Since Exchange 2010 CAS servers now handle all internal and external client traffic to Exchange mailbox servers including Outlook MAPI traffic, the need for a highly available CAS array is critical to your design.

So how do you load balance MAPI traffic? I found a some useful bits of information to help out:

1. Load balance your CAS servers in a CAS array by whatever method you choose – Both Hardware LB or Windows Network LB are supported load balancers
2. Create a MAPI A record in your internal DNS infrastructure that resolves to the Virtual IP Address (VIP) of the CAS load balancing array.  The DNS entry, for example, could be outlook.school.edu
3. Configure your load balancing array to load balance the MAPI RPC ports:
   1. TCP 135
   2. UDP/TCP 6005-65535; or set static ports
4. Use the new-clientaccessarray cmdlet to create the CAS array object. Such as:

New-ClientAccessArray –Name “School CAS Array” –Fqdn “outlook.school.edu” –Site “Boulder”

More here.

    5.  You need to revisit any Exchange databases that were created before the CAS array was created and set the rpcclientaccessserver property to match the newly created CAS array. Such as:

Set-MailboxDatabase DB1 -RpcClientAccessServer “outlook.school.edu”

For more on Exchange Server 2010 CAS visit here.

64-bit only

As you know, R2 is moving to a 64-bit only platform to achieve greater scalability. 32-bit versions of OCS 2007 R2 will no longer be supported in production. This lines up with Exchange and other products moving this direction.

What OS can I run R2 on?

All roles of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise Edition require one of the following operating systems:

· The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard, or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise

· The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard with Service Pack 2 (SP2), or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise with SP2

· The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2003 Standard with SP2, or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise with SP2

What version of SQL can I run R2 on?

The following list of supported database management systems applies to the Office Communications Server Back-End Database and to the Archiving, Monitoring, and Group Chat databases:

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (32-bit or 64-bit edition)

· Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit edition)

What type of reference HW is required for R2?

The following tables describe the hardware requirements for an Enterprise pool that has 100,000 endpoints, includes all Office Communications Server functionality, and has eight Front End Servers.

Table 1. Enterprise Edition, Front-End Server

If you extrapolate this information: 1 OCS FE server with all OCS functionality will ballpark around 12,500 endpoints so a typical school district/campus size, from what I have sampled, for faculty and staff two servers would be sufficient with redundancy.

The requirements in the following table apply to the Back-End Database and to Monitoring, Archiving, Group Chat, and Compliance databases.

Table 2. Enterprise Edition, Back-End Database

Enterprise Edition Consolidated, Edge Server

Mediation Server

Communicator Web Access

For Standard only deployments:

Standard Edition

Note: All of this information taken from the upcoming OCS architecture documentation

P.S. Don’t forget to join our R2 virtual launch on February 3 as we have over 6,700 customers signed up already. It will also be translated in 11 languages.

This was asked by a few universities. The answer is yes using our Microsoft XMPP gateway.

Where do I grab the XMPP gateway?

It is free here and there is also an updated fix to the XMPP gateway here. Some more XMPP config information here .

It says it is for OCS R2 does it work with Lync?

Yes, it functions with Lync. The XMPP deployment guide has OCS R2 screenshots but can be applied to Lync. The OCS guy did a step by step Lync walkthrough here.

Any tweaks to the Microsoft XMPP gateway that will help?

Here are a few gateway configuration settings you can make that have helped with Google Talk federation:

1. Enable ‘Never Close Idle Connection’
2. Set XMPP Refresh Connection Timer to 1 hour
3. Under session, set subscription refresh timer to 1 hour

What can I do with Jabber or Google Talk user when federated with Lync via the XMPP gateway?

The Microsoft XMPP gateway allows Lync users to add XMPP capable IM contacts, see presence, and conduct 1 to 1 two-way instant messaging back and forth.  Voice and Video federation only works with Windows Live Messenger or Live@edu or other Lync/OCS federated organization.

What if I want voice and video federation or richer domain granularity, etc between Lync and XMPP IM systems?

