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<p>Hey Matt,</p>
<p>Some of the info you have isn't accurate:</p>
<p>-- You need the following servers:</p>
<ul>
<li>Front End Server and Back End Server</li>
<li>A/V Conferencing Server</li>
<li>Edge Server</li>
<li>Mediation Server</li>
<li>Monitoring Server</li>
<li>Archiving Server</li>
<li>Director</li>
</ul>
<p>These roles can be merged. You also don't need a director unless you have multiple front end pools, so the minimum. with conferencing enabled is 4 servers:</p>
<p> A/V Conferencing</p>
<p> Monitoring and Archiving</p>
<p> Edge</p>
<p> Front End</p>
<p>SQL can be run on one of these boxes, it all depends on number of users/load etc.</p>
<p>-- With Lync usually you don't use a hardware VoIP phone, but just a headset on your PC, although vendors are selling compatible phones.</p>
<p>In most offices where we have full lync deployments we have hardware phones for some users, we also have hardware phones for meeting rooms, common spaces etc.</p>
<p>-- Lync has a client for smartphones (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Symbian) which can be used to chat and make phone calls.</p>
<p>Lync 2010 client on iOS does not allow you to make calls so if the user doesn't have enterprise voice enabled on their Lync account, they cannot make voice calls from iOS.</p>
<p>-- Traffic engineering seems to be a problem, as the DSCP is set on the host, and switches seem to have a hard time trusting the port.</p>
<p>We have a Cisco L3 switch at all our branches (180) and perform the tagging on that before the traffic hits the WAN. LAN is fast enough not to worry.</p>
<p>-- Lync servers can be run on VMs (well, you need a lot of servers for the Enterprise Edition), but then PSTN fallback becomes somewhat difficult.</p>
<p>We are moving away from PSTN. With SIP trunks we can fail them over to different sites, in fact the core trunks will be failed over between our DC's in the UK/US/NZ. Also instead of PSTN at branch sites for survivability we are looking at a commodity internet connection with a SIP trunk. This will allow users to keep working even with a WAN failure.</p>
<p>-- How do you get Emergency calls to work properly? With that I mean again locate the caller.</p>
<p>Lync has location awareness based on IP address and built in capabilities for E911</p>
<p>I can put you in touch with one of the team that rolled this out to our company globally, we have 180 sites, 4 datacentres, 8000 users. Ping me privately if interested....</p>
<p>Cheers,</p>
<p>Bill</p>
<p>On Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:11:31 +0100, Mattia Rossi wrote:</p>
<blockquote type="cite" style="padding-left:5px; border-left:#1010ff 2px solid; margin-left:5px; width:100%"><!-- html ignored --><!-- head ignored --><!-- meta ignored -->
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi all,<br /><br /> having had some requests to publish the insights about MS Lync here is what I got so far.<br /> Mostly I'll refer to Lync 2010.<br /><br /> Lync Integrates perfectly in your Office Environment, but it needs Office 2007 or higher to work<br /> Lync comes in three flavours: Standard, Enterprise and Plus. These three flavours are additive, meaning that for PLus you need the other two first too. <br /> These flavours are also only the Client Access Licenses (CAL) which allow Clients to connect to the server. <br /> The server software, which is based on Win 2008 R2 server, has to be bought separately. <br /> Lync Standard edition can't do conference calls or conference video, only peer to peer calls and video<br /> You can join conference calls though, if they have been created somehow magically from an Enterprise edition which is somehow magically connected...<br /> The Standard edition is rather simple to deploy (1 server), rather cheap and supports 5000 users.<br /> The Enterprise Edition becomes quite complex and gets also expensive:<br /> You need the following servers:<br />
<ul>
<li>Front End Server and Back End Server</li>
<li>A/V Conferencing Server</li>
<li>Edge Server</li>
<li>Mediation Server</li>
<li>Monitoring Server</li>
<li>Archiving Server</li>
