qualification Programs like OIP & Industry Forums like UCIF

 
►Does Lync 2010 support 911/E911?
Lync 2010 natively supports E911 via a new Server role called “Location Information Server”.
LIS automatically gets installed on each Frontend server and does not require any additional
HW. Customers just need to subscribe to a service from an E911 Provider. Currently, Intrado
(911Enable)  is only certified  E911 Service Provider for  Lync 2010.

►Can Lync Server 2010 be virtualized?
Yes, in fact, Lync 2010 Server infra may be deployed in 100% virtual environment even for
voice/video modalities On client side Lync supports IM/Presence and data collaboration in
virtualize desktop and voice may be tethered through USB

►What system management and monitoring capabilities does Lync Server 2010 have?
Lync offers robust system management and monitoring in line with ISO TMN framework of FCAPS

►Can Lync be deployed in HA/redundant configuration?
Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition (EE) is a highly available & resilient architecture that
provides protection around SPOF through characteristics like N+1 design, Datacenter & Metro
Resiliency deployment models and Branch Survivability capability.

►What branch survivability features does Lync Server 2010 have?
Lync offers not only telephony survivability but also preserves all point-to-point UC features
like IM, VoIP, and video

►Can Lync be deployed in business continuity or disaster recovery configurations?
Absolutely, Lync Server 2010 EE architecture has built-in redundancy at pool/site level
but it can be deployed in geo-redundant manner for disaster recovery scenarios and in metro
resiliency model for BC scenarios

►What voice specific resiliency features does Lync offer?
Lync Server 2010 offers call preservation through session resiliency. Given its N+1 design
there is no impact to scalability/capacity or features/functionality if a server failure
occurs. In case of branch isolation all telephony features are survived along with P2P UC
 capabilities

►Can Lync Server 2010 replace our aging/EoL PBX(s)?
Lync 2010 is enterprise ready voice platform, which has been verified by independent testing
 by Miercom labs – 4M calls for 13+ days with 100% success rate. Moreover, many large
businesses have replaced their PBX infrastructure with Lync such as Sprint, LionBridge,
Colombian Nation Police, etc.

►We just invested in new IP PBX, so how can Lync enhance productivity?
Sure, for example looking to offer flexibility of anywhere/boundary-less communications and
collaboration capabilities to your employees without impacting your VPN infrastructure or
want to federate with your business partners to cut on human latency and improve employee
efficiency. Good customer examples here are of AT Kearney and Shell.

►We have dial-tone today, so what value can Lync Server 2010 add?
Lync Server 2010 has built-in audio, video, and web conferencing; and application/ desktop
collaboration capabilities, which can allow you to eliminate costs related to point
conferencing/collaboration solutions. Intel took advantage of this approach.
►Do Lync clients and servers support DiffServ QoS markings?
Yes, out of the box voice is given high priority over all other media types. Microsoft recommends
to mark voice as EF, SIP as CS3, video as AF41, and data-sharing traffic as AF31

►Does Lync have Call Admission Control (CAC)?
Lync Server 2010 has location-aware intelligent CAC solution, which can route voice and video
through separate paths under same SIP session. Lync honors CAC policy even if origination side
is a non-Lync endpoint.
►How does Lync provide security for remote workers if no VPN is required?
Lync Server 2010 uses certificates to encrypt SIP and media traffic end-to-end and it also uses
protocols like ICE, STUN, and TURN to securely traverse Firewalls.

►How does Lync secure server-to-server and client-to-server communications?
All server-to-server and client-to-server communications are encrypted to protected integrity,
confidentiality, and privacy of conversation, which is vital in voice communications systems.

►What voicemail solution(s) does Lync work with?
Lync Server 2010 has tight integration with Exchange UM to provide rich user-experience:
Outlook Voice Access (Speech Enabled Menu) or DTMF Menu
Speech Enabled Voicemail User Interface
Speech Enabled Email
Speech Enabled Calendar
Speech Enabled Access for Corp Directory
Speech Enabled Access for Personal Contacts

►What ad-hoc and schedules audio conferencing capabilities Lync has?
Lync 2010 Server has native conferencing capabilities for audio, video, and web. Each Lync 2010
FE server has capability to host 250 simultaneous conferencing participants. Lync 2010 uses
Exchange calendaring for conference scheduling
►Does Lync 2010 IP phones support DHCP, DNS, and dynamic VLAN assignment?
Yes, Lync 2010 Phone Edition support DHCP, DNS, and VLANs. VLAN assignment could be through
LLDP-MED or through DHCP option

►What advance telephony features and functions are supported other than basic ones?
Lync IP phones have rich presence, photo-enabled contact cards, corp directory search, calendar
access, single click-to-join conferences, multi-language support, USB thethering, etc

►Can Lync 2010 client be deployed in virtual/Citrix environment?
Yes, Lync 2010 can be deployed in virtual desktop environment for UC workloads like IM/chat,
Presence, and data-sharing. For telephony Microsoft recommends to use USB tethering capability
 of Lync 2010.

►Does Lync have mobile clients for smartphones?
At 2011 Orlando EnterpriseConnect, Microsoft announced Lync clients for all major mobile
platforms like Android, iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7.

►What features will be supported?
First wave of smartphone clients shall support following features by end of 2011: IM/Presence,
directory lookup, single number reach, call-via-work, click-2-conf.