Matt Landis Windows PBX & UC Report

Chatting With Mike Storella About What’s New at snom: HP Lync Phone Agreement, Enhanced Better Together & Phone Setting Provisioning

2013-06-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

snom has recently added HP 4110 and HP4120 Lync Optimized IP phones to their portfolio. I was glad to get a chance to chat with snom COO Mike Storella about this new development and new developments in their Lync Qualified (snom UC Edition) devices.

Key take aways:

All snom distributors in America’s will carry the HP Lync Optimized phones
snom has no plans for snom branded Lync Optimized Lync Phone Edition
snom UC Edition (Lync Qualified) Devices to get Enhanced Better Together (better together over IP)
snom looking to bring ability configure snom Lync UC Edition endpoints settings directly from Lync Server
Mike lists several ways snom UC Edition IP Phones can be provisioned: snomtastic, snom Active, manually
snom has no plans for snom video phone at this time
snom has recently made several phones available in Brazil

If you would like to follow Mike Storella on twitter:
https://twitter.com/mike_storella

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10824688.htm
http://www.snom.com/en/products/unified-communications/microsoft-lync-optimized-phones/

I’m Presenting on Lync + Skype Connectivity at Philly UC UG June 18 at 6pm @ Microsoft Malvern Office: Please Join Us

2013-06-17T10:28:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow evening (Tues, June 18, 2013) I plan to be presenting on “Skype – Lync Connectivity” at the Philly UC UG. We will be looking at Lync federation, how to enable Skhype-Lync as well as how this works “behind the curtain”.

If you are in the area and want to join, please click here for the quick sign up.
If you would have interest in attending via a Lync Meeting, sign up and note “request Lync Meeting”

Microsoft Lync: Over $1 Billion Revenue in FY13 Plus Fastest Growing Business At Microsoft

2013-06-13T17:35:00.001-07:00

It looks like Microsoft is celebrating a little Lync success! According to latest (unofficial?) marketing materials sent out by a Microsoft BDM, Microsoft Lync has passed $1 Billion in revenue in FY13 and is Microsoft’s fastest growing business.

Microsoft has noted in an Investor Relations webcast that “Lync revenue is up over 45%”. It has been noted before that Lync plus Exchange (UC) was more than a billion dollar business but this is the first time I’ve noticed Lync alone called out alone as crossing the $1Billion mark.

According to Mary Joe Foley in April 2013 there are more than a dozen products and services in the billion dollar club:

Windows
Office
Xbox
SQL
System Center
UC (I think this is Exchange + Lync, but not sure)
Sharepoint (+2 billion)
Developer Tools
Dynamics
Online display and search ad

Via @Jason_D_Sloan
https://twitter.com/Jason_D_Sloan/status/345280340786552833
https://twitter.com/dj11oyd/status/345320536454352896

#Lync User QuickTip #29: Free Service Will Make Audio Call To Any Federated Lync User

2013-06-12T08:56:00.001-07:00

Ever wish you would get a phone call as a convenient interuption? Ever setup Lync Server federation or an Edge at 1am and wish you could get an automated “buddy” to give you a call? Big Boss by Event Zero is a new, free, no sign-up web service that does this right now!

Just type in your contact info and click Go. That’s it.

[Note for security conscious people: David Tucker from Event Zero notes the tool *does not* collect your Lync User ID]

http://www.eventzero.com/Tools/BigBoss/?view=Tryitnow

AmishCon 2013 Recap: Amish See Voice Calls as “Stripped Down, Decontextualized Communication”. Sound Familiar?

2013-06-12T05:52:00.001-07:00

This past week I attended a conference at Elizabethtown College on Amish & Technology. The conference bills itself this way:

“This international conference will highlight the challenges and impact of recent technology (the Internet, social media, and telecommunications, for example) on manufacturing, family life, consumption, medicine, and leisure for Amish and other Plain communities in North America. In addition, conference presentations and seminars will cover many other aspects of Amish life including health care, mental health, social services, agriculture, business, history, quilts, and Amish-themed fiction.”

