Microsoft Lync Users Enjoy New Videoconferencing Options

Microsoft Lync is an instant messaging / presence client designed for business environments. Available to Office 365 users, it is being adopted at increasing rates throughout enterprises. For obvious reasons, many vendors and service providers are looking to integrate their offerings with Lync. Here are a few products / solutions of note.





Polycom
Today Polycom announced the availability of their CX7000 endpoint. According to Polycom it is "the first video collaboration solution to be qualified by Microsoft as 'optimized for Microsoft Lync.'" Polycom is also working on a way to connect their immersive RPX and OTX solutions to the Lync world.





ClearOne


ClearOne's new Collaborate solutions were built for  Microsoft Lync from the ground up. The solutions were were co-developed with Microsoft to bring seamless integration of conference rooms into a Microsoft Lync environment with plug and play simplicity.  Collaborate endpoints come in single or dual screen configurations and feature an integrated PC they call the Collaborate Console which provides a shared computing platform for meeting rooms using the same Microsoft desktop environment that everyone is already familiar with. It can be used to run applications such as Internet telephony, VoIP softphones, and instant messaging and it allows audio/video playback of files saved in Quicktime, RealPlayer, Windows Media and other formats. Companies whose applications run on Collaborate include Avaya, Cisco, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mirial, Siemens, Skype, and Yahoo

Vidyo
In March 2011, Vidyo announced a plug-in for Lync, allowing users to create Vidyo meetings from their Lync contact lists.

LifeSize
In Feb 2011, LifeSize announced interoperability between the Microsoft UC solutions (OCS and Lync) and LifeSize endpoints and have been working with Microsoft to obtain "qualified" status on all relevant offerings.

Avistar
Avistar C3 Unified for Microsoft Lync, allows Microsoft Lync users to connect to standards based devices. The Avistar software can support VDI implementations of Microsoft Lync.

Radvision
Announced in Nov 2010, the Scopia Video Gateway for Microsoft Lync is the result of another close Microsoft partnership. The gateway allows Lync (and OCS) users to connect to any standards based video system.

ViVu
Also announced in Nov 2010, VuRoom for Lync is another plug-in to add higher quality video capabilities to Lync.

A complete UC solution is seen as the end-game for the desktop collaboration world. The walls between UC and traditional videoconferencing have been barriers to adoption and usage on both sides of the wall. Thankfully, vendors continue to tear down these walls and unite our communication networks, which increase options and opens up new possibilities for the users.

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