Microsoft Lync

[james1982]

Hi All

This is a pretty open question really. I am based in the UK and work for a comms firm however the base of our business is telecoms - Mainly IP based PBXs - Mitel, Avaya etc for a large enterprize client base.
Over the last few years Lync has been mentoned, initially it was OCS, now Lync.

Microsoft have recently "acquired" Skype and they appear to have big plans.

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/...ms-more-details-of-lync-skype-integration.htm

I just wondered whether a) has anyone had any exposure to Lync - if so what are you impressions of it.
Does Lync provide all the functionality you get from a PBX? e.g the basics of call re-routing, tranferring, DND etc and are advanced features available...erm ACD as an example?

More so Is it a threat to the PBX? And something as engineers we are ultimately likely to have to work with to stay in this industry?

I was going to post in the Lync forum however I want the perspective of telecoms gurus rather than Lync fanatics.

Cheers

James

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Hi there,

Many universities that were formerly Nortel switch dependent are switching to Lync.

In some ways it baffles me to get rid of the Nortel PBX and Carrier switches such as CS2100 and CS1000, but many are considering these workhorses as ancient and they are throwing them in the trash for windows based PC phones and maybe a few sparse desk phones on campus.

Lync can do all the features you are describing above. One thing that Lync cannot do is use multiple vendor VOIP phones on their system. They do not allow direct use of SIP phones by Nortel-Avaya, Cisco, Grandsteam, etc.....while many of the carrier grade switches allow you to. Also, open sourced, Asterisk allows you to use Unistim protocol from Nortel, while Lync won't. With Lync you are confined to either Polycom or Aastra phones that can run OCS......this is something Microsoft needs to improve on in my book.

Joe

Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-sus/12/1a7/856

 

[Sympology]

Lync can do all the features you are describing above. One thing that Lync cannot do is use multiple vendor VOIP phones on their system. They do not allow direct use of SIP phones by Nortel-Avaya, Cisco, Grandsteam.

You could buy the like of Audiocodes Mediant 1000's to get around this, however, I believe 2013 now supports G711 natively and standard SIP phones can register natively. Yet to try it out though.

What advantages does it offer?

Well can you go from an IM to a voice call then to a video call to a full video conference with desktop sharing, with a couple of clicks.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

http://alvechurchlounge.org.uk

 

[Niklas87]

Hi All

This is a pretty open question really. I am based in the UK and work for a comms firm however the base of our business is telecoms - Mainly IP based PBXs - Mitel, Avaya etc for a large enterprize client base.
Over the last few years Lync has been mentoned, initially it was OCS, now Lync.

Microsoft Lync have recently "acquired" Skype and they appear to have big plans.

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/240007827/micro...

I just wondered whether a) has anyone had any exposure to Lync - if so what are you impressions of it.
Does Lync provide all the functionality you get from a PBX? e.g the basics of call re-routing, tranferring, DND etc and are advanced features available...erm ACD as an example?

More so Is it a threat to the PBX? And something as engineers we are ultimately likely to have to work with to stay in this industry?

I was going to post in the Lync forum however I want the perspective of telecoms gurus rather than Lync fanatics.

Cheers

James

 

[Sympology]

More so Is it a threat to the PBX? And something as engineers we are ultimately likely to have to work with to stay in this industry?

Yes and Yes.
But the question is do you move across fully or just learn to work with it?
It just doesn't cover voice, but video, IM and conferencing.
So at least try to learn how to get likes of Mitel's and Avaya's workign with it.
With 2013, they have fixed many of the shortcomings and seem to be doing a lot better job of moving in to voice world than Cisco.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

http://alvechurchlounge.org.uk

 

[texeric]

Agree with most everything everyone else has mentioned. ALOT of companies are looking at Lync either as a replacement for their PBX or as an add on to their existing PBX infrastructure. Usually it is the latter they do initially to make sure it will function for them. But when they look at the purchase and support/maintenence costs for both they usually will try to move to Lync at some point if Lync does what they need it to do, since the PBX is usually MUCH more in maintenance costs.

The purchase cost varies greatly depending on whether a customer already has an enterprise/site or suite license contract with Microsoft for other products (Exchange, Office, etc). Office365 (which uses Lync) is a great tool for SME that don't already have a deep investment in infrastructure and has (or will have) voice as a plan option. Office365 is also a good choice for larger enterprises as well, but usually they are slower to move to this as they have alot more to coordinate.

I was with an Avaya consulting firm that dipped their toe into the MS UC space back when it was LCS (Live Communication Server) on through OCS and then Lync. Lync is a very capable product. And unless a customer has a heavy call center need, Lync can pretty much do everything out of the box. If a customer does have a heavy call center need, there are 3rd party products (like Altigen) that can take care of that and integrate into Lync.

Personally, I don't really participate with the physical phone argument as the PC can be the phone (I haven't had a physical phone since 2006). And how many people expect an Avaya phone to work on a Cisco PBX, or vise versa? There are other phone manufacturers that are certified for Lync (more added all the time) - Polycom, snom, Kirk, Aastra, HP for IP phones not connected to a PC. Other phones for PC connected and other phones for conference room types as well.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg278164

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

But many of those other phones aren't a Nortel 1165E or Cisco 7975......they are cheapo junk in my opinion.....In the day now when you can use a high quality Nortel/Avaya made or Cisco product with SIP on any SIP platform, it's senseless to me that Lync will not allow this. I'd rather invest my money in a system that allows all phones to work on their system, in my case, the UCx line from E-Metrotel.



Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-sus/12/1a7/856