You might think "What on earth do Amish have to say about technology?!" My take away was that they do have some interesting things to say to a wider audience. The conference included academics (Prof. Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, David Weaver-Zercher), those interested in tech culture (Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine) and many Amish and plain Mennonites.

Below are some general ideas the I thought were interesting:

“The Amish have over arching reasons for why they limit technology, the rest of us limit technology too, but with no over arching reason why. We do it in a very adhoc, individual and non-consistent way.” --Prof. Donald Kraybill
“Amish are not Luddites. They are fine using technology, they are just intentional about what they allow” --Prof. Donald Kraybill
“Both Amish and "English" are increasingly getting their identity from what they don't allow themselves: think about vegetarian, wholefoods, etc” --Kevin Kelly
“We are both the creators/masters of technology and the slaves of technology. We create technology and then immediately become its slave as well.” --Kevin Kelly

Amish, Voice Calls and Communication/Videoconferencing

I thought it was quite interesting to hear Prof. Donald Kraybill explain why Amish have rejected telephones:

“Amish see phone calls as stripped down, decontextualized communication." –Prof. Donald Kraybill

I immediately looked around the room to make sure Polycom or Microsoft Lync marketing people had stealthily slipped a PowerPoint slide into Prof. Kraybill’s presentation! But no, this WAS the reason Amish reject phones: They are so interested in maintaining strong personal relationships that they reject a technology they consider inferior to the “in person” experience. The question that occurred to me: What if I selected technology based largely on how it will affect my relationships with those important to me?

As if pointing out the “weakness” of voice only calling wasn’t enough, Kevin Kelly, cofounder of Wired Magazine noted part way through his presentation that he thinks Amish will actually accepted video conferencing!

“Amish accept a lot of technology. What are some new technologies we might see Amish accepting? I think things like GMO's, 3D printing, Solar and battery technology (already happening), and video conferencing…” –Kevin Kelly

I thought it was quite interesting that Kevin Kelly thought videoconferencing among new tech he thinks Amish / "plain" Mennonite people will accept in future. In a latter talkback session I queried him on why he thought Amish would have interest in videoconferencing and his thought was that it would(this is his idea, I would have my reservations)

Other Amish Conference 2013 Experiences

I found it quite interesting to have several days to chat with Amish/”plain” Mennonites and people like Kelly about technology. I found it interesting, among other things, to note that Kelly takes a “sabbath” from technology work 1 day a week just like I do myself.

Kevin Kelly’s PowerPoint hung (ironically on a slide: Technological Lessons of the Amish) After a too long awkward attempt trying to get going, with no A/V technician in sight, I overcame the “one person can never step out of a group and help when it is not his job” and made an appearance on-stage to give a go at troubleshooting. (Eventually the technician came and we got it going again)

If you are interested in technology and how we interface with it, I might suggest Kevin Kelly’s book: What Technology Wants. (incidentally there is a complete chapter on Amish called “Amish Hacking”)

What if we, like the Amish, selected our technology based on how it would effect our most important relationships?

Microsoft Lync Getting Web RTC: Plugin-Less Voice & Video in Browser “API Code Is Done”

2013-06-05T08:11:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has been steadily marching towards the goal of bringing Voice/Video media into the browser without a plugin. In Feb 2013 they noted a roadmap of bringing voice/video/app sharing media to the Microsoft Lync UCWA API. The first part of UCWA arrived in March 2013 and focused on presence and IM. At Enterprise Connect 2013 Derek Burney, Corporate VP Microsoft Lync, noted that “…the Microsoft Lync Web App uses a plugin today. Microsoft will support webRTC as soon as the standard is ratified. This is a super exciting initiative.”

And now it appears that the code is done (but not yet released) for a Lync API that will bring plugin-less Voice/Video into the browser via HTML5. Tom Kisner, a UC Architect attending Microsoft TechEd 2013, noted the UCWA Overview presentation (June 4) demonstrated voice & video in the browser. The presenter noted “we are done [with API code] and currently scrubbing”. Kisner noted further that the API is using only HTML5 no plugin to bring voice/video into the browser.

