I’ve started my own company!

It´’s been awfullt silent for quite a while now!
I´ve started my own company, gotten married and been on honeymoon.

You can visit my website at www.ullmarkconsulting.se
Here you´ll find information (in swededish) about Unified Communications, Infrastrucure and things that matter.

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New Optimized for Lync Corded Headsets – Lifechat LX Series

Two corded models from Microsoft that are Optimized for Lync – “For business only”

Microsoft Lifechat LX-4000 (mono)

Microsoft Lifechat LX-6000 (duo)

Microsoft Lync April 4th Updates

Here are the 4th of April updates for Microsoft Lync 2010

Lync 2010 Hotfix KB 2496325 (64 bit)
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010.

Lync 2010 Hotfix KB 2496325 (32 bit)
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010.

Lync 2010 Attendee Hotfix KB 2500438 (Admin level install)
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010 Attendee.

Lync 2010 Group Chat Hotfix KB 2500446
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010 Group Chat.

Lync 2010 Group Chat Admin Tool Hotfix KB 2500445
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010 Group Chat Admin Tool.

Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Hotfix KB 2500447

This download includes all available updates for Lync Server 2010 Group Chat.

Lync 2010 Attendant Hotfix KB 2496326
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010 Attendant.

Lync 2010 Attendee Hotfix KB 2500440 (User level install)
This download includes all available updates for Lync 2010 Attendee.

Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX700 and LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540

Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Aastra 6721ip and Aastra 6725ip

Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX500, Polycom CX600 and Polycom CX3000

Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX700 and LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540

Microsoft Lync Client for Windows Phone 7 is here

Great news for all of you that´s been waiting for a mobile Lync client…it´s on Marketplace – download here! Link is broken

Update: Lync WP7 Client FAQ

According to Michael W. Olesen’s blog, it delivers the following capabilities:

• Perform normal chat, presence management, note editing etc
• Manage contacts, groups etc in Lync
• View contacts’ calendars
• Search contacts in AD
• Manage multiple profiles – ideal for ie. Consultants and others who could connect to multiple locations. Some of you who notice that we store credentials on the phone (AES enctrypted)…. The server can set a policy preventing this on the devices

Please be aware of that this client is not from the Microsoft Lync Product team, their client haven´t yet been released. In my previous blog post you can read more about Microsoft’s official statement on Lync clients for mobile devices.
Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president of the Office business productivity group reweled some interesting facts during his keynote at Enterprise Connect in Orlando  “We have a strategy that says best and first on Windows,” he said, with clients for iPhone, Android, and Nokia to follow (wonder how long the Nokia client will be maintained).

The “unofficial” Lync client for WP7 is now available on Marketplace. Note that backend and gateway services is required. The same developer team seems to be working on a Lync client for iPhone…cool!

Do you know how Office 365 will impact the user experience and infrastructure complexity?

A: Yes I get the big picture but as you probably have learned the hard way; it’s the details that matter in the end.

It’s easy to look a the license fee for a cloud user, but can you tell the total cost per user when including all affected areas?

It’s time to refresh my cloud readiness and get updated on Office 365. I plan to take some technical training and then have an “easy” time with the sales training.

The coexistence between a private cloud and Office 365 needs to be understood in detail. The impact on the user experience, changing infrastructure requirements and raised security concerns are fundamental areas to cover when deciding if your company is ready to take the leap. I´m working with large on-site deployments of Microsoft Lync,   I’ve also had a sneak peak at what´s possible with Lync Online

Here are some Office 365 partner training that can get you started:

• Office 365 Ignite Technical Training
• Office 365 Sales Training
• Office 365 Technical Training

Additional information from TechEd Europe 2010

• Microsoft Office 365: Directory Synchronization
• Microsoft Office 365: Identity and Access Solutions

If you know of any great  Office 365 training, please drop a comment.

Polycom and Microsoft Lync 2010 HD 720p with native RT-video

Polycom has provided Lync integration for a while now, now the fully supported clients are available for download. In the next minor update, (Wave 4.1) native RT-video (RTV) support is included. This means that the Polycom HDX can talk directly with the Lync MCU – offering 720p HD video from Lync client to Polycom HDX endpoint without any additional hardware / gateway.

Read Jeff Schertz excellent blog post for additional information!

