• SNOM
• HP
• ASTRA

SNOM have been supporting OCS and Lync for many years. There phones are mainstream and offer good quality and features. This was our choice when purchasing IP desk phones.

Our review:

1. 821 model Ethernet ports support gigabit connection and can offer wireless connectivity
2. Ability to conference 5 people into an existing call
3. Headset support
4. User intuitive
5. Easy to source
6. Customization of Address book with Active Directory query's

While the differences between the different vendors were not hugely significant, SSW decided to go with SNOM as our base IP phone.
We also wanted standalone phones that did not require a computer.

Frequently Asked Questions about Provisioning your Lync Server Deployment for PIC (Public IM Connectivity) can be found here.

Some businesses such as SSW used MSN accounts to improve collaboration with Partners and clients. Now that Lync has the ability to federate with public IM services, we have banned the usage of MSN as Lync is now federated with MSN. Important to note that when you make a provisioning request for federation with Windows Live and specify a domain (such as SSW.com.au) as one of your SIP domains, you are reserving that domain for your organization's Lync Server instant messaging system. Affected Windows Live users must change their Windows Live IDs if this is associated with SSW.com.au in our example.

Lync Server enables one-to-one audio and video exclusively to PIC contacts that are homed to the MSN service. This change enables corporate users with a strong MSN presence outside of work to reduce the need to run a separate client on their corporate workstation, yet maintain a robust communications experience.

You can request to have your Lync provisioned with PIC via this link.

Remote UC Troubleshooting Tool (RUCT) for Lync will show that the DNS records used by the Lync mobility clients to auto-discover the Lync mobility service have been added. This tool can be acquired from Inside OCS blog.

Specifically you now have the option of querying the locally configured DNS server for the following records:

• Lyncdiscover. (both CNAME or A record)
• Lyncdiscoverinternal. (both CNAME or A record)
• From the same screen you can ping the resulting hostname or test the port availability on any of the Lync DNS record matches

Lync Monitoring Reports

The Monitoring Server collects data from the call detail recording (CDR) and Quality of Experience (QoE) databases and presents that data with the help of the SQL Server Reporting Services and the predefined Monitoring reports. These reports will show statistics which will assist in identifying issues such as network issues such as latency and packet loss.

Internet Network connectivity tests

Tools such as Pingtest.net and VisualRoute 2010 will assist in highlight problems related latency and packet loss.

LyncPOP can be purchased from appVnet website.

LyncPOP Features and Benefits

• Works with OCS 2007 R2 and Lync 2010
• Designed to pop records for Dynamics CRM 4.0 and CRM 2011 and now CRM Live
• Fast - pop's CRM records in milliseconds
• Multiple records – handles multiple CRM records of different types with the same number
• Pops information from CRM Contacts, Leads, Accounts and System Users
• Presence Aware – control over what the application does based on Lync/OCS presence
• Phone Activity – provides multiple options to record the call against a CRM record

This tool is vital for sales staff and receptionists as a minimum.
Receptionists get the client record (based upon the inbound number) popup as the phone is ringing. They can answer the call accordantly. Sales staff has the ability to log the call in CRM along with what the call was about and also set a reminder for them to catch up in a few days.

Lync presenter's best practices can be found here.

Features

A Lync whiteboard is a blank page that allows presenters to draw, add text, and highlight information by using the annotation tools.

Desktop and application sharing, this feature allows presenters to broadcast any visuals, applications, Web pages, documents, software, or part of their desktops to remote participants in real time, right from Lync 2010.

Application sharing allows audience members to follow along with mouse movements and Keyboard input. Presenters can choose to share the entire screen or only a portion to keep the audience focused on key information. By sharing their desktops, presenters are able to engage with their audiences in interactive product or software demos from any location.

Application sharing allows presenters to share control of software on their desktops without losing sight of participant feedback or text questions.

Presenters can delegate control to meeting participants. Presenters can customize the colour depth and screen resolution to better engage with participants who have varying desktop capabilities.

To create an online meeting or conference call meeting request, follow these steps:

1. Do one of the following:
   • In the Microsoft Outlook Calendar, New Online Meeting in Microsoft Outlook 2010
   • In the Lync main window, in your Contacts list, hold down the Ctrl key and click the contacts you want to invite, right click one of the selected contacts, and then click Schedule a Meeting. In the meeting request, click Online Meeting.
2. In the meeting request, in the “To” box, type the email address of each person you want to invite, separated by semicolons.
3. In the Subject box, type a subject for the meeting.
4. (Optional) In the body of the meeting request, above the Join Online Meeting link, type additional meeting details.
   Note: Do not modify any of the existing text in the meeting request. Doing so may prevent people from joining the meeting.
5. (Optional) On the Meeting tab, in the Show group, click Scheduling Assistant. Use the Scheduling Assistant to ensure that everyone is available during the time you choose.
6. On the Meeting tab, in the Show group, click Meeting Options, and then accept or change the default options as required. For details about setting Meeting Options go to Set options for online meetings and conference calls.