A question a lot of people ask me when talking about Lync, and how it’s a single client used for IM/Presence, Conferencing, and Voice, is “what happens when you invite someone to a conference who doesn’t have a Lync client"?”… and that’s when Lync Web App shows up.

Defining Lync Web App

Looking at Technet, I’ll just copy-paste its definition from there:

source = http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg412744.aspx

Microsoft Lync Web App is an Internet Information Services (IIS) web client that installs with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and is enabled by default. No additional steps are necessary to either enable Lync Web App on the server or deploy the web client to users. When users click a meeting URL, they are presented with the meeting join page, which provides the option to join the meeting by using Lync Web App.

Your main consideration during client deployment is whether to install the following software prerequisites for Lync Web App in advance or to allow users to install them as needed:

• The Microsoft Silverlight 4.0 browser plug-in is required for Lync Web App. You can deploy Silverlight 4.0 to client computers, or you can allow users to be prompted for installation when they first start Lync Web App.

Time to have a look at Lync Web App, both on a Windows and a Mac platform

Step1. Windows Platform

When I send an invite to join a Lync hosted conference, to a non-Lync user, this is what happens when the user hits the URL Join Meeting:

I’ll go in more detail into the Lync Attendee, in a next post, but for now, the user decides to click “Join the meeting using your web browser”.

As clearly stated in the Technet article, Silverlight 4.0 at least is required, in order to be able to join this online meeting! And you need sufficient administrative permissions to install Silverlight. Once Silverlight is installed, you are ready to join the meeting

Here you have the option to join as a guest, or using your corporate credentials. In this example, I’ll be joining a s a guest , and enter a Display Name to join the meeting.

Depending on the meeting configuration, I’ll first be put a the meeting lobby or not.

Once admitted to the meeting I have full access to the meeting experience, but I do not have Audio, nor Video!!

For Audio, I have several options:

* Have Lync call me at a number I give

* Join the Audio Conference, by using the conference information provided in the meeting request, or when asking for it in Lync Web App

Or the presenter can choose to call me as well:

A Lync Web App attendee can be promoted to Presenter!

And a Lync Web App presenter can share…

Step 2. Lync Web App on Mac

Using Outlook 11 on a Mac, I can very easily click Join Online Meeting…and I will be given the option to join the meeting using Lync Web App:

As with the Windows platform, you do need to install Silverlight!

And you will get the exact same screens as on a Windows Platform…

A Lync Web App attendee on a Mac platform can be promoted to be a Presenter, and can share:

And when a participant decides to share his/her desktop using the Lync client, a Lync Web App attendee on Mac can see it

And can even request & get control…

And you have the ability to share eg PowerPoint docs, that can be shared from a Lync client in the conference…

And when recording is happening, it will be shown in Lync Web App as well:

Remember, there is no Audio and Video available!!!! The same options to join Audio are available here as when launching Lync Web App on a Windows Platform

There is also the Communicator 11 application available for a Mac platform, that I will also cover in a next post, together with the Lync Attendee

Ilse

Have you seen the Lync Attendant?

Lync Attendant?

Lync Attendant is an intuitive call management application that helps you manage large numbers of simultaneous calls

Where can you find it?

It’s a free download, and you can find it here:

• Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendant (64 Bit): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ff0bd6c6-1bc6-4c6b-bb80-ca7e18747f52
• Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendant (32 Bit): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=00C4A9C6-5F01-47FE-9D15-65EC3459469B

Lync Attendant and/or Lync 2010 Client?

You can install both the Attendant and the Lync Client on the same box, but you can not run them at the same time!

System Requirements?

• Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7;Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2;Windows Vista Service Pack 2;Windows XP Service Pack 3
• Memory: Windows XP: 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM; Windows Vista or Windows 7: 2 gigabytes (GB) of RAM
• Installation space: At least 100 MB free
• .NET Framework: 3.5 (or greater) is required for installation. Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6

Want to know more about this?

Have a look at this great PowerPoint deck, which gives you this (copy-paste from the download link ):

“"This training course covers the following Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendant features:Using the Contacts ListUnderstanding Call ControlsMaking and Receiving CallsManaging Multiple ConversationsSetting up Team-Call GroupsHow to Park and Retrieve CallsLync Attendant is an intuitive call management application that helps you manage large numbers of simultaneous calls. Lync 2010 Attendant runs in a full screen window to provide a streamlined desktop experience.”

