The Three UC Amigos

Three Microsoft UC technology specialists covering U.S. Education

Update for Communicator for Mac 2011 13.1.2 just released

This fixes some hangs and other issues. Grab it here.

Author: markga Date: 07/30/2011

Want some deeper dive video based training on the upcoming Office 365 cloud offering?

  Some excellent Office 365 video jump start training delivered by the products teams covering...

Author: markga Date: 06/20/2011

Updates to Lync 2010 Resource Kit

Two new chapters have been posted to the Kit. One on Direct SIP and the other on Exchange Unified...

Author: GregK Date: 06/06/2011

NEW-Lync Adoption and Training Kits !!!

Lync Adoption and Training Downloads Microsoft Lync 2010 Adoption and Training Kit The Microsoft...

Author: bill hagen Date: 05/25/2011

Video Solutions for Lync

Just as we have defined certification and testing for UC with PBXs, SIP providers, e911, and...

Author: GregK Date: 05/25/2011

Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit New and Updated Chapters available

Some outstanding Lync Server deep details in the Lync Server 2010 Res Kit with new content updates...

Author: markga Date: 05/20/2011

Lync for Windows Phone 7.x and new Mango Outlook Mobile features

Updated 5-24-11 with new Mango information   At TechEd 2011 this week, we demoed the beta of...

Author: markga Date: 05/19/2011

UM and hypervisor-based clustering now supported when virtualizing Exchange 2010

Some great news announced by the product team today: The Unified Messaging server role is now...

Author: markga Date: 05/16/2011

Client Virtualization for Lync 2010

This has been a hot topic for some of my customers and I’m very happy to see it’s release. The...

Author: GregK Date: 05/04/2011

Can I really move to a backupless state with Exchange 2010?

This was asked by a university in California.  The answer is yes it is possible with Exchange...

Author: markga Date: 05/03/2011

Are there specific PBX or SIP gateway configuration technotes for Exchange 2010 UM?

A university moving away from Modular Messaging to Exchange 2010 UM wanted to know.  Yes, the...

Author: markga Date: 04/26/2011

Is there additional end user training for Lync available?

Yes, Bill found some additional end user self paced training for Lync. Here is the course agenda:...

Author: markga Date: 04/25/2011

Lync and SQL 2008 R2–Now Supported

  The Lync Server product team has completed testing of Lync Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008...

Author: GregK Date: 04/25/2011

How do you schedule Lync meetings without Outlook?

You couldn’t until today. Now you can grab the Lync Server 2010 Web Scheduler. Here is what the Lync...

Author: markga Date: 04/18/2011

Can Lync IM federate with Google Talk or Jabber instant messaging?

This was asked by a few universities. The answer is yes using our Microsoft XMPP gateway.  ...

Author: markga Date: 04/11/2011

Exchange 2010 SP1 Unified Messaging

As discussed with a lot of my customers Exchange UM no longer uses System Center (SCOM). Exchange...

Author: GregK Date: 04/11/2011

OK So I have multiple Datacenters and I want Site Resiliency

  A common question for multi-datacenter deployments is how can we configure a DAG where...

Author: GregK Date: 04/11/2011

Lync Cumulative Update 2 - April 2011 is available for download

CU2 update for Lync clients, phones, and servers available: Lync 2010 (64bit) 2496325 Lync 2010...

Author: markga Date: 04/06/2011

New Lync optimized headsets available from Microsoft

These are our first Microsoft headsets certified for Lync:   LX-4000  USB wired headset –...

Author: markga Date: 04/04/2011

Lync Instructor-Led Training

  Attend one of our FREE instructor-led sessions to learn firsthand how easy it is to get...

Author: GregK Date: 04/01/2011

streaming video with Lync

  OK. This doesn’t happen out-of-box. You can share a video on a desktop screen but we all now...

Author: GregK Date: 03/31/2011

Where is the Lync end user training material?

I get asked this question from several of my education customers who are in the process of deploying...

Author: markga Date: 03/30/2011

IM an Expert Lync bot available for download and other Lync customization examples

What is a Lync query response bot? A Lync query response bot is custom developed automation...