The TechEd UCWA Deep Dive session (June 5, in progress as of this writing) is revealing more about the real time component of UCWA. Below is a diagram of media flows (submitted by Mattias Kressmark) and we will post more as information becomes available as this session (OUC-B405) is in progress as of this writing.

It should be noted that UCWA with real time media already is what powers the VOIP/video capabilities in the new Lync Mobile 2013 client. (According to Girija Bhagavatula during OUC-B405 TechEd2013 session, 3 out of the 5 Lync clients are already powered with UCWA)

One could presume that UCWA could be used to remove the need for a plugin for LWA (Lync Web App/ web-based meeting join experience). Lync currently does not have a stand-alone end user web client, but with this API developers or Microsoft could certainly create such a client.

Microsoft has not noted when the voice/video portion of the UCWA API will be released.

If you would like to learn more about Lync UCWA please take a look at the official
https://ucwa.lync.com/

Other Sources:
https://twitter.com/twkisner/status/342009358730792961
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2012/07/ucwa-api-in-lync-server-2013-opens.html
Derek Burney announcement: http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2013/03/corporate-vp-microsoft-lync-derek.html

OUC-B405 TechEd2013
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/OUC-B405#fbid=nK7UeP1mZN-

Lync News Summary Out of TechEd North America 2013

2013-06-04T06:12:00.001-07:00

Was glad to chat a little bit via Skype to Mattias Kressmark who was on the TechEd 2013 expo floor last evening and get a little conference update. He and others are covering Lync developments quite well via twitter but it was good to video-chat to see & hear the buzz (and note that New Orleans culture seems to be rubbing of a bit on conference attendees as shown below)

A summary from Day1/June 3:

Lync Labs are good and working great so if you are on the ground, head over give them a go. (As a secret side benefit the lab facilitators are great Lync experts)
An observation from UC standpoint: There were a lot Server announcements to talk about but no big Skype or Lync announcements, In fact they were not even named in the 2 hour keynote on Day 1. (presumably because most big announcements made at #LyncConf13)
The Surface RT and Pro give away…ah, rrr, sale, was creating huge lines.
from the expo floor: snom is showing their snom Vision
From the expo floor: AudioCodes is showing their coming 400HD Series phones:

If you want to watch TechEd live streamed sessions:
http://channel9.msdn.com/?wt.mc_id=tena_hp

TechEd NA 2013 Recorded Sessions:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013#fbid=TbVwgeZLW16

Lync Pro’s at TechEd 2013 you may want to follow:
@dmstork @expta @MKressmark @justimorris

[BREAKING] #Lync to #Skype Connectivity Is Officially Live Today

2013-05-29T07:16:00.001-07:00

While Skype <-> Lync federation has been working “unofficially” for some time, apparently is is officially live today according to the official Lync Team Blog (Interestingly the blog post has the date of May 23, 2013, but I suspect this just indicates the article was written before posting) and the Skype blog.

From my quick test, the Lync 2013 client now indicates a “Skype” logo beside “MSN” when you connect to a Skype federated contact, which seems to have changed as of today.

Will MSN Power Skype <-> Lync Federation? Yes. Are LiveMessenger Users Living On Inside Skype? Yes

In Feb, 2013 I wrote an article on “How Skype <-> Lync Federation Works Behind the Scenes” . The only question remaining was: Will LiveMessenger live on? Or will it die the day Lync <-> Skype goes live? We have our answer today: LiveMessenger identity died today.

NOTE: I am quite interested in knowing if Lync can determine if a contact is using the Skype client versus the 3rd party live messenger client(s) and LiveMessenger client iteself (which is report to be living on as Live Messenger in China and possibly some other places.) If you have any information on this, please comment! UPDATE: According to Matt Hardwick Lync indicates contacts as Skype contacts even if the Skype/LIveMessenger/MSN/MSA user is logged into a 3rd Party “Live Messenger” client. So from this we can likely deduce that LiveMessenger/MSA users are largely living on in Skype and useragents will not change or determine the icon used.