Available for download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=09794bf0-362c-4f1d-92af-72b93e1c998e

Enjoy,

Ilse

Reading the TechNet article, Installing Edge Servers, it’s pretty straightforward to deploy the Lync Edge server role in your Lync topology.

While updating my demo environment with an Edge server, I followed the step-by-step guidance from the article, and made some print screens on the way.

To install an Edge Server

1. Log on to the computer on which you want to install your Edge Server as a member of the local Administrators group or an account with equivalent permissions.

2. Ensure that the topology configuration file you created using Topology Builder, and then exported and copied to external media, is available on the Edge Server (for example, on the Edge Server, attach the USB drive onto which you copied the topology configuration file, or verify access to the network share where you copied the file).

In order to export your Lync server 2010 topology, policies, and configuration settings to a file, you can run the Lync shell cmdlet Export-CsConfiguration, and specify a file name and file location after the parameter FileName.

3. Start the Deployment Wizard.

4. In the Deployment Wizard, click Install or Update Lync Server System.

5. After the wizard determines the deployment state, for Step 1. Install Local Configuration Store, click Run and then do the following:

• In the Configure Local Replica of Central Management Store dialog box, click Import from a file (Recommended for Edge Servers), go to the location of the exported topology configuration file, select the .zip file, click Open, and then click Next.
• In the print screen below, you can see the error message if you would select “Retrieve directly from the Central Management Store”, followed by selecting “Import from a file (Recommended for Edge Servers)”.

• The Deployment Wizard reads the configuration information from the configuration file and writes the XML configuration file to the local computer.

1. • After the Executing Commands process is finished, click Finish.

6. In the Deployment Wizard, click Step 2: SetUp or Remove Lync Server Components to install the Lync Server edge components specified in the XML configuration file that is stored on the local computer.

7. After completing the installation, use the information in Set Up Edge Certificates to install and assign the required certificates before you start services.

That’s all

Ilse

One of the plenty new Enterprise Voice features in Lync, is Call Park. This feature enables you to put a call on hold, and then retrieve the call from any phone by using a so-called internal orbit number.

The feature itself is automatically installed and enabled on your Lync server when you choose to deploy Enterprise Voice. But, you must configure Call Park before it is available to users . You can download now the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Call Park Deployment Guide, from the Microsoft Download Center, using this link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e1cfd1dc-7ae0-4096-895b-101422146878. This deployment guide will dive into details on how to configure this feature.

Curious to see how a Lync-Enterprise Voice Enabled user would see this, it was time to test it out.

Step 1. Get a call

A call was received by the Unified Communications Demo account, and transferred to me.

Step 2. Park the call

To park the call, you can press the right blue arrow, and select in the Transfer to Your Phone Numbers  menu, Parking Lot.

Step 3. When you have parked the call, you will see

You can choose to retrieve the call or copy the information.

Step 4. When you choose to enter the orbit number to retrieve the call, call will be transferred

For example using the Lync Attendant, you will get the below

The one parking the call, will see who retrieved it, and when the call was picked up.

In our example, the call from Patrick Van Asch transferred by Unified Communications Demo Account to Ilse Van Criekinge, was retrieved by the Unified Communications Demo Account.

Once retrieved, the call is not parked anymore:

Ilse

If you want to add something easy but yet, amazing to your Lync environment, to highlight the power of Lync’s extensibility, just go to the following web site:

http://translator.gotuc.net, which will show the following:

You just need to download the file

Unzipping the file after downloading it, will reveal that it’s a registry file, with the following content:

Adding this info to your machine, relaunching Lync, and that’s all

Time to test…

Looking at the web site, it clearly states:

Once you've started a conversation, look for the overflow menu in the toolbar. Open it and select "Conversation Translator."

So let’s see, time to start a conversation…

In case you are wondering what the overflow menu is in the toolbar, this is it

There you can select “Conversation Translator”

And now you are all ready to show off your language knowledge

Using BING translator services, you have the following languages available to translate from, and to: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian, and Vietnamese.

When you enter a line, you need to press Translate…

After pressing Translate, you can choose to send it..

This is how the other side sees this…

When the other side responds, I can see the original reply, but it is translated as well

Ilse