Nov 22, 2013

Lync Server 2013 is a completely revised unified communication product from Microsoft. It offers a set of features that are not available in any previous versions of Microsoft VOIP solution. Lync Server 2013 now offers a clean new look with great features to help you communicate quickly and easily. So let’s take a closer look at these exciting features!

Quick Lync menu

Lync now uses a Quick Lync menu to provide more functionality with less clutter. You can start a chat, voice call, video call, or view a contact card with a single click. On the right of each contact, there are 3 dots. Hover over this with your cursor to view these actions.

Improved conversations settings

The new Lync features a 'Favourites group' that keeps a list of the people you contact most. It also has tabbed conversations meaning that you can have conversations in separate tabs instead of separate windows. If you do prefer one window per conversation, this option is still available. You can enable this on the Contact List options page and Lync will remember your conversation settings even after you sign out. Chat rooms that can hold historical data are now available with Lync Server 2013. Chat room privacy settings can also be adjusted to open, closed and secret. Once you enter a chat room, the pictures at the top show you its members and their current presence status.

Gallery view

The new gallery view enables you to view all the participants’ pictures or videos in a conversation. In meetings, Lync highlights the dominant speaker’s video by placing it in the ‘standing row’ and displays the less active participants in the sitting rows. When there are more than five participants in a video conference, the five most active participants’ ‘video windows’ appear in the top row. Here are a few other handy views are also available with Lync Server 2013:

• Speaker View – This shows the meeting content with the presenter’s video or picture in the lower-right corner of the meeting window.
• Presentation View – This only shows the meeting content in full view and hides the participants in the conversation.
• Compact View – This only shows the participants’ pictures where you’re able to view their contact information by hovering over their picture.

Join a Lync meeting anywhere

Whether you’re in your office or on the road, you can join a Lync Meeting with only a single click. You no longer need to remember dial-in numbers and passcodes since you can join a Lync meeting by clicking on an Outlook meeting reminder on your computer or clicking on the reminder from the calendar or meeting pane on a Windows Phone, iOS or Android device. For all the Mac users out there, don’t fret, you’re not missing out. The Lync web application allows Mac users to join a meeting experiencing the full HD experience! In my opinion, Lync Server has come a long way. Connecting and communicating with other people has never been so simple. If you're an IT professional considering Microsoft Lync Server 2013 in your organisation, you should look into New Horizons' 20336 - Core Solutions of Microsoft Lync Server 2013 training program.