It appears that the MSN/Live Messenger federation icon has been changed from LiveMessenger to a Skype icon today (via ShawnHarry) This 100% verifies that traffic from Skype and LiveMessenger will be indicated identical in Lync and verifying my previous hunch that LiveMessenger/MSA users are largely living on inside Skype. This also is another step in the “death” (or rebirth?) of LiveMessenger.

https://images.edge.messenger.live.com/Messenger_16x16.png

Some Notes and Things to Be Aware Of

Video is not live today but is Skype’s next priority. click here

Some other Lync <-> Skype articles you might have interest in:

How Do I Enable Lync <-> Skype Federation from Skype Side? Click Here
How Does Lync <-> Skype Federation Work Under the Hood? Click Here
How Much Will Lync <-> Skype Federation Cost? Click Here
What is the Difference Between Lync and Skype? Click Here
Nov 2012: Lync <-> Skype IM/P Has Started Working: Click Here
Feb 2013: Lync <-> Skype Voice Has Started Working for Some: Click Here

http://www.justin-morris.net/lync-to-skype-connectivity-now-available/

Audiocodes Notes Coming Lync IP Phone To Get Optional Tablet Expansion Module for Attendant Console Functionality

2013-05-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Lync Phone Edition has no attendant console and does not integrated to the Lync Attenant Console. snom has their snom Vision and Polycom VVX is planning to introduce an expansion module.

Audiocodes notes that their 400 series will support an “optional tablet expansion for attendant console”. The brochure (below) and press release do not note if the “tablet” is a standard Windows or Android tablet, or if it is some proprietary “module”.

http://www.audiocodes.com/filehandler.ashx?fileid=3249463

http://www.audiocodes.com/press-releases/audiocodes-announces-availability-of-400hd-ip-phones-for-microsoft-lync

Jajah Voice Service for Office 365 & Lync To Be Discontinued August 31, 2013

2013-05-28T12:03:00.001-07:00

An alert reader noted that Jajah now has a public notice that it’s Jajah Voice for Office 365 will be discontinued:

https://voice4lync-us.jajah.com/home

via Walter with HealthWare

Since We Forgot To Put the Start Button on Windows 8, We Put It On Our Latest Mouse: Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse

2013-05-24T14:43:00.001-07:00

As if to make up for the much missed Windows 8 Start button, Microsoft’s latest “Sculpt Comfort Mouse” comes with a Start button. But this Start button is not your fathers start button. Microsoft is hailing this a “touch-sensitive blue strip on its side called the Windows touch tab that makes it easy to navigate Windows 8 with just the touch or swipe of a finger.”

We suspect that with the new “sculpting” combined with the “touch sensitive blue strip” that your finger can glide over, you hand will never want to go back to clicking a silly old “Start” menu button on a screen or keyboard. There is a mobile and desktop version so no one is without a “Windows touch tab”.

To read more about the Sculpt Comfort Mouse:
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2013/05/23/announcing-sculpt-comfort-mouse-amp-mobile-mouse.aspx

HP Releases Free App to View Microsoft Lync User Registrations Graphically

2013-05-22T14:30:00.001-07:00

It looks like HP has the same ole’ issues as all the rest of us! And they have released a tool to view Microsoft Lync User registrations.

From what I can see it requires remote Powershell and SQL access to work but can run from a PC other than a Lync Front End.

Get it here:
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/software-solutions/software.html?compURI=1171412#

Tip: ‏@StevenvanH

#Lync User QuickTip #28: Lync 2013 Now Will Easily Check If Domain Has Federation Enabled

2013-05-22T07:40:00.001-07:00

I just realized that Lync 2013 now has a very simple way of checking if a domain has federation enabled. Its just 2 simple steps:

Type an SIP URI and open a conversation (the SIP URI can be a bogus user, the domain is all that matters)
Now take a look if Lync shows “External Network” after “Presence unknown”, If so, this domain has external facing federation enabled at some level.

