Monday, July 16, 2012

What's New in Lync 2013

With the recent announcement about Lync 2013 (previously known in beta circles as Lync 15), I'm sure everyone is interested in what's new. Lync 2013 doesn't re-invent the wheel when compared to Lync 2010.  Lync 2013 builds on the features introduced in Lync 2010 in a way that makes Lync 2013 a compelling upgrade. Here is a quick rundown of the new features (note this is information from the beta product so things may change before its final release):

Roles

There has been significant role consolidation in Lync 2013.  There is no longer a separate server role for monitoring and archiving.  Each front-end server communicates directly with the monitoring and/or archiving database, eliminating the need for a separate monitoring/archiving server.

You can no longer install the A/V conferencing server role separately.  It is now always co-located with the front-end role.

Directors are now an optional role, which is kind of funny because I've always treated them as optional myself.

DR/High Availability Options

Lync 2010 introduced the concept of a backup registrar.  When a user's home pool becomes unavailable, the client can automatically register with a pre-defined backup pool.  This maintains basic voice availability, but the client loses conferencing capabilities, and the user's contact list is unavailable.  In Lync 2013, users will maintain nearly all functionality in the event of a failed pool.  This is made possible because all user data is now replicated between all Lync servers in the enterprise.  Every server maintains multiple copies of the user database, so there is almost no reduction in service availability.  I say "almost" because Response Groups are still not highly available (something that was sorely missed in Lync 2010).  So, should you suffer a failure on your home pool that hosts response groups, those response groups will not be available.

Each front-end server stores a complete copy of all the databases stored in the SQL back-end, so if the back-end SQL database server is unavailable, the front-end will still function.

Also, Lync 2013 supports SQL mirroring on the back-end databases.  This can reduce hardware costs typically associated with the older clustering options in SQL (separate shared storage). 

Enterprise Voice

In Lync 2010, if you had multiple mediation servers connecting to the same PSTN gateway or SIP trunk, you had to fake the Topology Builder out by creating multiple DNS A records pointing to the same IP.  Lync 2013 now supports M-N trunk routing.  This allows you to have multiple trunks to different gateways, and a gateway to have multiple trunks to different Mediation Servers.

Lync 2013 includes support for inter-trunk routing. This feature allows Lync to act as an intermediary between two or more different phone systems.  For example, Lync can accept calls from one PBX, and pass the call through to another PBX. This can be very useful in larger environments and allows Lync to be the backbone of a corporate telephone network.

In Lync 2010, you could use trunk translation rules to modify the CALLED phone number before passing it to the next hop.  However, you couldn't make any changes to the CALLING number (ie the person making the telephone call).  Lync 2013 now allows you to make changes to both the called and calling number.  This is very useful when the PSTN provider does not accept E.164 formatted phone numbers. For example, in North America, many PSTN providers do not accept the country code 1 as part of the number and only accepts 10-digit numbers.  In the past, an external gateway would have to do the necessary manipulation, but with Lync 2013, all the number manipulation can be done in Lync.

There are also several other new Enterprise Voice related enhancements. Delegates can setup simultaneous ringing to their mobile devices for incoming calls to their manager. When a user has setup simultaneous ringing to a mobile phone, and the device is turned off or out of range, Lync 2013 can determine that an incoming call was immediately routed to voicemail, and disconnect that endpoint so the call can continue to ring other endpoints. Caller ID presentation allows administrators to modify the Caller ID format in a much more scalable way than in Lync 2010, which only allowed Caller ID changes based on the route. 

Response Groups

Not much has changed here, but you can configure Response Group Managers and Administrators, allowing you to delegate Response Group tasks to other users.  If this seems familiar, its because that feature was in OCS 2007 R2, but was removed from Lync 2010 for some reason.

Integration with Lync Online

You can now create hybrid deployments with a mix of on-premises and Lync Online servers (similar to Exchange 2010).  This means that you can have some users running "in the cloud" and some users on traditional on-premises servers.  Microsoft calls this "hybrid voice".  You can also have all your users running in Lync Online and make calls via an on-premises PSTN gateway. This means you can allow Lync Online users to dial legacy PBX extensions, or make calls via a traditional PSTN connection (T1/E1 or similar) in situations where SIP trunking isn't desirable or an option.  Media bypass will work in this situation, so a user's media stream won't be hairpinned through the Lync Online service when making phone calls from an office running a local PSTN gateway. 

