Microsoft Lync: We're almost there!

Today, Microsoft Lync, the next generation of unified communications, was released to manufacturing (RTM). This is the final engineering milestone before Lync is generally available worldwide on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 in New York City.

Lync brings instant messaging, presence, video and voice capabilities together, making it easier to communicate virtually face-to-face despite location. Any conversation can include video, application and desktop-sharing, and enable people to be fully present in meetings without being physically in the room. Lync capabilities will also be available in Office 365, announced earlier this month, allowing companies to use Lync on premises, in the cloud, or as a combination of the two.

Check out Microsoft’s Unified Communications Group Team Blog for the announcement by Kirk Gregerson senior director of product management, Microsoft Lync. Also, download the Lync release candidate for a fully functional version of Lync Server 2010.