If you want to check which of your Outlook contacts have Lync federation enable, even if you don’t have Lync, your welcome to download the free Lync Who Can Federate Tool available here: http://bit.ly/wcftool

If you want to take a look at a list of the thousands of organizations that have Lync you can head over to http://bit.ly/lyncfed.

Outlook.com to Google IM is Live! Adds Jabber/XMPP Support to Outlook.com; Is Skype to Google Next?

2013-05-18T16:03:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has just released the ability for www.outlook.com users to Instant Message and see the presence of Google users. Interestingly the same week Microsoft announced and delivered outlook to Google interoperability, Google dropped a bombshell and noted that their nextgen IM/P solution called Hangouts (which will eventually replace Google Talk) would no longer support XMPP federation. Does this mean outlook.com to Google interop is doomed?

Actually not necessarily...at least not right now. Very interestingly outlook.com does not use XMPP federation, as one might expect, to talk to Google users: It appears to use the Google Talk API. What does this mean?

It means you will need a Google user login associated with your outlook.com account.
It also means that Google/Gmail users that receive an IM from your outlook.com account will look exactly like it is coming from a normal Google/Gmail user. (In fact, if you are logged into Gmail when an Outlook –> Google IM is occurring, you will see the conversation there)
It also means all your Google contacts will flow over into the Outlook.com People list.
It also means that you can IM from Outlook.com (via Google Talk login) to federated XMPP/Jabber based IM servers for as long as Google allows 3rd party clients to login to Google Talk and Google Talk does not remove XMPP federation.

IM/P between Outlook.com and a plain jane XMPP jabber.org IM/P account:

There are several implications of this:

Outlook.com is becoming a kind of web based multi-protocol client just like Skype application itself! (see my complete blog on this)
If you have your Google/Gmail account associated with your Outlook.com/Microsoft Account, and you are logging into Skype with Microsoft Account, why couldn't this functionality eventually be brought to the Skype client itself? So Skype to Google would be very possible in exactly the same way Skype to Facebook is currently working.

But isn’t XMPP federation going away with Google Hangouts, the new app that will eventually replace Google Talk? Yes, IM/P between Google Hangouts app and contacts federated to Google via XMPP federation will not work…BUT…conversations between Google Talk and those same contacts WILL continue to work for some time. (not end of life announced yet) Since Outlook.com is really like a 3rd party Google Talk client this continues to work. Google has noted that 3rd party Google Talk client support will not be cut off at this time.

So it appears that Microsoft is just extending it’s existing strategy of having Skype and Outlook.com be mutli-protocol “clients” that login in to various other services like Skype, Facebook, Outlook.com/Live Messenger, and now Google. Perhaps Microsoft just took a page out of the success of the many popular multi-protocol clients out there and decided to do it themselves? That’s what it looks like. <end>

Hangouts Won’t Hangout With Other Messaging Vendors: Google’s New Unified Messaging Drops Open XMPP/Jabber Interop
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2013/05/hangouts-wont-hangout-with-other.html

Skype becoming a multi-protocol client?
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2013/02/some-thots-on-skype-federation-becoming.html

It Looks Like Live Messenger Client No Long Allows Sign In: RIP

2013-05-16T17:41:00.001-07:00

It’s looks like we can no longer login to Live Messenger without upgrading to Skype! Previously I could bypass this and continue to login, but not anymore! (if you have different experience, please comment) I guess the end of the road for good old Live Messenger is here. RIP!

Hangouts Won’t Hangout With Other Messaging Vendors: Google’s New Unified Messaging Drops Open XMPP/Jabber Interop

2013-05-16T06:40:00.001-07:00

How can a company in the same day chastise other vendors for not being open and drop the open and interoperable portion of their own unified messaging solution? On May 15, 2013 Google seems to have done just that.