I found third party company called NextPlane that can help with a XMPP cloud federation service or on prem gateway if you require some of these richer XMPP federation features:

I was asked by a school to provide more detail around the new desktop sharing feature in OCS 2007 R2.

What is desktop sharing?

Desktop sharing is the ability to share your desktop from a PC directly from the Communicator client with other communicator users either with a PC communicator client or to users using Communicator Web Access.

This feature is an excellent addition for OCS R2 as you can now do even easier ad-hoc collaborations with up to 100 of your peers. I use this feature all the time now during my ad-hoc meetings. You can also give control to other participants (e.g. helpdesk), take back control, etc.

                         View from desktop sharing host (above)

                  View from someone joining a desktop session (above)

                      Communicator Web Access desktop sharing (above)

What is the desktop sharing architecture?

The Application Sharing Server role is installed as part of the Front End server architecture automatically.

What do I need to do to enable this?

•Available in Standard and Enterprise Edition by the Application Sharing Server role

•No client configuration is required for users to participate in a desktop sharing session with OC2007 R2

•Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access role for web access and anonymous access

•CWA Plug-in required to share the desktop

Inside of the OCS R2 administration console, select Global Properties, Meetings tab, locate Default Policy (under Policy Definition) and click Edit.  Check “Enable Program and Desktop Sharing” and “Allow control of shared programs and desktop”

For anonymous desktop sharing use, select “Allow users to invite anonymous participants” within the OCS global properties

 

What protocols are used for desktop sharing?

•C3P (Centralized Conference Control Protocol).

•Session Description Protocol (SDP)

•RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol)

•RTP (Real Time Protocol)

•AV Edge Service

–ICE (Internet Connectivity Establishment)

–TURN (Traversal Using Relay NAT)

•CWA

–HTTPS: Desktop sharing requires a secure connection (HTTPS)

What type of sharing can I do with the browsers?

•From Windows browsers

    –Initiate

    –Take Control

    –View

•Apple & Linux browsers

    –View

    –Take Control

What browser versions are supported?

Can people outside of OCS join a desktop sharing session?

Yes, you can share your desktop anonymously with people outside of your school/campus via Communicator Web Access.

Within CWA properties, select the next hop pool FQDN for anonymous CWA users.

The external user will get an invite such as below via federated IM or email. The external user will select ‘No’ when visiting CWA login page asking if you have a user account.

This is an anonymous desktop sharing session via CWA with someone who does not have an account in OCS. (above)

I had a chance to review an upcoming OCS 2007 R2 architecture planning document and I have summarized some of the 350 page document below:

R2 Topology options

Similar to the current release of OCS there are three topologies to consider for your school’s R2 deployment:

• Office Communications Server Enterprise Edition in a consolidated configuration.

This topology is recommended for most schools of any size. It provides performance, high availability, and scalability.

• Office Communications Server Standard Edition.

This topology is for small or midsize deployments, such as branch and pilot deployments, that do not have high availability and performance requirements.

• Office Communications Server Enterprise Edition in an expanded configuration

The Enterprise Edition in an expanded configuration continues to be supported in Office Communications Server 2007 R2. However, the recommended configuration in Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is the consolidated configuration listed as the first option. The primary advantage offered by the expanded configuration in Office Communications Server 2007 was its ability to scale in very large deployments. In Office Communications Server 2007 R2, the limitations for scaling have been removed from the consolidated configuration, making it the preferred solution both in terms of scaling and simplified administration. 

Below is a reference architecture OCS Enterprise Edition consolidated deployment which most schools might pattern if they deploy all the feature sets in R2:

As you notice above with the 64-bit architecture in R2, you can now effectively scale OCS even with a consolidated Edge and FE servers approach.

What are some of the new roles/servers in R2?

Running on your internal network at your school:

· Front End Server

Note:

IM Conferencing Server, Telephony Conferencing Server, are automatically installed with a Front End Server.

