• Article

Planning for Conferencing

 

Topic Last Modified: 2012-01-24

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 offers a rich set of conferencing capabilities:

  • Instant messaging (IM) conferencing, in which more than two parties communicate in a single IM session.

  • Web conferencing, which includes document collaboration, application sharing, and desktop sharing.

  • Audio/video (A/V) conferencing, which enables users to have real-time audio and/or video conferences without the need for external services such as the Microsoft Live Meeting service or a third-party audio bridge.

  • Dial-in conferencing, which allows users to join the audio portion of a Lync Server 2010 conference by using a public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone without requiring a third-party audio conferencing provider.

Both scheduled conferences and impromptu conferences are supported and can easily be initiated by users.

When you deploy Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Front End Server, you can choose whether to also deploy the web conferencing, A/V conferencing, and dial-in conferencing capabilities. IM conferencing capabilities are always automatically deployed along with IM conversation capabilities on Lync Server 2010 Front End Servers.

The following sections describe what is required to deploy the various types of conferencing capabilities, including the planning process, components, hardware and software requirements, and the deployment process.