Just yesterday at Google I/O Larry Page decried a sad lack of IM & presence interoperability between vendors:

"I've personally been quite sad at the industry's behavior around all these things. If you take something as simple as IM, we've had an open offer to interoperate forever. Just this week Microsoft took advantage of that by interoperating with us but not doing the reverse. Which is really sad and not the way to make progress. You can't have people milking off of just one company for their own benefit…" (see video here)

But just days after Microsoft announces that www.outlook.com will integrate to Google’s IM/P solution via Google Talk’s XMPP protocol, Google notes that its new effort at a unified messaging solution (Hangouts which will replace existing Google Talk) will effectively cut off interoperability via XMPP. Google’s manager of real-time communication products, Nikhyl Singhal notes:

“With Hangouts, Singhal says Google had to make the difficult decision to drop the very "open" XMPP standard that it helped pioneer…”

Google Developers Talk page has also clearly noted that XMPP is not supported in Hangouts:

Note: We announced a new communications product, Hangouts, in May 2013. Hangouts will replace Google Talk and does not support XMPP. [show below]

What does this mean technically for XMPP to Google Federation today?

What does this mean technically today? User colaflash notes that the experience with the new Hangsouts-App (version 1.0.0.1, released today, 15th May 2013) is as noted below:

XMPP/Jabber contacts that you have saved in GoogleTalk will not show up in Hangouts app
Adding new XMPP/Jabber contacts in new Hangouts app will add them as email only contacts
XMPP/Jabber contacts can not send IM to Hangouts user (it fails to deliver with error)
Gmail account will appear online to XMPP/Jabber contacts when Hangout app is logged in (presumably through/via Gmail.com/GoogleTalk)
from Hangout App you cannot see others presence. Google Talk users will just see online when Hangout App is logged in.
If the same gmail user logs into www.gmail.com they can still IM XMPP/Jabber contacts (Google notes that talk will be superceded by Hangouts eventually)

How Many XMPP Federated Enterprise Organizations Will This Affect?

Earlier this year I did some research on how many Fortune 500 and 1000 companies have apparent public facing XMPP federation enabled and the numbers came in at around 10-15%. This means that between 10-15% of the top organizations could be affected by Google’s decision to drop XMPP. Read more here.

Questions About Clients: 3rd Party Clients, Google Talk and Hangouts

Q. Will my 3rd party Google Talk client still work?
A. At this time Google has not yet announced the end of life/retirement for Google Talk. As long as Google Talk is available 3rd party client apps as well as Outlook.com’s new Google connection could be expected to continue to work.

Q. Has Hangouts really removed contact presence?
A. Yes, below is the old Google Talk Android client (left) compared Hangouts app on the right. Two things that are missing in the new Hangouts App: Ability to see other users’ presence and the ability to set your own presence. Those using Talk app or Gmail.com will see a Hangouts user as Available if they are logged into the app.

Q. Its quite inconvenient to not have presence and loose Jabber contacts, what can I do?
A. If you uninstall the Android Hangouts App you will be able to use Google Talk app again.

[Note: the above are observations and we do not have input from Google]

Conclusion

Google Hangouts unplugging support for XMPP has deep ramifications in the industry: This means that interoperability between Google and Microsoft Lync, XMPP/Jabber based solutions like Cisco Jabber, Openfire, Avaya and many others will also loose interoperability. Will this also put Microsoft Lync in the interesting position of being the the most widely interoperable enterprise UC solution? [complete article on this subject] Will Google Apps now be the “closed solution” in comparison to Microsoft’s “very open” UC solution?

In conclusion, perhaps the code name “babel”, used internally by Google to describe their unified messaging effort, was indeed an allusion to the Biblical story of the tower of Babel? In that story humans spoke a single language until suddenly multiple languages emerged, making communication between people and groups impossible…

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk

If you are interested in IM/P interoperability between vendors you may have interest in this blog

Microsoft MVPs and IT Experts Weigh In On Grad School: Just Say No

2013-05-14T08:16:00.001-07:00

I posted “Don’t go to grad school?” on twitter followed by this LinkedIn article giving 7 reasons it’s a big mistake to go to grad school and was surprised by the flurry of feedback from top Microsoft Lync MVP’s on whether grad school is a good idea. What I was mainly surprised by is the unanimous chorus of “No!”.