· Back-End Database

SQL 2008 or SQL 2005 supported

· A/V Conferencing Server

· Web Conferencing Server

· Application Server (New in R2)

· Four new unified communication applications:

· Conferencing Attendant

· Conferencing Announcement Service

· Outside Voice Control

· Response Group Service

· Director

· Mediation Server

· Archiving Server

· Monitoring Server (New in R2)

QoE and CDR consolidated on one server now

· Communicator Web Access

· Web Components Server (runs Internet Information Services, or IIS)

· Group Chat Server (New in R2)

Do each of these OCS R2 roles/server have to run stand alone?:

The good news is now that R2 is 64-bit only the answer is no and I would imagine most schools would run almost all of these roles on a few Front End servers in a pool and then just add more servers to the Front End pool as demand increases.

If you notice in the Enterprise consolidated reference architecture above there are only a few server roles broken out such as SQL, director, CWA, group chat server, monitoring, archiving and everything else is running on the Front End servers.

Is there a list of what OCS server roles I can and can’t run together?:

Yes, here is a table from the newly released documentation:

What roles do I deploy into my school’s perimeter network (DMZ)?:

Access Edge service

Validates and forwards SIP signaling traffic between internal and external users.

A/V Edge service

Enables audio and video conferencing, desktop sharing, and audio/video (A/V) peer-to-peer communications with external users who are equipped with a supported client.

Web Conferencing Edge

Service enables external users to participate in conferences that are hosted by an internal Web Conferencing Server.

 

Do my Edge roles have to run standalone?:

Again, the good news is no with the 64-bit only scalability of R2. The requirement for the A/V Edge role having to be a separate dedicated server has gone away as well.

Summary:

I hope this provides you a first look at R2 architecture considerations. In my next few blog posts I will talk about the R2 prerequisites, R2 deployment considerations, and migration from OCS RTM to R2.

Here are some questions I had from a college in Ohio wanting to plan for Exchange Server 2010:

What does the Exchange 2010 architecture look like?

The 5 Exchange 2010 roles are the same but there are some major changes in the way things work:

Outlook 2007+ MAPI clients now connect through CAS rather than directly to the mail server. CAS also provides access to directories for any Outlook needs.

Plan on scaling out CAS arrays with NLB or HWLB based on the core ratio below.

Hub transport now has a shadow redundancy feature and new dumpster changes.

The shadow redundancy feature would be where a shadow copy of each sent email is retained on the hub and until the hub received a ack of successful delivery. In the example above if Edge1 has a failure after the message has left the hub, the hub would not receive a discard ack and after 3 retries (15 min) the hub transport would then resend the shadow copy of the message to Edge2. It can also work with some downstream MTAs (Exchange, SMTP, etc) where the hub transport can wait for a specified interval for an Ack and resubmit.

The hub also has a new dumpster feature where the hub communicates with the mailbox server around replication and availability status. This communication determines whether or not to purge older messages in the dumpster until all logs have been replicated and communication has been re-established.

What are the beta HW recommendations for ballpark HW estimation? (note: this is with beta and subject to change) :

Client Access Server (CAS)

CAS to Mailbox ratio = 3 : 4 processor cores

8 cores recommended, 2GB RAM per core

Hub Transport server

Hub to Mailbox ratio : 1 : 7 (no A/V on Hub) or 1 : 5 (with A/V Hub) processor cores

4 cores recommended, 1GB RAM per core

 

Mailbox

4-8 cores, 4GB RAM base + 2-8MB per mailbox based on mail profile

UM

4 cores, 4-8GB RAM total

Edge guidance expected to be very similar to Exchange Server 2007

2 to 4 cores

Global catalog to Mailbox ratio 1 : 4 (32–bit GC) or 1 : 8 (64-bit GC) processor cores

What storage do I need?

Since the IOPS per user is proposed to be another estimated 70% reduction, this translates to several new storage options in Exchange Sever 2010 where you can use cheaper SATA direct attach storage or even JBOD SATA with DAG.  See our storage post here.

We have a green light to talk about some of the upcoming Exchange 2010 features in more depth now.  Greg did an OWA post and this one is about UM.

