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(c)
Lync Forum
December 22 - Issue 69
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Lync Forum is an independent forum on
Microsoft Communications, Unified & Contextual-Communications.
Microsoft is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.
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Dear Thomas,
Welcome to the Lync Forum - click here for Lync Forum website.
Happy Holidays & Have a Wonderful QoE-Quality oh Experience
Before you start any SIP-UC project, get two things in
place and tested thoroughly: 1) QoS/QoE tools and 2) a comprehensive security
solution. The QoS/QoE
will help give you a current network assessment and potential weaknesses.
Next, I spend a whole day on SIP security and "calljacking" (my term) attacks and there is
"no doubt" by anyone that Microsoft products have serious
security issues.
If you have comments or insights, please send me an email.
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Special Advertiser
Managed Solution is a Systems Integrator specializing in Unified
Communications and network and systems infrastructure.
Providing
solutions from both Microsoft and Cisco we have a unique perspective
on the UC marketplace. We are
excited about the release of Lync and its ability to integrate with
Microsoft's desktop applications as well as SharePoint, CRM and the
rest of the Microsoft productivity stack.
Lync puts
Microsoft as the leader in UC and the market is really paying
attention.
Managed
Solution specializes in assisting
organizations
with reducing IT operations costs while increasing end user
productivity. We can be reached at 888-563-9132 or on the web
at www.managedsolution.com.
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UC
Needs UM for QoE otherwise you get an RGE
Unified Communications Needs
Unified Management for Quality of Experience
Lync Performance Management Software
Customers should be totally and rightfully concerned about
how Lync will perform since it is fully dependent on the voice and
data infrastructure it runs on. It is about time we see vendors
helping customers manage across the boundaries between QoE-Quality of Experience, Network Infrastructure
and Voice Servers which of course is not a Microsoft only
conversation. Kontinuum by Servera, Inc (www.LyncManagement.com)
looks to be one of the first solutions designed specifically to
address performance and quality risks for Lync™ and the
infrastructure it depends on. The following diagram is how Servera about the management challenges ahead:
click here for larger version.
 Get QoE Before You Get An RGE
"Unified
Communications demands Unified Management and customers want to know
that they have everything covered," says Shih CEO of Kontinuum software. Kontinuum
is a Lync UM solution designed to assist teams with assessment,
monitoring, troubleshooting and reporting on everything involved in
making the UC environment healthy.
The first
major component with Kontinuum is the Lync Readiness Assessment
capability which gives a deep analysis of an IT environment's ability
to support a high-quality end user experience. I wrote a paper on the
Top-10 Issues Before VoIP for XO and the #1 Issue is getting an network assessment.
Kontinuum consists of active
simulations of Lync traffic while at the same time passively
analyzing its impact on the network and dependant
servers. Servera recommends this as a way
to understand risk points within the IT infrastructure and gives a
great visual report that will make potential problems obvious and
couples it with insight and recommendations. Below is an example:
click
here for larger version.
Next Kontinuum focuses on
enabling change control by monitoring changes in quality of
experience, network device configurations, bandwidth and application
congestion and of course Lync server performance metrics. Enabling
visibility and control across all the dependencies enables teams to
detect performance threats and become proactive in their delivery of
this high profile set of services.
Servera is betting that their solution is
unique in having all these disparate concepts put into one simple
solution before you have a RGE-Resume Generating Event when the CEO
has a call with Wall Street and the call quality is so bad and you a
looking for your next job.
In my SIP and OCS (now Lync of course), classes I start by
recommending that companies get QoS-Quality
of Service tools and SIP security protection before the pilot.
Otherwise, the RGE will be one the events that will certainly occur.
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ONE LAST LOOK
- Lync CAL-Customer Access License Prices
 I get a lot of
emails on "how much does Lync cost" though they use another
word beginning with the letter "s." Of course, in
other mags/blogs there is "much to do
about nothing" from all the pundits about how Lync is going fail
and their going to win. Alas, few simply point out that if you
like Outlook, then your fate is complete, Lync is the answer.
If you don't like Outlook, then look at Google (maybe even Facebook)
but certainly not the traditional "PBX gang." I started a
journey like a person might by asking for help (hence the Help button
to the right). I asked a lot of people about putting together
various types of Lync systems such as a BO-branch office, 100 user and 1,000 user system. That is, if you
want to get Lync, you need to know how much cheese, pasta, tomato
sauce and other ingredients you will need.
Next, I warmed up the oven and started asking people
for more information on what I might have forgotten.  I asked even more
people about the components. Certainly the complexities of all
the CAL options are not really explained very well in all the
Microsoft documents like media gateways, infrastructure, etc.
Ok, that's not quite the story either. Yes, there is a vast
amount of information but its
all so general you can quite figure out how much you really
need. I even did a Google search and found no help there.
So, if you are selling Lync related gear or goodies, then ramp up
your Google AdWords budget and get going.
