Tweeting Live from Lync Conference 2013

If you were not able to make it to Lync Conference 2013: I’m sorry to hear that! But I will try to do my job and bring you any announcements/cool new products/vendor product & interview videos via twitter so follow/watch https://twitter.com/matthewlandis or follow hashtag #lyncconf

Here are My Key Takeaways of Lync Conference 2013

• Microsoft the first Enterprise communication vendor to have massive presence and connectivity from the Enterprise to Consumer: Living Room to Boardroom and B2X are terms Microsoft is using to talk about this developement
• Microsoft has invested heavily to get a full featured Lync Mobile client, with feature parity, on all major mobile platforms: BYOD fully embraced and no fear that it will be Microsoft mobile centric
• Microsoft is fully committed to Lync Server, demonstrated by announcing Lync Server 2014 in beginning of 2014. (no plans to rebrand it to Skype Server. Ent. and Consumer marketing will be intentionally preserved)
• Now that Lync is in Skype division expect Faster Release Cycles: Already demonstrated by several things: iteration via apps stores, CU including much more than fixes, and next Lync Server version announced for 2014
• Cisco and Avaya see Microsoft Lync + Skype as a major threat to their business as evidenced by blogs during conference (links below)

More Lync Conference 2013 Recaps

• Various 1 Minute Videos With Attendees Thots on LyncConf13: http://www.youtube.com/user/landiscomputer
• Tom Arbuthnot Video Summary: http://kressmark.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-great-lync-conference-of-2013.html
• Kressmark UC Blog: http://kressmark.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-great-lync-conference-of-2013.html
• Atea/Stale Hansen: Click Here
• http://trogjels.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/lync-conference-2013

TakeAways: Monday 2/18

• Polycom HDX 4500 is the first industry video end point qualified for Lync: Click Here
• snom 7xx Series Now Lync 2013 Certified: Click Here
• Audiocodes is planning to Lync Qualified there HD Series IP phones: Click Here
• If you want to watch the Lync Conference Keynotes, please see the following URL: Click Here
• If you are here at the Lync Conference, make SURE you give your biz card to any of the UCArchitects podcast guys with the black tee-shirts. They have 67 Lync goodies to give away (like IP phones, headsets and more)

TakeAways: Tuesday 2/19

• A Lot of Details About Lync Mobile 2013: Click Here
• Lync Room Systems: Native Lync software for Room Systems Makes Some Interesting Devices: Click Here
• Surprise: The venerable Lync Rountable will Get Gen2 Revision (not many details)

TakeAways: Wednesday 2/20

• Technical details of how Skype Lync Federation will work: Great Summary by Greg, Click Here
• System Center Advisor: Lync Server Monitoring for Free? BPA for Lync on Steroids? Click Here
• Lync Server 2013 Will Get Top Asked for Feature: Call Pickup Groups: Click Here
• Lync Server 2013 To Get Non-Emergency Location Based Routing: Click Here (via @mkressmark)

TakeAways: Thursday 2/21

• Lync’s UCWA API (thinks webRTC-like app enabler) Website coming at CU1: http://ucwa.lync.com/
• Lync Server 2013 CU1 to be much more than CU, It will include substantial features: Location Routing, Group Call Pickup, Mobile VoIP clients, more…

Interesting Facts From Lync Conference 2013

• 2,000 Twitter Mentions of #LyncConf13 on Tues Alone
• Former President Jimmy Carter shared the Del Coronado With Conference Attendees: Click Here

My LyncConf13 Photo Book

Below is my photo stream for Lync Conference (or click here for slideshow):

Other UC Vendors Respond to Lync Conference 2013

Cisco’s Lync Blogpost:
http://blogs.cisco.com/news/what-really-matters-in-collaboration/

Avaya’s Lync Blogpost:
http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/2013/02/freeish-aint-freeish-the-true-cost-of-microsoft-lync.html

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Get To Know Me & Some Tips on Lync Voice in Interview on NexHop by Fellow MVP Justin Morris

 

Justin Morris has taken time out of his busy schedule to do an interview of me for his “Interview with a Lync Pro” Series on the Microsoft Lync team’s NexHop site. If you can’t get to the Lync Conference, this is a way to get a little peak into my life and background with Microsoft Lync. But even better, let’s chat at Lync Conference!

Click Below for the Interview:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2013/02/13/interview-with-a-lync-pro-matt-landis.aspx

Justin Morris’ Excellent Lync Blog:
http://www.justin-morris.net/

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Microsoft Lync 2013 Client Gets February 2013 Update: Most Requested Feature, Hide Offline Contacts Included!

 

This update includes quite a few fixes including the most requested feature over at http://lync.ideascale.com/: Hide Offline Contacts, which had 69 votes!

Enhancements Noted in KB 2812461

• Enables users to hide offline contacts in the contact list.
• Enables users to receive buddy invites from untrusted networks.Note This option is available under Alerts in Lync Options.
• Improves the support for high dots per inch (DPI) displays, for Microsoft Narrator, and for other accessibility features.
• Fixes bugs that are related to Location sharing and settings.
• Fixes bugs that are related to Tabbed Conversations.
• Enables participants to join online meetings by dialing out to their telephone number if online meetings are scheduled by a non-audio-enabled Lync 2013 user.
• Improves the handling of devices that have both a front-facing and rear-facing camera.
• Improves the user experience when you join a Lync meeting in a Lync Room System-enabled room.