Has the UM architecture changed?

No, it is the same. As you see above, the architecture for Exchange 2010 UM is the same as Exchange 2007 UM. You have your UM role connecting to either directly via SIP to the PBX or via a SIP gateway.

What’s new in UM administration?

With the new Role Based Access Control (RBAC) there are new UM roles:

−UM Administrator

−Administer any and all UM functionality

−UM Recipient Administrator

−Provision UM mailbox, PIN reset, clear lockout

−UM Prompt Administrator

−Update Dial Plan and/or Auto Attendant prompts

You can also create any type of custom UM admin role that might be needed.

Any new voicemail codec support?

Yes, we now have MP3 support. This is good news for schools with lots of iPhones and Blackberries.

Do you have Personal auto attendant capabilities?

Yes, you can have find me and custom attendants. You can also setup conditional rules such as if I am set to Out of Office play this set of menus, if I am at Work play this set, etc.

What about my red lamp or Message Waiting Indicator (MWI)?

Yes, we now have MWI native within Exchange 2010.

You can also do SMS notification when a voicemail arrives.

In Exchange 2007, many education customers who deployed UM at first thought the red lamp was critical to deployment but after initial pilots it was noted that the majority of folks check their inbox well before they check their phone.  That being said, it is nice for your die hard phone end users you can provide them MWI out of the box now.

Do you have Voice to text transcription?

Yes, Exchange 2010 now has the ability to transcribe an audio voicemail into text as part of the body of the voicemail now. It is slated to be around 75% accurate for English.

You may say that doesn’t sound very valuable but I really like this feature for two reasons:

1) You can preview voicemails while in a meeting

2) You can preview the voicemail on your phone when in a noisy location

What are some other UM enhancements I should know about?

• CallerID lookup improvements (CLid)
• Personal call answering rules (If then logic, time of day, etc)
• Information Rights Management support (requires RMS) – encrypted VMs, confidential, callers can mark VM as private)

• Voice cards

The ability to play the VM right from your Windows Mobile client without having to download the voicemail attachment, double click it, etc.

What about hosted Voicemail in the cloud?

Yes, Exchange 2010 will support hosted UM in the cloud. If the decision is to move your faculty and staff to BPOS/Exchange Online you can also get voicemail in the cloud.

Stay tuned. We will have several more blog posts on other Exchange 2010 features this month.

This was a question asked by a university in North Carolina.  (Screenshots courtesy of the Exchange product team)

What can I share my calendar with?

Basically any platform that supports iCal (.ics) format can consume this such as Google, Zimbra, Yahoo, Windows Live, and even external Outlook users can view your calendar without the need for calendar federation.

What does it look like?

On the client side, within OWA, you select “publish this calendar”.  note: I haven’t seen equivalent feature in Outlook 2010.

Select secondary calendar publishing options such as details, how many months, etc.

To share your calendar via ICS externally, using OWA select “send links to this calendar”

Email put together to external person with .ICS links

External Recipients view of ICS HTML URLs:

External Recipients view of your calendar using HTML view of Internet Shared Calendar:

How do I enable Internet Calendar Sharing?

The exchange administrators will have to run some cmdlets to enable this:

Step 1:

PRE-REQUISITE: OWA External URL must be set

set-owavirtualdirectory –Identity <CAS> -ExternalURL <externalURLforCAS>

Step 2:

PRE-REQUISITE: Mailbox webproxy must be set

set-exchangeserver –identity “servername” –InternetWebProxy ”webproxy URL”

Step 3:

Admin must enable Internet access to exchange published calendars

set-owavirtualdirectory –Identity <CAS> -CalendarPublishingEnabled $true

Step 4:

Admin must enable sharing policy for Internet Publishing

set-sharingpolicy –Identity <PolicyName>

-Domains “Anonymous:<accesslevel>”

Optional Step 5: If using OWA “publish this calendar” is not an option this is an alternative step

Once policy and vdir access are set, can publish calendar

set-mailboxcalendarfolder –Identity <alias>:\calendar -SearchableUrlEnabled (default $false) -DetailLevel (default AvailabilityOnly)

-PublishDateRangeFrom (default ThreeMonths)

-PublishDateRangeTo (default ThreeMonths)

Optional Step 6:

Once calendar is published, can retrieve users URL’s

get-mailboxcalendarfolder –Identity <alias>:\calendar

Final published URL format you would place in external email systems clients would be something like this:

http://contosounivesity.edu/owa/calendar/<userID+CalendarID>.ics

or they could just leverage the HTML view.

