The Three UC Amigos
Three Microsoft UC technology specialists covering U.S. Education
Update for Communicator for Mac 2011 13.1.2 just released
This fixes some hangs and other issues. Grab it here.
Date: 07/30/2011
Want some deeper dive video based training on the upcoming Office 365 cloud offering?
Some excellent Office 365 video jump start training delivered by the products teams covering...
Date: 06/20/2011
Updates to Lync 2010 Resource Kit
Two new chapters have been posted to the Kit. One on Direct SIP and the other on Exchange Unified...
Date: 06/06/2011
NEW-Lync Adoption and Training Kits !!!
Lync Adoption and Training Downloads Microsoft Lync 2010 Adoption and Training Kit The Microsoft...
Date: 05/25/2011
Video Solutions for Lync
Just as we have defined certification and testing for UC with PBXs, SIP providers, e911, and...
Date: 05/25/2011
Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit New and Updated Chapters available
Some outstanding Lync Server deep details in the Lync Server 2010 Res Kit with new content updates...
Date: 05/20/2011
Lync for Windows Phone 7.x and new Mango Outlook Mobile features
Updated 5-24-11 with new Mango information At TechEd 2011 this week, we demoed the beta of...
Date: 05/19/2011
UM and hypervisor-based clustering now supported when virtualizing Exchange 2010
Some great news announced by the product team today: The Unified Messaging server role is now...
Date: 05/16/2011
Client Virtualization for Lync 2010
This has been a hot topic for some of my customers and I’m very happy to see it’s release. The...
Date: 05/04/2011
Can I really move to a backupless state with Exchange 2010?
This was asked by a university in California. The answer is yes it is possible with Exchange...
Date: 05/03/2011
Are there specific PBX or SIP gateway configuration technotes for Exchange 2010 UM?
A university moving away from Modular Messaging to Exchange 2010 UM wanted to know. Yes, the...
Date: 04/26/2011
Is there additional end user training for Lync available?
Yes, Bill found some additional end user self paced training for Lync. Here is the course agenda:...
Date: 04/25/2011
Lync and SQL 2008 R2–Now Supported
The Lync Server product team has completed testing of Lync Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008...
Date: 04/25/2011
How do you schedule Lync meetings without Outlook?
You couldn’t until today. Now you can grab the Lync Server 2010 Web Scheduler. Here is what the Lync...
Date: 04/18/2011
Can Lync IM federate with Google Talk or Jabber instant messaging?
This was asked by a few universities. The answer is yes using our Microsoft XMPP gateway. ...
Date: 04/11/2011
Exchange 2010 SP1 Unified Messaging
As discussed with a lot of my customers Exchange UM no longer uses System Center (SCOM). Exchange...
Date: 04/11/2011
OK So I have multiple Datacenters and I want Site Resiliency
A common question for multi-datacenter deployments is how can we configure a DAG where...
Date: 04/11/2011
Lync Cumulative Update 2 - April 2011 is available for download
CU2 update for Lync clients, phones, and servers available: Lync 2010 (64bit) 2496325 Lync 2010...
Date: 04/06/2011
New Lync optimized headsets available from Microsoft
These are our first Microsoft headsets certified for Lync: LX-4000 USB wired headset –...
Date: 04/04/2011
Lync Instructor-Led Training
Attend one of our FREE instructor-led sessions to learn firsthand how easy it is to get...
Date: 04/01/2011
streaming video with Lync
OK. This doesn’t happen out-of-box. You can share a video on a desktop screen but we all now...
Date: 03/31/2011
Where is the Lync end user training material?
I get asked this question from several of my education customers who are in the process of deploying...
Date: 03/30/2011
IM an Expert Lync bot available for download and other Lync customization examples
What is a Lync query response bot? A Lync query response bot is custom developed automation...
Date: 03/24/2011
Lync Server Standard CAL is being added to Core CAL suite
This is good news that you can be licensed for Lync IM and Presence via new Core CAL suite coming...
Date: 03/22/2011
What is new with Group Chat in Lync Server 2010?
updated – 3-16-11 with new information What is Lync Group Chat? Persistent topic-based...
Date: 03/15/2011
How do I size and stress test my Lync servers?
This is a question I get a lot from my customers. In addition to using the new Lync Server 2010...
Date: 03/11/2011
What roles can I virtualize with Lync 2010?
I was asked this by a university in San Diego. What are the supported Lync roles that can be...
Date: 03/02/2011
When the going gets rough…Lync can help
Marquette University was part of our early adopter program for Lync Server. They currently have...
Date: 02/24/2011
Server Virtualization for Lync
I learned something today about Lync virtualization. We recommend an 8 CPU core (Enterprise class...
Date: 02/22/2011
Lync 2010 Best Practice Analyzer is now available
This is a great tool to analyze your Lync deployment and should be leveraged on a daily/weekly basis...
Date: 02/18/2011
Can you walk through all the video formats supported by Lync Server 2010?
I was asked this by a university in Virginia. I found this useful matrix showing the supported...
Date: 02/04/2011
Want to get some training on Lync? Have I got a deal for you…
There are some FREE Lync instructor led training courses that have become available to learn Lync....
Date: 02/02/2011
Cumulative Update 1 available for Lync 2010 client
These include a couple of tweaks for LIS, client fixes, and IP phone tweaks, etc: Lync Client 32 bit...
Date: 01/31/2011
But does Lync Server 2010 really have PBX voice reliability or call scalability?
A question often asked by my education customers. Recently, a well respected and unbiased 3rd party...
Date: 01/21/2011
Staged Deployment of Lync 2010
In some cases you may want to reduce the workload on servers or stage deployment of all the features...
Date: 01/18/2011
Adding users in bulk to Lync
OK. We don’t support WMI and now the WMI script for bulk user load doesn’t work for Lync clients. I...
Date: 01/12/2011
Custom states–revisited
It still works. I had a question today about custom states. We are still using four custom states...
Date: 01/11/2011
Open Interoperability Program Updated
The OIP has been updated to include Lync 2010. If you are looking for what PBXs provide Direct SIP,...
Date: 01/10/2011
What is your video conferencing interoperability with Lync Server 2010?
Updated 3-15-2011 with new RMX screenshots Updated 2-18-2011 with new interop information I was...
Date: 01/07/2011
Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant Wizard updated
This is pretty nice update since it is adding in updates for coexistence and cloud hybrid and cloud...
Date: 01/06/2011
New Lync Developer training available
Some cool Lync dev training available if you are looking to extend Lync into your line of business...
Date: 01/03/2011
New Mac Office Communicator 2011 update 13.1 available with Apple Desktop Sharing
What is in this release? This release includes a huge new feature my education customers have been...
Date: 12/17/2010
Is there a matrix comparing Lync clients such as PC, Web, Mac, Phone, and mobile?
This has been a question asked by several customers. I just stumbled across this new useful...
Date: 12/17/2010
But I don’t want everyone to see my presence
You don’t have to. In Lync we have the option of setting the enhanced privacy mode where only...
Date: 12/08/2010
What are all of the Lync IP phones available to me?
This was a question from a school district in Colorado looking to retire Avaya and replace with Lync...
Date: 12/07/2010
Can you provide more details around whether or not I need to deploy a Survivable Branch Appliance for my Lync deployment?
This question was asked by a college based out of Florida looking to deploy Lync for their 1500...
Date: 12/02/2010