Mobility

Mobile clients will finally get the featureset people have been asking for.  Mobile clients will be able to make audio and video calls from their mobile device using either a mobile data connection or wi-fi. I have no idea if this will be available at launch or sometime after.  There isn't a Lync 2013 mobile client available yet that I've seen, but there are definite signs around mobile A/V in some updated Powershell commands like Get-CSMobilityPolicy. I saw an early demo of Lync 2013 on a tablet running Windows 8, and it pretty much guaranteed I'll be buying a Windows 8 tablet when it comes out.  Lync on a tablet was just THAT cool. 

Persistent Chat

Persistent chat (or group chat), is now a full-fledged Lync service, unlike older versions which was really just tacked on (and quite poorly, in my opinion).  You now define servers in the Topology Builder as with other roles, and the persistent chat features are included in the base Lync 2013 client (no separate client required).

Other New Features

Other features that don't fall into the above categories include:
  • Full A/V capabilities on the Lync Web App client
  • Full IPv6 support
  • VDI plugin - allows full A/V support in virtual desktop environments
  • H.264 SVC codec support
  • Skype federation support
There are a lot of other small enhancements that go a long way towards improving the overall product or enhancing usability.  If I were to go into detail here on all of them, it would become a very long post.  I will do future deep-dives into some of the specific improvements at a later time.

Get the preview here.
Technet documentation.



36 comments:

  1. Nice call-out of some great features! Really disappointed that they didn't improve Response Group resiliency, or find a way to include it in the SBA. Hoping that buried somewhere in the change log is the removal of the dependency on the Edge server for the bandwidth policy, or at least allow Lync to use the Front-end if the Edge is unresponsive. Crazy that the loss of an Edge pool would prevent outbound dial.

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    1. Looks like Response Group application data will be replicated if the new SQL Mirroring support is deployed.

      "When you deploy this high availability solution, all Lync Server databases in the pool are mirrored, including the Central Management store, if it is located in this pool, as well as the Response Group application database and the Call Park application database, if those applications are running in the pool."
      Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj205248(v=ocs.15)

      More Details here: Planning for Response Group Disaster Recovery http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj204699(v=ocs.15)

      There may be hope...

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    2. The SQL mirroring bit you're referencing is specifically talking about the SQL backend in a single Lync pool. Response groups will work when either a front-end or back-end server fails in a pool (as long as there's more than one front-end/back-end). However, automatic site-level failovers do not include Response Groups. You can manually move the service fairly easily, but its not an automatic thing.

      Ken

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  2. Is there any word on other Enterprise Voice Improvements or whether the Lync Phone Edition is being updated also?

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    Replies
    1. There are several small improvements, some of which I'll go over in a later post. As for Lync Phone Edition, updates are being developed independently outside of the server stuff, so I don't think you'll see any big changes coinciding with the launch of Lync 2013.

      Ken

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  3. CAC useful yet? :)
    anything new in shared desktop? hopefully something to control how much bandwidth it uses :)

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    Replies
    1. Hey Jordan!
      From what I've seen, there are no changes in how Call Admission Control is managed. And I haven't heard anything fundamentally new about desktop sharing either.

      Ken

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. I like how Microsoft didn’t just totally scrap Lync 2010, but instead added some important features and improved upon some of its weaknesses. One thing that will really benefit a few of our clients in the ability for 2013 to act as an intermediary between two different phone systems. There's been so much headache will transferring calls and communicating between two different centers. This one feature alone will make the upgrade worth it.

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  5. Great summary of the new features. Thanks!

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  6. any info Client Matter Codes will be implemented?

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    1. I haven't seen anything native within the product that would indicate any change from Lync 2010. However, there are 3rd party products that can provide that feature for you.

      Ken

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    2. Ken,

      the only solution that i saw was not working with lync desk phones (lync2010), only client running on the pc, if you know of a solution that works with desk phones, can you share the link?

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  7. Interesting enough - in Reference design http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg425939(v=ocs.15) I can clearly see a separate AV pool and a separate Monitoring server...

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    1. Yeah, I see that too. I think they haven't updated all the docs to reflect the new topology. I'm sure it will be corrected by the time Lync 2013 hits RTM.

      Ken

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  8. "You can also have all your users running in Lync Online and make calls via an on-premises PSTN gateway.": Do you still need a Lync server on-premise in this case, or not?

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    1. From the Technet docs, it looks like you do need an on-premises Lync server, although I think this could be a SBA.

      Ken

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    2. If that is the case (requires on-prem Lync server), then how is that different than Lync 2010?

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    3. John,
      Lync 2010 does not support an environment with both on-prem and Office365 based users. You're either totally in the cloud, or you're totally on-prem. Lync 2013 allows a mix.