Lync Server 2010 Licensing

ON PREMISE LICENSING:

Lync Server 2010 on-premises is licensed in the Server / Client Access License (CAL) model.

There are three types of licenses:

1)  server licenses,

(2) client access licenses,

(3) external connector licenses.

Server Licenses

A license must be assigned for each instance of the server software that is being run.

The Lync Server 2010 is sold in two editions:

• Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition
• Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition

Client Access Licenses (CAL)

To access Lync Server 2010, a Client Access License, or CAL, is required. A CAL is not a software product; rather, it is a license that gives a user the right to access the services of the server.

There are three CALs for Lync:

• Lync Server 2010 Standard CAL
• Lync Server 2010 Enterprise CAL
• Lync Server 2010 Plus CAL

Enterprise CALs and Plus CALs are additive-they are sold as a supplement to the Standard CAL. This means that to enable Standard CAL features for a user, the user must be licensed with just the Standard CAL. To use either the Enterprise CAL or the Plus CAL features, the user must be licensed with one (1) Standard CAL and either one (1) Enterprise CAL or one (1) Plus CAL.

To enable all features, a user must be licensed with all three CALs.

Finally, each CAL works with either the Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition of the Server.

Device and User CALs

For each Lync CAL, there are two types of CALs for purchase:

• Device-based CAL (Device CAL)
• User-based CAL (User CAL)

With the User CAL, you purchase a CAL for every authenticated user who accesses Lync Server 2010 features, regardless of the number of devices they use for that access. Purchasing a User CAL may make more sense if your users need to have roaming access to the corporate network using multiple devices, unknown devices, or more devices than users in your organization.

With a Device CAL, you purchase a CAL for every device that accesses Lync Server 2010 features, regardless of the number of authenticated users who use that device to access the server. Device CALs

may make more economic and administrative sense if your company has workers who share devices, for example, on different work shifts.

The decision between Device CAL and User CAL is financial, and you have the option to choose based on your needs. Additionally, in the case where neither the device nor the user is authenticated, a CAL is not required.

External Connector Licenses

If you want external users who are not your employees-such as business partners, external contractors, or other temporary staff-to be able to access your Lync Server 2010 as authenticated users, you have two licensing options:

• Acquire CALs for each of your external users.
• Acquire External Connector (EC) licenses for each server that will be accessed by your external users.

An EC license is an alternative to CALs for each server that external users will access. An EC license assigned to a Lync Server 2010 permits access by any number of external users like Students. Each physical server that is accessed by external users requires only one EC license regardless of the number of instances running.

There are three External Connectors for Lync Server 2010:

• Lync Server 2010 External Connector Standard
• Lync Server 2010 External Connector Enterprise
• Lync Server 2010 External Connector Plus

The decision between CAL and EC is financial, and you have the option to choose based on your needs.

Client License

In order to access the functionality of Lync Server 2010 and have an authenticated experience, you need the Lync client application.

Lync has one client: Microsoft Lync 2010

You can purchase Lync 2010 as a standalone application or as part of the Office Professional Plus 2010 suite.

How to Deploy Lync Licenses On-premises

Server Licenses

A server license is required for each physical or virtual instance of the Lync Server 2010 Front End Server Role (required with every Lync deployment). Both Standard and Enterprise editions can be installed and configured in many server roles on a server running Microsoft Windows Server®. Server roles are Lync Server 2010 instances which run a specialized set of functionality, such as audio/video conferencing, edge services, or mediation between Enterprise Voice and the PSTN.