<li>Director</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Additionally you need an MS SQL Server, MS Exchange Server and AD DS server.<br /> The Back End Server does all the codec work in software with risks to run into resource issues.<br /> All of them have to be quite recent versions, so take care.<br /> You need to buy Licenses for the Clients too.<br /> Licenses are cheap if you fall into a category like Charity, Education or something similar which MS supports.<br /> Otherwise not.<br /> The desktop client is quite intuitive, and lets you share the desktop as well as allowing remote desktop service. You can also share only a single app. But not on Mac OS.<br /> With Lync usually you don't use a hardware VoIP phone, but just a headset on your PC, although vendors are selling compatible phones.<br /> Lync has a client for smartphones (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Symbian) which can be used to chat and make phone calls.</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br /> Calls from the smartphoneclient use VoIP only if you're on WiFi. If you move from one WLAN AP to another within your corporation, Lync relies on the Infrastructure to provide seamless transition (You probably need some fancy Cisco setup anyways).<br /> If you leave the WLAN, your call will end, and you'll have to call again using 2G/3G voice.<br /> No video conferencing support on the smartphone either.<br /> If you're not on the LAN/WAN, and want to participate in a conference call, you can dial-in to a conference.<br /> Lync can setup conference calls with users which are on the move on 2G/3G, if you use a 3rd party provider. It seems to be supported. People use JahJah, but reports say that voice quality is terrible.<br /> The conference calls don't support DTMF. So if you need a call center, you have a problem.<br /> You can't record calls made from a Lync smartphone client outside the LAN to a client, as it bypasses the server completely. If you need call recording in any situation, don't use Lync. Try Blackberry MVS. Or Cisco/Avaya/Siemens and have a big fat data plan for mobiles ready.<br /> There is no such thing as call transfers from the mobile voice network to the company VoIP network.<br /> Lync provides fallback to PSTN and an appliance called a survivable branch appliance, which provides Lync services to the branches and also includes PSTN fallback.<br /> High availability deployments are possible, but not simple compared to Cisco, Avaya and the like.<br /> Traffic engineering seems to be a problem, as the DSCP is set on the host, and switches seem to have a hard time trusting the port.<br /> Lync includes a bandwidth calculation tool, which allows you to plan ahead for the required bandwidth. <br /> A table about bandwidth usage can be found here <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/library/gg413004%28v=ocs.14%29.aspx">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/library/gg413004%28v=ocs.14%29.aspx</a><br /> The proprietary codecs use little bandwidth, but make it impossible to talk to non Lync clients (mostly a problem for Video calls)<br /> Lync servers can be run on VMs (well, you need a lot of servers for the Enterprise Edition), but then PSTN fallback becomes somewhat difficult.<br /> Lync supports IPv6 (at least with Lync 2013). Got v6? (Siemens OpenScape even supports calls from IPv4 to IPv6.. Personally I think that's cool. But maybe others do as well)<br /><br /> Some generic UCC problems I've also encountered so far and would be interested in hearing answers are:<br /> How do you replace Pagers (for example in a Hospital) if you deploy a UCC solution<br /> How do you track the location of employees which are moving around a lot (Warehouse, Mine, Police, etc.)<br /> How do you get Emergency calls to work properly? With that I mean again locate the caller.<br /> How do you deal with phone numbers and renumbering?<br /><br /> The last questions are things I haven't found a proper answer yet. They are related to the problem, that you never know whether your VoIP call is End to End or whether it's translated into PSTN at some point, losing information.<br /><br /> Cheers,<br /><br /> Mat<br /><br /> (I apologise if this email is out of the AusNOG scope) <br /><br /><br /> Am 29.10.2012 11:21, schrieb Mattia Rossi:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" style="padding-left:5px; border-left:#1010ff 2px solid; margin-left:5px; width:100%">Hi all, <br /><br /> I'm currently investigating the advantages/disadvantages of MS Lync 2010 as UCC solution for a large enterprise with lots of branches. If anyone has any experience already with the roll-out of MS Lync 2010 or any story where its use has been envisaged but then dropped in favour of an Avaya or Cisco or other solution, I'd be interested to hear about it. Positive stories are welcome too of course. <br /> If anyone has any detailed info about real bandwith usage (not planned bandwith, but real-life experience including possible drawbacks) even better. <br /><br /> Please contact me off list, as this could become a lengthy discussion. I would really appreciate your help. <br /><br /> Cheers, <br /><br /> Mat </blockquote>
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