Lync squeezes gap between Microsoft and UC rivals

Small and medium-sized businesses can dramatically cut down communication expenses by deploying Lync 2010, a cloud-based unified communications and collaboration system released Tuesday by Microsoft, according to the Redmond-based software company.

Lync 2010, which replaces the company’s Office Communications Server (OCS), gives users the option to supplant corporate PBXs (private branch exchange phone systems), centralized call controls, and other phone features, reducing the overall number of devices that firms need to maintain, according to Vineet Parmar, product manager, unified communications for Microsoft Canada.

“Lync will absolutely benefit SMBs because it will enhance video conferencing and online collaboration, thereby reducing travel expenses and productive hours lost in commute,” Parmar said. “From an IT standpoint, Lync also reduces complexity and maintenance cost by cutting down the layers of hardware needed to support unified communication (UC).”

Lync Server 2010 replaces OCS Server 2007. On the client side, Lync 2010 replaces Office Communicator 2007 R2. The Web client is now known as Lync Web App instead of the former Office Communicator Web Access. Microsoft’s communications service is now known as Lync Online, replacing Office Communications Online.

New management server for Microsoft's UC

Lync introduces a new management server for Microsoft's UC and collaboration platform. The server is called Central Management Server, and it removes settings for Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server from Active Directory (AD) so customers don't have to change the AD schema.

In a briefing held at the Microsoft Canada headquarters in Toronto, the company demonstrated Lync by conducting a videoconference with Douglas Besse, executive vice president and CIO of Creation Technologies, a Vancouver-based electronic manufacturing firm. Besse was calling in from the company’s operations in China. Creation Technologies has been trying out Lync for several months before its formal release.

Besse, however, found Lync ideal for supporting the communication and collaboration need’s of Creation Technologies’ diffuse workforce operating across five locations in Canada, seven in the United States, and two in China.