Some roles are considered additional software and do not require a license. For these roles, you may run any number of instances directly with the Front End Server role. 

Server Roles

Lync 2010 Server Standard and Enterprise editions can be installed and configured in many server roles on a server running Windows Server. Server roles are Lync Server 2010 instances which run a specialized set of functionality, such as audio/video conferencing, edge services, or mediation between Enterprise Voice and the PSTN.

The Front End Server role is required for every deployment, and each instance requires a license.

***Most Server roles are considered "additional software" and do not require a license.

For more on Lync Server 2010 Roles refer to TechNet. HERE

Server Role Descriptions:

• A/V Conferencing Server: A server role that mixes and manages audio/video inputs from multiple sources for multiparty audio/video conferences.
• Application Sharing Server: A server role that manages and streams shared applications or an entire desktop during a conference.
• Archiving Server: A server role that includes the Archiving service and the Archiving database. The Archiving Server captures all IM conversations and IM group conferences and stores them in a SQL Server database.
• Back-End Database: A server role that hosts the SQL Server database that stores user information and conference state, including persistent and transient user data, and persistent settings to the Front End Server. The Back-End Database is collocated with a Standard Edition server. In an Enterprise pool, the Back-End Database is deployed on a separate, dedicated computer.
• Chat Room Server: A server role that instantiates, manages permissions for, maintains the state of, and deletes chat rooms.
• Conferencing Server: A server role that mixes and manages inputs from multiple clients in a group session. Also called multipoint control unit (MCU).
• Director: A Server role that authenticates internal and external users and routes traffic between Edge Servers and the internal Lync Server 2010 deployment.
• Edge Server: A server role that is deployed in the perimeter network to provide connectivity for external users, federated users, and public IM connections. An Edge Server runs three services: Access Edge service, A/V Edge service, and Web Conferencing Edge service. All three services are automatically installed with an Edge Server.
• Front End Server: A server role that is responsible for user registration, presence, IM, and communications routing. This may also include the conferencing server that hosts the IM Conferencing Service, Address Book Service, and Telephony Conferencing Service.
• Mediation Server: A server role that mediates signaling and media between Directors or Front End Servers and a media gateway.
• Monitoring Server: A server role in the internal network that collects call detail records and quality of experience (QoE) information.
• Telephony Conferencing Server: A server role that runs on a Lync Server 2010 Front End Server and manages audio conferencing provider (ACP) integration. This enables multi-party conferencing with PSTN callers who are connecting through an ACP.
• Web Conferencing Server: A server role that manages data collaboration for online conferences.

Client Access Licenses

CALs are required for each user or device that will access instances of the Lync Server 2010 roles. Each server instance may provide different functionality to the user, and therefore not all servers in your Lync architecture/topology require a CAL.

For example, if you deployed the Lync Server 2010 Front End Role (required of any Lync deployment) and also deployed Lync Server 2010 in Web Conferencing Server Role, you would need the Lync Server 2010 Standard CAL for the rich IM and presence features, and the Lync Server 2010 Enterprise CAL for the online conference features. This example would not require the Plus CAL.

Figure 1 lists the CAL requirements for different server roles.

The feature details for server and CAL licensing are described in the Lync Server 2010 Feature Details section.

Licensing External Users

External users may require a license in order to access a Lync Server 2010. There are four types of external users that may access a Lync Server 2010:

• Federated users
• Anonymous users
• External users
• Public IM Connectivity users

Federated Users

A federated user is an external user that possesses valid credentials with a federated partner and is authenticated on that basis by Lync Server 2010. Federation is a feature provided with your licenses of Lync Server 2010. Users connected by federation with another partner do not require a CAL or External Connector License.

Unauthenticated Users

An unauthenticated, or anonymous, user is a person/device that does not have an identity in the Active Directory® Domain Services. Unlike a federated user, an anonymous user is not authenticated. You do not require licenses for unauthenticated users of Lync Server 2010.