Author: markga Date: 03/24/2011

Lync Server Standard CAL is being added to Core CAL suite

This is good news that you can be licensed for Lync IM and Presence via new Core CAL suite coming...

Author: markga Date: 03/22/2011

What is new with Group Chat in Lync Server 2010?

updated – 3-16-11 with new information   What is Lync Group Chat? Persistent topic-based...

Author: markga Date: 03/15/2011

How do I size and stress test my Lync servers?

This is a question I get a lot from my customers. In addition to using the new Lync Server 2010...

Author: markga Date: 03/11/2011

What roles can I virtualize with Lync 2010?

I was asked this by a university in San Diego.  What are the supported Lync roles that can be...

Author: markga Date: 03/02/2011

When the going gets rough…Lync can help

Marquette University was part of our early adopter program for Lync Server. They currently have...

Author: markga Date: 02/24/2011

Server Virtualization for Lync

I learned something today about Lync virtualization. We recommend an 8 CPU core (Enterprise class...

Author: GregK Date: 02/22/2011

Lync 2010 Best Practice Analyzer is now available

This is a great tool to analyze your Lync deployment and should be leveraged on a daily/weekly basis...

Author: markga Date: 02/18/2011

Can you walk through all the video formats supported by Lync Server 2010?

I was asked this by a university in Virginia.  I found this useful matrix showing the supported...

Author: markga Date: 02/04/2011

Want to get some training on Lync? Have I got a deal for you…

There are some FREE Lync instructor led training courses that have become available to learn Lync....

Author: markga Date: 02/02/2011

Cumulative Update 1 available for Lync 2010 client

These include a couple of tweaks for LIS, client fixes, and IP phone tweaks, etc: Lync Client 32 bit...

Author: markga Date: 01/31/2011

But does Lync Server 2010 really have PBX voice reliability or call scalability?

A question often asked by my education customers. Recently, a well respected and unbiased 3rd party...

Author: markga Date: 01/21/2011

Staged Deployment of Lync 2010

In some cases you may want to reduce the workload on servers or stage deployment of all the features...

Author: GregK Date: 01/18/2011

Adding users in bulk to Lync

OK. We don’t support WMI and now the WMI script for bulk user load doesn’t work for Lync clients. I...

Author: GregK Date: 01/12/2011

Custom states–revisited

It still works. I had a question today about custom states. We are still using four custom states...

Author: GregK Date: 01/11/2011

Open Interoperability Program Updated

The OIP has been updated to include Lync 2010. If you are looking for what PBXs provide Direct SIP,...

Author: GregK Date: 01/10/2011

What is your video conferencing interoperability with Lync Server 2010?

Updated 3-15-2011 with new RMX screenshots Updated 2-18-2011 with new interop information I was...

Author: markga Date: 01/07/2011

Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant Wizard updated

This is pretty nice update since it is adding in updates for coexistence and cloud hybrid and cloud...

Author: markga Date: 01/06/2011

New Lync Developer training available

Some cool Lync dev training available if you are looking to extend Lync into your line of business...

Author: markga Date: 01/03/2011

New Mac Office Communicator 2011 update 13.1 available with Apple Desktop Sharing

What is in this release? This release includes a huge new feature my education customers have been...

Author: markga Date: 12/17/2010

Is there a matrix comparing Lync clients such as PC, Web, Mac, Phone, and mobile?

This has been a question asked by several customers.  I just stumbled across this new useful...

Author: markga Date: 12/17/2010

But I don’t want everyone to see my presence

  You don’t have to. In Lync we have the option of setting the enhanced privacy mode where only...

Author: GregK Date: 12/08/2010

What are all of the Lync IP phones available to me?

This was a question from a school district in Colorado looking to retire Avaya and replace with Lync...

Author: markga Date: 12/07/2010

Can you provide more details around whether or not I need to deploy a Survivable Branch Appliance for my Lync deployment?

This question was asked by a college based out of Florida looking to deploy Lync for their 1500...

Author: markga Date: 12/02/2010

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