Polycom UC Deployment Guide

New Outlook 2010 integration features with Lync 2010

The following are new Outlook 2010 integration features, which appear when Lync is present:

• New contact card with expanded options such as video call and desktop sharing
• Quick search from the Outlook Find a Contact field
• Reply with an instant message or call from the Outlook Home ribbon in the Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks folders
• Lync Contacts list in the Outlook To-Do Bar

Two additional Lync integration features are specific to Office 2010:

• File tab presence (click Info, and then look under Related People)
• Presence menu in Microsoft Office SharePoint Workspace 2010 (formerly Microsoft Office Groove 2007)

Source: Lync 2010 Integration on TechNet

Conversation translation in real-time with Microsoft Lync

A really cool feature in Lync Client 2010 is the conversation translator. It uses Bing with Silverlight, and lets you chat with someone using a language you don´t master. It translates the conversation in real-time!

In the mean time, read this great blog post which explains how to enable the feature:
http://ocsguy.com/2011/02/17/lync-client-conversation-translator

The translation function uses the Microsoft.Lync.Model.Conversation namespace from the Lync Model API to intercept instant messages and provide translation using Bing Web Services.
Features include:

• The sample provides an example architecture for registering for and handling asynchronous Lync 2010 API events in Silverlight.
• Register for two Conversation related events: ParticipantAdded and InstantMessageReceived.
• Use the BeginSendMessage method and callback.
• Uses the Bing Translator Web Service.

More information at msdn

Conferencing interoperability issues in Microsoft Lync Server 2010

This information is directly from Technet and needs to be carefully considered when planning for a migration from Office Communications Server to Lync Server 2010. Remember to set end user expectations right from the beginning.

Compatibility Among Meeting Types and Client Versions

It is important to be aware of some conferencing interoperability issues in Lync Server 2010. If you are going to have Lync Server 2010 interoperate with previous versions of Office Communications Server and its clients, you must be aware of the following issues:

• Users using Lync 2010 cannot schedule Live Meeting online conferences, or modify any migrated meetings of this type.
• Users using Lync 2010 who need to attend Live Meeting online conferences hosted on servers running Office Communications Server 2007 R2 must have the Live Meeting client installed on their computer (in addition to Lync 2010) to attend these meetings.
• When Live Meeting online conferences are migrated to Lync Server 2010, meeting content does not migrate. If this content is needed, it must be uploaded again.
• Users who are migrated from previous versions of Office Communications Server to Lync Server 2010 and who use Lync 2010 will receive a new assigned dial-in conference ID the first time they schedule an assigned dial-in conference meeting. They can use this new assigned dial-in conference ID to both schedule and attend meetings. The old ID will continue to work for previously scheduled meetings, but newly scheduled meetings are assigned the new ID.
• Users in federated organizations who are using Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 or Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 clients cannot join Lync Server 2010 meetings in your organization unless the admission type for the meeting is set to Everyone. Federated users cannot join closed (company and invitation-only participants) meetings or meetings locked by the organizer, unless they use a Lync 2010 client.

Have a look at my blog post containing links to videos from teched Berlin, there´s some great movies on the topic of migration and co existence.

Updated Microsoft Lync Server 2010 planning tool

“What’s New in the Planning Tool for Lync Server 2010?

• You can select virtualized server roles for your topology.
• The Planning Tool offers more granular capacity guidance than in earlier releases.
• You can customize individual branch site information.
• The topology pages display site information, such as number of users and number of enabled users for various modalities.
• The Planning Tool invites you to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), helping make the planning tool better.
• You can view your edge network diagram and enter FQDNs and IP addresses and view the certificates, DNS settings, and firewall settings for your edge network in the central sites when using DNS Load Balancing or Hardware Load Balancing for Edge Servers. You can also import this information to Topology Builder. You can also export the diagram and the data to the Microsoft Visio drawing and diagramming software.
• You can export your topology file to Topology Builder for a faster, easier Lync Server setup experience.
• You can export the global topology, with its corresponding branch sites, as well as the number of concurrent calls connecting each central site, to the PSTN into Visio. The Visio output contains improved drawings for each of the site topologies.
• The Planning Tool exports a list of the hardware for all sites, including branch sites, to a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
• The Planning Tool accommodates more supported topologies for Enterprise Voice and dial-in conferencing.
• Navigation between topologies and server information has been improved.
• You can resize or maximize the Planning Tool window to better accommodate your screen resolution.
• The Planning Tool provides a menu bar and a toolbar for available actions.
• The Planning Tool incorporates new Microsoft Lync Server 2010 features and topology recommendations.
• Users are now evenly distributed among the Front End pools”

Download

Here´s a nice blog post from the The Three UC Amigos, with some screenshots and further explanations on Lync Planning Tool RTM