External  Authenticated Users

An EC license permits an unlimited number of authenticated  external users to access a Lync Server 2010 in scenarios where the number of CALs is uncertain. The number of EC licenses required corresponds to the number of physical Lync Server 2010 servers, regardless of the number of instances. The specific EC required is determined by the equivalent CAL features the external users would require. The following lists available EC licenses and the equivalent CAL features:

• External Connector Standard-equivalent to the Standard CAL features
• External Connector Enterprise-equivalent to the Enterprise CAL features
• External Connector Plus-equivalent to the Plus CAL features

Public Instant Messaging Users

Lync Server 2010 provides organizations with the capability to connect their existing base of Lync Server 2010-enabled users to the top public IM service providers. Licensing requirements for Public IM Connectivity depends on the service providers you want to connect with, and your Lync Server 2010 CALs.

• Windows Live^TM and AOL: Customers with Lync Server 2010 with active Software Assurance (SA) qualify for federation with Windows Live Messenger and AOL without additional licensing requirements. Customers that do not meet the qualifying requirements should buy the Lync Public IM Connectivity (PIC) license for federation with Windows Live Messenger and AOL.
• Yahoo!: Federation with Yahoo! requires the Lync Server 2010 PIC per-user subscription license. The Lync Server 2010 PIC license is sold separately on a per-user, per-month basis as a Microsoft service. PIC service licenses are available for Microsoft Volume License customers only.
• XMPP Networks: Federation with XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) networks, such as Google Talk, can be enabled through the Lync Server 2010 XMPP Gateway. This Gateway provides presence sharing and instant messaging (IM) with XMPP networks. It is available at no additional licensing cost.

Lync Server 2010 Feature Details

Standard Edition

A Standard Edition server is ideal for pilot and lab deployments or branch offices that do not have high availability and performance requirements. It is intended for deployments with fewer than 5,000 users either in total or at a particular location. 

Enterprise Edition

An Enterprise Edition server has all of the Standard Edition server features; however it provides scalability and high availability. It is intended to allow an unlimited number of users in any location/configuration.

Comparison of Standard and Enterprise

See Figure 2 for summary features differences between Standard and Enterprise server versions.

Figure 2: Lync Server 2010 Standard and Enterprise Features

Prerequisites

Lync Server 2010 requires Windows Server® and Microsoft SQL Server® to run and may not include licenses for those products. Be sure you have the correct licenses for Windows Server and SQL Server.

• Windows Server is typically licensed through the Server/CAL model. For complete information on licensing for Windows Server, see the Windows Server 2008 R2 licensing page.
• SQL Server has two primary licensing models: Server/CAL and per processor. For complete information on licensing for SQL Server, see the SQL Server 2008 R2 licensing page.
• SQL Server Express is provided with your Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition license.

Figure 3: Supported Windows Server and SQL Server Versions

Lync Server 2010 Client Access Licenses

Standard CAL

The Lync Server 2010 Standard CAL offers instant messaging and rich presence (IM/P) features. It provides users with real-time presence and enhanced IM along with PC-to-PC audio and video communications. Additionally it provides users with authenticated attendee experience for internally hosted conferences.

 Enterprise CAL

The Lync Server 2010 Enterprise CAL offers the audio, video, and Web conferencing features. It provides users the ability to create, moderate, and join conferences for collaboration with both internal and external users.

 Plus CAL

The Lync Server 2010 Plus CAL offers enterprise voice telephony features. It provides high-quality voice and other related features to users anywhere with an Internet connection across IP phones, PCs, and desktop applications. 

New and Improved Features of the CALs

The following tables (Figures 4-6) provide a detailed feature breakdown for each Lync Server 2010 CAL.