Below are some interesting comments and input for those getting into the IT (and UC specifically) industry:

“Computer Science degrees full of coding didn’t interest me one bit. Did CCNA/MCSE instead.” –Justin Morris, Lync MVP

“For me, less time spent in school equaled more time gaining real world experience…” –Pat Richard, Lync MVP, (Previously Exchange MVP) UCArchitect Podcast

“Best advice my dad ever gave me was not to go to university. IT degree’s are worthless in my opinion. IT is practical first and academic a very distant second.” –Shawn Harry,

“I tried doing a degree a few years back got through one year. What a waste of time. Most of it was out of date.” –Chris Norman, Lync TSP at Microsoft, Popular Lync blogger: voipnorm.blogspot.com

“I was near a degree in chemistry when I started working. No regrets” –Fabrizio Volpe

“The knowledge that launched my career didn’t come from the classroom, but by actually working in the school IT department!” –Jonathan McKinney, Lync Certified Master (MCM), UC Architect

“I trained on the job. 13+ years real world experience tops any grad degrees in interviews now.” –Dave Simm,

“I wouldn’t say grad degrees are “worthless”, but they are worth less than hands-ons. the IT people learn by curiousity…the thing is, education doesn't have to be classroom. It can be as simple as books & @TechNetUK. That's how I do it.” –Samuel Roach

What are your thoughts?

Enhanced Better Together: Lync Client to Support Better Together Over IP

2013-05-08T08:33:00.001-07:00

About a month ago I noted that one of the announcements out of Enterprise Connect was the coming availability of “Enhanced Better Together” functionality for snom UC Edition phones. At that time I supposed this was purely a snom moniker, but considering various Lync Compatible IP Phone vendors are now noting coming “Enhanced Better Together” functionality I suspect this may actually be enabled via new functionality in the Microsoft Lync 2013 client.

The reasons for my thinking this is a new Lync 2013 client driven feature is that both snom and Audiocodes seem to be noting this new “Enhanced Better Together” functionality. Audiocodes specifically notes it is “Better Together support over Ethernet”. (shown below)

snom

What Functionality Will “Enhanced Better Together” support?

At the moment snom specifically mentions click to dial and
“deeper integration and support for Lync collaboration and calling features” –snom click here
Click to Call –snom click here
it will work “over Ethernet” –audiocodes click here

When Will It Arrive?

Audiocodes notes “Enhanced Better Together” is a “2013 Roadmap Feature”. Not very specific, but it gives an idea.

Will Lync Phone Edition Devices Get “Enhanced Better Together” Functionality?

At this time there is no indication that LPE devices will get this functionality. Only “Lync Compatible IP Phones” (as opposed to Lync Optimized devices) vendors seem to be noting this functionality.

Conclusion

Considering Microsoft is leaning more and more on non-Lync Phone Edition firmware based devices, this is very welcome news as users expect endpoint to be very integrated to the Lync client experience.

#Lync User QuickTip #27: Pickup With USB Headset From PC or Lync Phone Edition Handset With Better Together

2013-04-26T13:32:00.001-07:00

So you have a Lync Phone Edition device with Better Together USB tether. You want to answer on the deskphone when you pickup the handset and from your USB/Bluetooth headset when you click on Accept” from Lync client. How do you do this?

Plug in your Lync Phone Edition
Now just select your USB/Bluetooth headset as “Primary Device”

Now calls dialed/answered from PC will use USB headset and calls dialed/answered from phone will use desk phone.

What Would Lync 2013 Mobile Look Like Running on $199 Nexus 7?

2013-04-24T14:16:00.001-07:00

Lync 2013 Mobile is not supported on Nexus 7 and thus you will not find it on Google Play. But what would it look like if you went in “experimental mode” and installed the .APK on the Nexus 7? Take a look below.

Pros

Very low cost Lync video endpoint

Cons

no ear piece on the device
Notice the dialer screen the buttons do not line up with touch sometimes

Get apk: click here

You may have interest in my review of Lync 2013 Mobile for Android Review:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2013/03/lync-2013-mobile-for-android-first-look.html

Some of My .NET Development Tools

2013-04-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

I’m just a “shade-tree” .NET developer but there some tools I use I thought I would book mark with this page.