Enhancements and Bugs Not Listed in KB

• When hovering over a Contact Group, there is a new Bullet that clearly highlights the group
• The Conversation tab is now populated from Exchange!
• The Phone tab VoiceMail now populated!

Show Offline, Away and Unknown Presence Contacts in a Separate Group (below)

New Group Hover Indicator

Conversation History Now Populated from Exchange

Why are there TWO files to update Lync?

There are 2 files involved in update 15.0.4454.1506 and you need to run both updates. The MSORES file contains icons/images and will not normally need to be updated. The LYNCLOC file is the actual Lync update.

Download the Lync and MSOffice update files here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2812461

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Xavy Updated to 6.30.011713.1: Mobile Lync VoIP Client for #Lync Becoming Stable? (#Android #iPhone)

Xavy has continued to release new versions of their Android/Ios VoIP Lync in what has become a litany of “upgrade & test if it works yet” for those hoping for a full-featured mobile VoIP client for Lync.

In this last version of Xavy, I went through my quick battery of tests (make a EV call, call a Lync contact, video call) and…surprise…the basic feature test actually succeeded on my low end Android device. This means Damaka is making progress and means we can get on to test real-life scenarios like

• How will Xavy consume power?
• Will Xavy continue to run in the background gracefully?
• How will Xavy handle moving from different data networks? (wifi to 3G/4G for example)
• How will audio devices work with Xavy? (built in phone mic/speaker, blue tooth devices, etc)

Some might ask: Why does Xavy even matter if Lync 2013 Mobile client with VoIP support will soon be out? Below are some reason Xavy is still relevant:

• Lync 2010 and OCS are still without a VoIP client, since Lync 2013 depends on Lync Server 2013 components.
• The nearest thing to having a full Lync client on a mobile device at this point

Now that basic functions work we can start looking at usability, what did we notice in this last version of Xavy (for Android in my tests) 

Issues That I still See:

• I believe I’m seeing some work on UI: transitions
• Contact Photos sometimes wrong in contact list but correct in contact card
• contact list seems very slow on updating presence at times
• Doesn’t seem to be a way to setup to use phone ear piece so you will need a bluetooth headset to use this client
• Listening to Voicemail gets stuck on “Fetching…”
• If you change from WIFI to Mobile Data Xavy goes (sometime goes into a hung state with UI garbled. (a restart of Xavy will fix it) and sometimes just logs out. Not graceful.

Below is a quick video of this latest version:

In summary: Not quite a rock solid client yet, but….It’s getting there.

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[NEWS] So, #Oracle Wants a Piece of the Hot UC Market? Buys Acme Packet via @evankirstel @philippbohn

Just noticed this morning that Oracle is buying Acme Packet in a move that alerted me (and I suspect  others?) to the fact that Oracle even has a UC offering: Oracle Communications.

From my quick reading it appears that Oracle Communication currently consists of

• Messaging
• Calendaring
• IM/P

http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/communications/unified-communications/overview/index.html

http://www.acmepacket.com/company/press-releases/pr/oracle-to-buy-acme-packet

Commentary:
http://www.nojitter.com/post/240147755/very-big-deal-oracle-buys-acme-packet-for-17-billion
http://www.thevarguy.com/2013/02/04/oracle-acme-packet-microsoft-lync/

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Plantronics Blackwire 720 Stereo USB and Bluetooth UC Headset Review

 

Below is my video review of the Lync Optimized BlackWire 720:

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uConnect p2p Communication Server

NOTE: this has nothing to do with Lync and is just myself keeping my brain cells stimulated. An evening, extra curricular detour…

After reading & thinking about webRTC, my take away is that the most transformative aspect is new “federation” models that webRTC has the possibility of enabling. One of these pointed out by Phil Edholm is a federation method that could be called “point at URL federation”. To envision how this would work I have started to write an extremely simple point at URL communication server (lab/proof of concept/experimental) to test the ideas.

The basic idea is that this type of “federation” (or inter organization connectivity) depends on nothing other than one user “pointing at another user URL” to connect to someone in the other organization. But what challenges will pop up with this? After scribbling on various napkins, I decided to just do a quick mockup app to test the ideas.

Pillars of this experimental Server/Client

• interconnectivity with as little connection “friction” is a foundational goal
• absolutely as little “start a conversation” friction as possible
• IM/P & note is foundational as well
• Note could serve as foundation for decentralized twitter-like social
• with media made possible by webRTC (or something like it)

Some of my initial goals:

• build an extremely simple server
• starting with IM/P and non-realtime modalities
• p2p server and client combined in web interface
• voluntary participating in directory connects many different p2p servers
• see how much can be achieved with GET model

(This is all a hobby/evening project so might take considerable time.)

Below: screen home user sees when logged in:

Below: screen guest user sees

GuestName –or- usernamepassword

Next the “external user” will see a screen similar to above, with themselves and other user (the url they typed in) in the conversation.

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