I spent nearly a whole day just looking for information and then was
sent to Microsoft's Lync Partner Showcase page and looked around there for a while. Even called a
few of the companies listed. It was more like going shopping at
a mall where you had to go to each store to get each item for the pizza
and all I was looking for was California Pizza Kitchen.
 Next, I started
calling the old PBX-key system trusty reliable "Maytag
Repairman" guys who have been doing this before many of you were
born or toddlers (aka 1975). There comments were less than
enthusiastic. Not that they are "Luddites" by any
means but these folks make a living by keeping simple telephone
systems "alive" and help small business customers do their
job. One commented that the customer may die before the
antiquated pre-12K key system did. "It just won't
die," he said like the "Maytag Repairman."
Customers don't want anything more than phones, most commented.
This are also guys who know VoIP and have heard every story in the
book. Few of them have installed hosted-VoIP either. Many
customers just not wanting to take the chance on external reliability
was the common theme against hosted VoIP. However, I did an "apple-to-apples"
comparison between traditional TDM, IP and Lync for a SMB or BO
setting of less than 40 stations. Now, don't quote me or even
ask me to do it again but the price for Lync is not awful
at all. According to Sean Ferrell, CEO of ManagedSolution.com
(and yes, a new advertiser) who sells both Cisco and Microsoft said, "we tell people it's
about $30 per month per user." This
applies to hosted or premise-based solutions. Remember Sean and
I are both saying YMMV-your mileage may vary but this is close to
what I found as well. For Lync on-premise, you need 1-2
servers, gateway, phones, CAL, etc. For hosted, it's gateway and phones. In comparison,
traditional TDM, I was told by a number of sources that $300-500 a
year per user is the range. So whether is $30 x120 = $360 or
$3-500, both are in the range. Each has advantages and issues
but it's time to start to baking a pizza.
 I also wanted to
leave you with a point about the future. Lync is also really
about total content management, business intelligence, collaboration
and other issues. In other words, when you are talking about
Lync, you should be really talking about the other business needs a
customer has. I have built three courses on SharePoint, trained
hundreds on it and used it to manage more than 20 courses at a major
telecom company. SharePoint works even for a group of five IT
trainers who teach a wide range of courses. A SMB example is
you have five products and each has a flyer, FAQ, documentation,
price sheets, white papers, customer case studies and more. How
do you manage all that content without each sales person having a
different version which may be out-of-date or wrong version of the product. You use SharePoint for to manage
all that content. Click here for larger version of the graphic.
This is a bit off-track but is not simply about
communications but communicating the right-content to the
right-person at the right-time. We will also be doing two new
newsletters on SharePoint and Channel convergence which you can signup if you are interested below.
Here is just
one page from the Microsoft Server 2010 Pricing and Licensing overview.
As you can see the price for Lync is relatively
inexpensive by itself. However, Lync pricing is certainly not
about Lync it
is all about "taking
the total business from the customer," one MS VAR who insisted on remaining anonymous.
I don't disagree with that. Frankly it just stating the obvious
and if you or anyone else could do that, you certainly would (take
all the money). To that point alone, another MS VAR said,
"it's just easier to buy the entire package, than try to figure
out which user(s) need what features."
This is a multi-part series because a number of people
wanted to do their own analysis before commenting to me.
Click Here for
complete presentation
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ONE LAST LOOK
- Part 2 of 2 - Lync CAL-Customer Access License Prices by Andy Ord
Introduction
With the Microsoft virtual product launch (including a
well-staged appearance from Bill Gates) and numerous regional events
in recent weeks Lync Server 2010 has been responsible for
unprecedented interest in Microsoft unified communications. Now
that the whirlwind of events is over and the dust settles I'm
receiving a number of queries regarding licensing. So users can
receive the feature rich experience Microsoft intended a number of
licenses must be in place. In this post I'm confident you will
find a concise reference for anyone deploying an on-premise Lync
Server 2010 solution.
Pre-Requisites
Before considering what you must purchase for an on-premise
Lync solution there is a number of other Microsoft products which
must be in place and licensed accordingly. As a minimum the
following must be in place, Windows Server and SQL Server. It
is essential that you have in place the licenses for these products,
thereafter if deploying the full unified communications experience:
· SharePoint is required for
users taking advantage of skill search
· Exchange is required for users
with unified messaging
· Office 2010 is required for
users making use of Office integration
Windows Server is licensed through the Server/CAL model.
SQL is typically purchased in a similar Server/CAL model or "Per
Proc" for larger enterprise
deployments.
The version of Microsoft Office deployed is also a critical
pre-requisite. In order to access the functionality of Lync
Server 2010 the Lync client application must be in place. If
you do not have Office Professional Plus 2010 suite entitlement you
must purchase the standalone client application.