Icon Creator:
http://iconverticons.com/online/

Nirsoft IconExtract:

Color Picker: ColorPix (no install, just run .exe on PC)
http://www.colorschemer.com/colorpix_info.php

Not a tool, just tutorials on WPF: Everything Technet is not:
http://wpftutorial.net/WrapPanel.html

My Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2 (Windows 8) Video Review

2013-04-22T05:19:00.001-07:00

Below is my video review of the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2. My overall impression of the Tablet 2 is very good. It is a Thinkpad and looks and feels business class.

Pros

SIM Card/Data Capable
Ligher than Surface but not too light
standard USB charging port
Full sized USB for peripherals
slick Thinkpad quality bluetooth keyboard as extra accessory
ATOM processor and Win8 Pro means you can run standard Windows Apps

Cons

easy for hands to cover speakers
squeezing the unit in the middle—flexes, not solid

How to Use snom UC Edition Address Book Search With Microsoft Lync

2013-04-18T14:10:00.001-07:00

The address book search works quite slick on snom 7xx (and others). For the snom 720 and 760 there is a dedicated search button you can just press.

If you are on a snom 710 you will need to login to the web UI and set one of the 4 soft buttons to be a “ABS” (address book search) button. (shown below)

Now just press the Directory/ABS button and type in the name you want to lookup JUST like on a Lync Phone Edition device, wait a moment and the users that match will be displayed along with the presence for the users.

Video below on how it works:

Script

the 720/760 is the Directory/ABS button

LPE requires no button press,

Directory (ABS), 627 (MAR)

But now lets look at how snom UC Edition goes beyond LPE

directory, now you can use number OR letters (to be more specific)

you can search users OR Distribution Groups (not Lync created groups)

at the end talk about 710 button define in WUI.

Ubiquiti Unifi Now Supports Zero-Handoff Roaming: Extremely Affordable Voice Wifi Network?

2013-04-09T11:53:00.001-07:00

We have been using Ubiquiti Networks very affordable Unifi access points to bring WIFI to blanket large areas. Unifi firmware version 3.02 BETA has been released which now brings zero-handoff roaming (roaming for real-time/VoIP) to these very low priced access points. Below we will give a quick run through of our initial experience with this new firmware and feature.

How To Setup

First update your Unifi to firmware version 3.02. (you will need to sign up as a Beta user). Next setup a new WLAN Group by navigating Settings > Wireless Networks >

Next add a new WLAN Group by click the “+”. Now give a name and Enabled Zero-handoff to make your roaming WLAN Group.

Finally just add the access points you want to participate in this roaming group to this WLAN Group and you should be good to go.

NOTE: Zero-handoff participating access point need to have WPApsk security enabled.

What Our Simple Tests Indicate

NOTE: Please note that Unifi is NOT Microsoft Lync certified wifi access point.

For our first test we used a Nexus 4 Android phone running Lync 2013 Mobile connected to Lync Server 2013. We initiated a VoIP call to a mobile phone and then walked from 1 access point to another while a system administrator ensured that a handoff from one access point to another occurred using the Unfi admin panel. There was no apparent audio dropout or distortion that we could notice.

We also configured the Spectralink 8440 wifi portable phone to connect to a standard SIP based PBX. Once again the audio did not seem to cut out during a call. We did notice that if roaming occurred when the Spectralink was on the fringe of both access points there was some audio distortion.

(these simple tests did not test loading the access points, just 1 simple call)

Conclusion

This was a very basic test. But I think it is very interesting to see Unifi get zero-handoff roaming capability that at first look appears like it could eventually work with VoIP equipment.

Outlook.com Calendar Metro-ization Is Now Live

2013-04-03T06:04:00.001-07:00

It looks like my Outlook.com Calendar is now Metroized!

sharing calendar

People

Totally expected, but rumors are that Skype will be coming to Outlook.com as well.