Microsoft's upgraded Lync unified communications platform, set to launch in 2013, hosts more devices, service features for better meetings and collaboration, and has integration with Skype, the peer-to-peer voice and video service.
Although customers with needs that align with Microsoft Lync's strengths will find it a good UC choice, experts say that the platform cannot yet replace traditional PBXs in environments where traditional desktop phones are still heavily relied upon.
However, Lync continues to improve its features and are closing proximity with UC incumbent leaders Cisco and Avaya.
Microsoft has not yet announced a release date for its upgraded Lync 2013, yet underscores its adoption of H.264 scalable video coding (SVC), a video codec standard which will make it much simpler to display video on a variety of screen types, from smartphones to room displays.
Furthermore, video displays by clients of Lync have also been upgraded to allow up to five participants to appear on the screen at one time, and is additionally optimized depending on the number of users and other conference tools at one time; this comes as an improvement to simply the active talker being on display.
Users can also conference over IP networks if they are equipped with smartphones and tablets. Voice and video will be added over IP for all devices on Lync 2013, and this will allow a device connected to a Wi-Fi network to participate in both audio and video calls even though it remains disconnected from a traditional phone link.
The director of product marketing at Microsoft Lync, BJ Haberkorn, says cellular phone networks are not supported by the devices, and this is particularly significant for iPad users because they can join conferences, register presence and instant message other Lync participants.
Windows 8 is supported by the most recent Lync client, and has a reworked interface which is adaptable with touchscreens; Haberkorn refers to this as the Windows 8 paradigm.
Skype is also usable with the advancing Lync server, so corporate users working off a Lync enterprise network can provide and receive presence information with users of the peer-to-peer and video service. Audio calls can also be made with Skype users, though not video calls; this feature will be resolved after the release of Lync 2013.
Microsoft's Phone, a service which allows Lync users in the U.S. and U.K. to complete and receive calls from the public phone network using the Lync Online Client, had Lync added to it last summer.
Microsoft is keen for application developers to integrate UC links to the applications they write for Lync. The company already has many productivity applications in Office which allows communications to be tapped through a rich content card which lists a contact's name, email, phone, instant messaging and presence information, as well as sharing documents via SharePoint and SkyDrive in cloud.
OneNote, for example, works better for taking notes within Lync meetings, and Outlook makes it easier to send invitations to meetings. A new app might involve links from a user's address book to information about parties, enabling them to connect directly with them.
Lync 2013, once upgraded, will be better streamlined, and will have clients for PC desktops (Windows 8, Macs, iOS, Windows Phone and Android). Smartphones and tablets used mainly in organizations will also be supported.
Lync will be much improved following the mentioned changes, but Phil Edholm, the president and principal at PKE Consulting, acknowledges these changes will not suit everybody. The reason being, he says, that workers fall into three groups: knowledge, information and services, and not all businesses have standard communication needs.
Knowledge workers (engineers, financial analysts), for instance, require a wide range of features UC offers, like conferencing, collaboration, instant messaging and presence. Although knowledge workers do not often have strict business processes like the other two categories, they do need to communicate a lot with one another and other information workers who do depend on business processes.
Service workers (delivery truck drivers, for example) use information to direct their tasks, but do not require a UC infrastructure to do so. Edholm says ?Lync is a toolset, and you need to decide who needs the tools and sometimes that means deploying it to a select group.?
A company with 90 percent?knowledge workers and 10 percent?information workers might create a different situation where it would not make sense to install UC for everybody; although it would prevent the presence of multiple systems and their maintenance requirements, some users might only need phone capabilities.
When Lync is deployed to people who use its telephony features, Lync becomes a challenge. Edholm says, ?Lync is not structured to be a telephony-only system... You can do it but it doesn't lend itself to being easy to use and easy to install if it's just telephony.? Although it can perform the necessary functions, training may be required as there are different ways to carry them out.
When a phone rings on an individual's desk and at the receptionist's desk, this is called a multiple line appearance. This, for instance, would be replaced functionally by presence, a different way of doing the same thing.
Edholm adds, ?The biggest resistance comes with going from traditional telephony to Lync. This is changing somewhat and will change even more with 'the bring-your-own-device trend.'? When Lync compares to Cisco's UC for collaboration, Edholm found that what the UC system has to interface with is a key factor.
If a Microsoft directory system, Microsoft business applications, Microsoft databases and Microsoft personal productivity tools (like Office) are already in use by a company considering UC, it will make sense to use Lync. Edholm states that interoperability was considered when Office, SharePoint and Active Directory were built.
If, however, an organization without Microsoft email, calendaring and productivity apps were to consider UC, then adopting from vendors like Avaya, Cisco, Nortel or Siemens may be more viable options, particularly if the PBX in use is already made by one of these companies. Edholm states, ?It's not the UC system alone, it's the kind of workers you have and the other systems you use.?
The idea of controlling the traditional desktop phone is something Lync appears to be removing itself from, and appears to favor a UC system which includes telephony run from a desktop PC and a server in the data center or the cloud, which has service providers showing interest in the platform.
For example, a Lync-based cloud service called BT One Cloud Lync (offered by BT) provides Lync as a service within its existing infrastructure based in the BT network.
Lync edge, mediation and federation servers in West IP data centers are all supported by West IP Communications, which also provides a Lync service. For customers, the advantage is quality of service, states Jeff Wellmeyer, the executive vice president of West IP. It will be more difficult to ensure said quality of service to all branches if the components are located on customer premises for a widely distributed Lync deployment.
All customers may not find hosted Lync useful, especially those who prefer their media traffic to stay within LAN (which would minimize WAN QoS as an issue). It is also the case that the use of Lync features by customers tends to progress, moving on from instant messaging, adding presence, conferencing, collaboration and with some softphone use, connecting to the public phone network.
Replacing PBX by moving to Lync is what Wellmeyer considers will happen ?someday.? ?We're not seeing a lot of customers tearing out their PBXs and putting in a Microsoft infrastructure.? PBX technology supplemented by Lync may be an option. He adds, ?They think Lync's not there yet.? (CY) Link
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