CAL Changes
Previous versions of Lync only had two CAL options, Standard
and Enterprise. Now with Lync we have three for consideration
as a new Plus CAL option has been introduced. Remember a CAL is
not a software product but rather the user right to access services
and this CAL dictates the feature entitlement. Microsoft has
thankfully published tables detailing the feature entitlement of each
CAL and I thoroughly recommend you review them at the earliest
opportunity. In brief some of the enterprise voice features
available in previous product versions have been placed into the Plus
CAL, this being a significant change from the previous Office
Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2 license model.
As a result of this change the enterprise voice technology
features available from the Plus CAL are no longer included within
the Enterprise CAL (ECAL) Suite. Although existing users of
Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2 can take advantage of
Grandfathering Software Assurance rights this will not be applicable
for new deployments. This change has been a common topic of
discussion however Microsoft provides competitive options for
purchasing enterprise voice features.
As with many other Microsoft products Lync CALs are
additive. For anyone new to Microsoft licensing let me explain
this means Enterprise CAL and Plus CAL is an additional purchase over
and above Standard CAL. Depending on the quantity of
users vs. devices you may obtain cost savings by purchasing CALs on a
"per User" CAL or "per Device" CAL basis.
Finally External Connector licenses may be appropriate if you want
external users who are not employees, for example, business partners
accessing your Lync services as authenticated users.
Server Licenses
As you would imagine a server license must be purchased for each
instance of the server software running regardless if the deployment
is virtualised or operating on physical server hardware. Two
editions exist, standard edition and enterprise edition.
Standard edition is typically deployed for smaller organisations or
in branch locations, enterprise being more applicable for larger
organisations or where high availability is essential.
Regardless of the server license purchased Lync Server 2010 can be
commissioned on a server with a number of roles. These roles provide
functionality for example, edge services for external access,
audio/video conferencing or mediation between the on-premise Lync
Server solution and the PSTN services. The majority of Lync
Server 2010 roles are considered "additional software" and do
not require a license, however each front end server role requires a
license.
Useful Links
With this concise summary I'm confident you can have informed
discussions with local Microsoft licensing resellers. Please
make use of the fantastic resources available via links below.
If considering Microsoft-hosted or Partner-hosted deployment models
please refer to the licensing guide in the first instance.
Microsoft Lync
Server 2010 Pricing and Licensing Guide
Andrew Ord Unified Communications Blog
Lync Skill
Search Demo
Lync Forward
to Mobile Demo
Lync Location
Demo
Lync Profile
Pictures Demo
Follow andyord and ucfocus on twitter
Bill Gates on
Microsoft Lync
Nexthop, the Microsoft Lync Server
team's customer response channel
Author
As a consultant, consumer and
active contributor in the world of unified communications I have been
fortunate enough to have started my journey from the earliest
commercial beginnings of IP enabled voice and collaboration.
The introduction of Lync Server 2010 in the unified communications
industry delivers upon the Microsoft vision Bill Gates had a number
of years ago" comments Andrews
Ord, Lync Server 2010 MVP Nominee,
as he prepares for his next user group event in the North, details of
which can be found here.
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Twitter - Top-10 Business
Benefits
& 77 case studies that prove social media ROI.
Onsite or Online Top-10 Twitter Tips for Business
Success
Training and Evaluation Available
Click here for TwitterTutors website.
Note on Twitter - An informative article in eMarketer
(source is http://socialmediatoday.com/)
shows that Twitter followers are more likely to induce advocacy and
future purchases than those on Facebook. According to their data, 37% of respondents were
more likely to purchase from a brand after following them on Twitter
as opposed to only 17% of those that "like" a brand on
Facebook. Twitter
is a platform that attracts an audience receptive to marketing
messages much more than Facebook. A great quote
that I wish I could say I came up with goes something like this:
"Facebook is for the people you know while Twitter is for those
you want to know." In addition, Facebook is not a good platform
for delivering news.
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Lync
Knowledge Source - 21 Blogs, Knowledge Sources & Growing
One-stop knowledge shopping on Lync Forum website
Click here
for Lync Forum
If you have a blog to add or want to add your own,
please send email to cross@cross.com
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Lync Summit
2011 Announced - June 15-17
Westin Westminster Colorado
For exhibiting, speaking and pre-post conference meeting-training
opportunities, call 303-594-1694 or email.
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Lync
Knowledge Source
Click here for Next Hop from MS --
"Whether you're new to Lync, Office Communications Server and
Unified Communications, simply looking for some helpful hints, or
trying to get some serious information, we'll help you find what you
need."
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A
new look for a new era in unified communications. In you would
like to see your products highlighted, reviewed and presented here or
in other publications such as:
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website.
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TECHtionary Knowledge
Source
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Advertising,
Exhibiting, Training and other Marcom Programs,
call 303-594-1694 or click here.
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without additional equipment, budget or time. This
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scenarios, review logs, break linkages and learning about new telephony
features and network access. Lync Forum is also designed for both
the system integrator/consultant who wants to learn about Lync without
having to build their own system as well as the enterprise customer who
doesn't have the time, resources or knowledge to develop one. Lync
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"over-the-shoulder" with experts available for Q&A and
classes for feature-specific review.
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