Figure 4: Instant Messaging and Presence

Figure 5: Audio, Video, and Web Conferencing

Figure 6: Enterprise Voice Technology

Prerequisite CALs:

For each Lync Server 2010 CAL, there are other possible prerequisites for underlying Microsoft technologies-primarily dependent on the features you would like to utilize. The following Microsoft products may be required with Lync:

• A Windows Server CAL is required for each user or device in all scenarios. Windows Server is typically licensed through the Server/CAL model. For complete information on licensing for Windows Server, see the Windows Server 2008 R2 licensing page.
• Exchange Standard and Enterprise CALs are required for users with Unified Messaging scenarios. For complete information on licensing for Exchange Server 2010, see the Exchange Server 2010 licensing page.
• SharePoint is required for users taking advantage of the Skill Search feature. For complete information on licensing for SharePoint Server 2010, see the SharePoint Server 2010 licensing page.
• Office 2010 is required for users for Office integration scenarios. For complete information on licensing for Office 2010, see the Office 2010 licensing page.

Licensing for Microsoft-hosted Lync Online

Lync offers the flexibility to license Lync Server 2010 for an on-premises deployment, or you may decide to work with a Microsoft-hosted service to give some or all of your Lync users access to the capabilities of the product.

This approach allows you to enjoy the benefits of enterprise-class communications in a pay-as-you-go model that enables you to scale up or down as needed, minimizing your financial risk.

How to Subscribe to Lync Online

Lync User Subscription Licenses

Rather than purchasing server licenses for each Server and user/device that uses Lync Server 2010, Lync Online is licensed via a subscription model in which each user needs a User Subscription License (USL).

 Microsoft currently offers the following USLs for Lync Online:

• Lync Online Standard USL
• Lync Online Enterprise USL

Lync Online USL Features

The features offered in Lync online are similar to the features offered in Lync on-premises.

The following provides a high-level feature for each Lync Online USL:

• Lync Online Standard USL-Provides presence, IM, and PC-to-PC audio and video calling.
• Lync Online Enterprise USL-Provides Audio, Video, and Web Conferencing.

Some great new changes coming with Exchange 2010 Active Sync.

We have many more partners beyond Windows Mobile that have licensed the ActiveSync protocol for syncing email to your mobile device. Here are just a few:

What has changed for the Exchange 2010 architecture?

ActiveSync has same connectivity flow as Exchange 2007.

What are some new Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync features?

Block/Allow/Quarantine list

You can setup a single list to block/allow mobile devices as needed. You can also quarantine devices such as new untested devices, etc.

Over the Air Update Mode

You can now push new Outlook Mobile updates/new versions to Windows Mobile 6.1 and above. This is really nice since you no longer have to wait for a new Windows Mobile OS version to obtain a new version of Outlook Mobile.

SMS Sync

The ability to send SMS text messages through Exchange and EAS is used to sync SMS message with user’s mobile device.

Benefits of SMS sync:

•User can use OWA, Outlook, and Outlook Mobile to respond

•SMS messages are backed up on the server

•Recipients can respond to messages

•User can switch “screens” while still seeing all their messages

IMAP/POP3 service discovery

You can now autodiscover/autoconfigure the IMAP/POP3 settings from your mobile device by just specifying your email address.

 

What are some new Outlook Mobile features?

Conversation view

Conversation view is invaluable. This really allows you to have a nicer mobile email experience when trying to skim through your onslaught of emails.

As you can see on the left, the new Outlook Mobile allow for threaded conversations (see highlighted conversation with 18 messages condensed). The view on the right is the current Outlook Mobile experience with the deluge of 18 additional emails in the inbox.

Reply state

You can now see which emails you have replied to or forwarded.

Conversation actions

You can now ignore threads, move always threads to folders, etc from your mobile device. Ignore thread may become quite a popular feature. :)

Nickname cache

Very nice that your nicknames follow you now. Especially useful for external recipients you email often.

Voice Card

You no longer have to download the voicemail attached like before (right). You just hit play and hear the VM. The other feature that I really like is the ability to see a transcription of the voice mail in the body of the message. Very useful for meetings, noisy airports, where you can’t play the VM.

Get Free/Busy

I love this feature. It is awesome since you can now at a quick glance from your phone see the Free/busy info vs. breaking out the laptop, etc.

As you can see, there are some very useful features coming to Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync and the new Outlook Mobile.