For instance, the color red is displayed when a user manually sets her presence to Busy, but red can also be associated with the In a Call, In a Conference, and In a Meeting presence states. Some colors can take on separate text strings depending on the user’s availability. Although these colors provide a good indicator of presence, they are paired with a textual representation of the user’s presence when published, providing even more insight into the current status. A number of colors are associated with each presence class, operating on a scale similar to a stoplight from green to red. Lync Server presence consists of a presence icon and a status text string. These features interconnect to provide a prolific amount of presence information that is simply not possible in many other systems. The presence engine Microsoft has developed behind Lync Server is referred to as Enhanced Presence, which is a combination of numerous presence states, access levels, interruption management, automated updates, application integration, location information, and multiple points of presence (MPOP).
Ms lync 2013 client manual#
These provide some insight into availability but traditionally require manual user management and offer little control over what information is actually published. Many presence engines have only a few presence states, such as Available or Away. For instance, a user whose presence is currently Busy most likely isn’t going to be receptive to a phone conversation, but might be willing to communicate through IM for a short period. However, the appropriate time and modality of communication are driven by the presence information. These conversations are not necessarily IM-based they can be in the form of an IM, a phone call, or a video conference. With a quick glance, users can see a contact’s presence and make a determination about when it’s appropriate to initiate a conversation. Without presence information, users tend to fall back on other communication methods such as sending email messages that say, “Are you free?” or, “Do you have time to talk now?” With presence information at their disposal, users have no need to send these types of messages. A user has complete control over his presence state, which means he can choose when to appear available or unavailable to peers. It is what enables others to determine an appropriate time to contact a user and which communication modality makes the most sense at that time. This presence is published to colleagues and peers. In its simplest form, presence is defined as the combination of a person’s availability and willingness to communicate at any given time. Presence is the core feature of Lync Server and drives or enhances almost every other feature. Because this chapter provides a complete overview covering topics both new and unchanged, if you’re a Lync veteran you might find a bit of this redundant, but we also want to welcome our new Lync administrators to the fold! Presence This flexibility is exactly what makes the product so compelling and beneficial to organizations. It seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft products including Office, SharePoint, and Exchange. Its features can be deployed together or in pieces, as determined by business requirements. This chapter is a high-level overview of what Lync Server 2013 provides to an organization. Lync Server is the leading real-time collaboration platform available in the market today. However, Lync Server has transformed into a complete Unified Communications (UC) solution for business that encompasses presence, IM, web conferencing, audio/video (A/V) conferencing, and complete Voice over IP (VoIP) services. From many people’s perspective, it was simply considered Microsoft’s instant messaging (IM) product since its inception. Lync Server is a difficult product to summarize in a single phrase, but it can be considered a secure, flexible, and extensible collaboration platform.