      Ken

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    4. For Hybrid on-prem+ online deployments, you had to set up 2 different domains in Lync 2010. That technically makes it 2 different organizations. Is it the same with Lync 2013? Also are there any feature differences/limitations between hybrid and complete on-prem deployments?

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  9. Hi all,

    I have installed Lync 2013 client (on windows 7). I´m using Lync Server 2013 everything else works but i can't switch to gallery view mode. I have configured ConferencingPolicy to allow allowMultiview and enabled EnableMultiviewJoin properties (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj204871%28v=ocs.15%29.aspx)

    my screenshot:

    http://np3.upanh.com/b6.s28.d1/98fc53dc384d4825dc010fc0b73185bb_47907503.galleryview.jpg
    http://np2.upanh.com/b6.s28.d3/8841947fa8c5646e310c5c6789c82353_47907512.1.png
    (i can't upload image directly to this post)

    thanks for support
    toantd107@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very nice summary!

    -"Lync 2013 now allows you to make changes to both the called and calling number."
    this single feature -if it was in Lync2010 as well- would have helped me to decrease manipulation rules in the PSTN gateways from 40-50 per gateway down to 3-4. Definitely the biggest improvement for me.

    -"Delegates can setup simultaneous ringing to their mobile devices for incoming calls to their manager."
    Does this mean, that a call destined to the boss can be picked up via the delegate's mobile phone? If yes, thats just another limitation of Lync2010 that nearly cancelled one of my biggest projets, and had to spend weeks to find workarounds, that all had their limitations and customer rejected all of them.

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  11. Hi Ken, We're testing Lync 2013 enterprise voice within a Remote Desktop (non-VDI) environment: mixed with Server 2012 they have made HUGE improvements. It looks like it actually works. Regards, Scruffy

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  12. Any thoughts on Skype federation in Lync 2013? Appreciate if someone can comment on their experience

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    1. Skype federation is slated to be in Lync 2013. Haven't seen details on how to enable it yet, though. Licensing costs are still unannounced as well.

      Ken

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    2. Any update on this?(Since Microsoft has merged all MSN accounts to Skype)
      Additional:
      - What about the federation in the Lync Mobile clients

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    3. With the MSN to Skype merge, Lync users who were previously federated with MSN will now be able to communicate with Skype users. Seems to be just IM at this time. Don't know when/if audio/video will be added.

      Ken

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  13. Someone has a presentation where you see the new features?

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  14. My company has an EA up for renewal and we have CORE Cal for everything including for Lync 2010, but Exchange and Sharepoint ECALs. Once we renew the EA, would a customer have to purchase all the core and ECALs all over in the renewal or are they perpetual licenses and I am just renewing SA?

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    Replies
    1. Hey there,
      Microsoft licensing is a black art best left to professionals, and I can't speak to your specific situation. You should contact your Microsoft rep to discuss these sort of things.

      Ken

      Delete
  15. This is probably not the best place to seek help, but that's about the only place google lead me when searching for multiple voice gateways with single IP in Lync.
    The DNS trick works nicely for outbound calls, but inbound seems problematic.

    I have multiple Lync meditations from different pools talking to a single Cisco Call Manager cluster. I am using the DNS A records to add same gateway to topology, so have something like:
    Mediation1-Voicegateway101.home.com > assigned to Mediation1
    Mediation2-Voicegateway101.home.com > assigned to Mediation2
    Mediation3-Voicegateway101.home.com > assigned to Mediation2
    Where in fact all above DNS names are pointing to same IP.

    All of that works fine for outbound, but for inbound I sometimes see that I am receiving a call on Mediation2 coming in from Mediation3-Voicegateway101.home.com - voice gateway works on IP only, so is not sending any name.
    Now, with this overly long intro here is the question:

    How are the inbound gateways matched to a name? How does Lync know which gateway/trunk is the call coming from it the SIP message only has an IP? What about inbound dial plans for this situation?

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  16. I hope Lync 2013 allows simultaneous ring to a mobile phone and delayed ring to team members. In Lync 2010 you can do one or the other but not both. The workaround for this missing capability is tricky.

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  17. "Each front-end server stores a complete copy of all the databases stored in the SQL back-end, so if the back-end SQL database server is unavailable, the front-end will still function."
    However, with Lync 2013, it will be impractable to have less than 3 servers in an Enterprise Front End pool.

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  18. Very nice summary! This is the new features right? Wow thanks!

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  19. plz ... as phone can lync 2013 take calls for our call center ... knowing that lync 2010 was only as communicator ( on the phone ) .... so it take calls ?

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    Replies
    1. Yes Lync can completely take care of the call center business if you want a demo contact me on gakumar@microsoft.com

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