From what I have seen and heard over the 8-9 months in terms of negative feedback towards Lync (Microsoft Lync Server 2010), almost all of the negativity comes from either misunderstandings or fear from the competition.

So in direct answer to Teotech´s blogpost The Problem With Lync: Proprietary Technology and as I find more and more flaws and misunderstood nonflaws. I will follow them up in a series titled “The Problem with Lync” I plan to explore these details and how they REALLY affect you, as a customer.

Remember, this blog is my own thoughts and the answers might not always fit in around the world, there are a lot of cultural and technical differentia’s out there…

Well in this first post by Thomas Beck it reads:

“One of Lync’s major problems is the fact that it doesn’t play well others, only compatible with a select number of phones and devices. This “anti-social” behavior leaves you with fewer choices, essentially backing you into a technology investment corner. “

Really, I mean is this really true? Well to start with its true that Lync uses proprietary protocols which means that you can not just connect your old phone and make a call. I suspect that the problem is actually that Teotech is sad about this because they cant sell their phones to customers that can use them with Lync?
(well actually they can, just like Snom does for example in the OIP program )

Personally I have never ever heard anyone on a Cisco IP-PBX complaining about that they can not buy Avaya phones and use, or take Aastra phones and use them with their Avaya PBX. Or someone that wants to connect their Cisco directly with their Avaya PBX to see presence. Or did I miss out on something?

But with Microsoft everyone wants to connect everything to Lync, just because its Microsoft and so that they can complain on something when its not possible out of the box. But really, this is just what the OIP program lets you do and I didn’t see a OIP site on TeoTechs web

The thing is that Lync is built to work in 2011 and not in 1897. The power of software… well I think you’ve read it all before if you have followed my blog for a while.

If not, can your phone do this? What we see in the picture above is an incoming phone call and a connection to a XRM system. The customer data is shown before the call is answered. This works-wherever you work.

One other problem with not using proprietary technologies is the Internet, and the way we do our work in 2011+.

Personally I work at customers, home, on the buss, in the train, on the airport, on the beach, in my winter “office” in Thailand and in a coffee shops more than I work from the Office. And some companies just won’t understand this (hej skatteverket).

The point is that Lync works flawless over the internet, IT JUST WORKS and its always secure and easily managed. For example I can take my phone (Polycom CX600) and plug it in to my computers network port then share my 3G connection I have in my PC, go find somewhere to work and just do it. Just like “in the Office”
Work is something I do, not where I go. Ill try to hold this post on a 200 level so I wont go in to technical details so much other than this, but your always welcome to leave a comment if you want to know more.

Microsoft’s believe is in an ecosystem approach with partners

The two pictures above show some of the devices there is from partners that have certified them for Lync 2010.

Lync is not a phone!

If you want just a phone. use your mobile, keep your old desk phone. Buy a new pbx from TeoTech or another company or whatever. Or wait, well actually you could use Lync as a just a “dumb phone” as well. Because the way Microsoft license it, now you can just buy the Server and then a Standard CAL & a Plus CAL for every employee that needs a phone and it will be just a “smarter” “dumb phone” system, add to that some devices from the pictures and you will have dialtone and can make phonecalls just as you did a hundred years ago.

What I mean with Lync is not a phone is that its so MUCH more; presence, desktop sharing, conferencing, online meetings well some calls this Unified Communications. And its really not fair to put Lync up to some of the competition since Lync will put them years behind in the development and in productivity.

Lync does in fact play VERY well with others

To start with there is a long list at the OIP page with others that Lync plays well with, and I would say that Lync is one of the UC platform’s that actually try to hit on everyone, there are even guides on how to get them to sleep with each other.

Qualified Services and Infrastructure

The qualification program for enterprise telephony services and infrastructure ensures that customers have seamless experiences with setup, support, and use of qualified telephony infrastructure and services with Microsoft’s unified communications software.

But my PBX or phone or thing is not on that list?

Nope but you will in 99% of the cases find a gateway that will play along and work as a marriage consular.

And then there is federation for the rest.

Lync can federate with other OCS / Lync servers as well as Lync Online and Live Messenger/Yahoo/AOL. Federation support with Skype has been announced and then there is a XMPP gateway and some other ways to federate with the rest this will add up t
o a coverage of like 99% of the IM/P market.

Conclusion

The flaws that are described in TeoTechs post are FALSE! And if you go Lync its really not stepping in to a technology investment corner. Rather the other way around if you see it from a UC perspective.