Microsoft Lync® now in Sri Lanka, taking communications to new heights

Microsoft Sri Lanka has released Microsoft Lync, the next generation of communications that connects people in new ways. Starting today, Lync is available to all business customers in the country.

Recently released by Microsoft Corp. in the US markets, Lync is a single platform that integrates instant messaging, presence, audio, video and web conferencing and voice to bring people together in the ways they communicate best. Lync provides one interface that works with applications that businesses know and use today, including Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Lync is now known as the new family brand for the products formerly known as Microsoft Communications Server, Microsoft Office Communications Online and Microsoft Office Communicator which now also includes Microsoft Lync Web App and Microsoft Lync Online.

“Lync delivers on Microsoft’s vision to unify all of the areas of modern business communication, giving people a more collaborative experience with features like HD video conference recording activity feeds,” said Mr. Pubudu Basnayake – SMS&P Director, Microsoft Sri Lanka. “In addition to transforming how people communicate, IT departments can also benefit from Lync and evolve their infrastructure while enhancing or eliminating their traditional PBX systems, saving time and money.”

Microsoft Lync can make every engagement a virtual face-to-face meeting, because any interaction can include video and audio conferencing, application and desktop sharing, instant messaging, and telephony. Lync has been designed from the ground up to work with Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Exchange, which helps reduce end-user adoption hurdles and increase return on investment. People can also stay connected to others on a wide range of devices while away from the office and manage their communications and calls in new ways, such as easily moving a call from a PC to a mobile device while leaving the office without disrupting the conversation.

Microsoft Lync is now available as a hosted solution. Microsoft recently announced Office 365, an always-up-to-date cloud service that brings together Lync, SharePoint, Exchange, and Office. IM, presence and conferencing will be available in Office 365 via Lync Online, which will be available later this year. Office 365 gives people the power of Office with the capabilities of Microsoft’s market-leading servers – all in a single cloud service. Office 365 is considered to be a new approach to cloud applications altogether. It brings Office desktop software and Office Web Apps to business cloud services for the first time. It also entails more complete versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync and a new platform with single sign in, federated identity, scripting and more. The Lync Web App is a browser-based application that enables people to either join a meeting through the browser or download the client to their desktop. Lync Online is a rich application that includes IM, Presence, web conferencing and peer-to-peer audio (PC to PC).  It has all of the Lync Server functionality (integration into Office, SharePoint, and Exchange) and collaboration tools (desktop sharing, document sharing, whiteboard, etc.).

The Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile offers a variety of features that extend far beyond those offered by others in the industry. Users of Office Communicator Mobile can “hand off” a call to an alternate number such as a home phone or mobile phone when answered or redirect the call when it rings. Some of the other features are that voicemails appear as emails and a preview transcription accompanies the voicemail ready to play on the mobile device. Enterprise Cellular Telephony (ECT) allows calls made to a user’s desk phone to automatically generate an “incoming call” notification on their Communicator Mobile phone and Instant Messaging and presence allows users to see status of availability of their contacts and provides access levels to control the amount and type of presence information is available to them.

In order to make Microsoft Lync as user friendly as possible, today, Lync is already available on IE, Safari and Firefox. Microsoft pledges that it will continue to evaluate other browsers based on customer demand so that Lync can be used on competitive browsers as well. In keeping with the intention of being user friendly Microsoft Lync is available for business customers worldwide in over 150 countries and in more than 38 languages.

Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 is available for purchase in Sri Lanka.