Cisco® Unified Communications Solutions unify voice, video, data, and mobile applications on fixed and mobile networks, enabling easy collaboration every time, from any workspace.
Product Overview
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync is a desktop integration that provides access to Cisco Unified Communications from Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office Communicator (Figure 1). The solution extends the presence and instant messaging (IM) capabilities of Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office Communicator (MOC) by providing access to a broad set of Cisco Unified Communications capabilities, including softphone standards-based video, unified messaging, audio, video and web conferencing, desk-phone control, and phone presence.
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync is tightly integrated with Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office Communicator to deliver a consistent and compelling user experience while providing the benefits of increased employee productivity and collaboration, reduced infrastructure complexity, and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
Figure 1. Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync
Features and Benefits
Increase Productivity with Advanced Cisco Unified Communications Capabilities
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync lets you easily add Cisco Unified Communications capabilities to the IM and presence capabilities of Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office Communicator. The solution uses Cisco Unified Communications Manager to deliver a scalable, highly available enterprise IP telephony call-processing solution. Cisco Unified Communications Manager users benefit from clear, reliable and interoperable voice and video communications. The solution adds an integrated Cisco IP softphone, which lets you instantly connect and have a business-class communication experience with colleagues, partners, and customers. You can streamline communications with additional capabilities, including telephony presence so you can see when users are on the phone; visual voicemail, which makes it easy to view, play, and respond to voice messages; communications history; and desk-phone control, which lets you place and receive calls on your Cisco Unified IP Phone directly from your desktop.
Enhance Collaboration with Standards-Based Video and Multiparty Conferencing
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync includes standards-based, high-definition video capabilities so you can easily share video with this application or other standards-based video offerings from Cisco or other video providers. The solution is integrated with Cisco conferencing solutions so you can instantly initiate and conduct multiparty audio, web, and video conferences.
Minimize Complexity, Deliver High-Quality Audio, and Lower Costs
The Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync lets you use Cisco Unified Communications Manager for enterprise voice and video communications, while Microsoft Lync or Microsoft Office Communications Server provide instant messaging and presence. Using Cisco Unified Communications Manager for call control minimizes costs by reducing management overhead, simplifying infrastructure complexity, and lessening licensing fees associated with deploying a dual call-control architecture. Cisco also offers an end-to-end unified communications solution that encompasses the software application and network infrastructure to provide increased control over voice quality and more robust tools for administrators to manage a mix of voice, video, and high-priority data traffic.
Cisco Unified Communications uses industry-standard audio and video codecs, minimizing the need for transcoding gateways. And with Cisco Unified Communications Manager, you can use Cisco Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) to simply and cost-effectively provide survivable telephony from the Microsoft Lync client in branch offices.
Enjoy Consistent Microsoft Office Communicator User Experience
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync delivers an intuitive experience. Deployed as an extension to the Lync interface, it delivers convenient access to Cisco Unified Communications capabilities. The application pane includes a phone icon where you can drag contacts to initiate calls or conferences; a button to display and access voicemail messages; a conversation history button that provides a list of missed, placed, and received calls; a button to access and manage preferences; and a keypad that you can use to dial a number.
Enjoy Investment Protection
Enjoy an immediate business effect by providing access to industry-leading Cisco Unified Communications capabilities while protecting your investments in Microsoft instant messaging.
Table 1 lists the features and benefits of Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync.
Table 1. Features and Benefits
Feature
Benefit
Call Setup
Right click to make an audio or video call or start a conference from contact list or IM session
Check the presence of the person you want to call, and then initiate an audio-only or a video phone call to that person quickly by right clicking and selecting "Place a Call" or "Place a Video call".
Drag-and-drop audio or video calling
Simply drag and drop a user from your contact list to the phone icon to make an audio or video call to that person.
Audio or video call from Lync or MOC search
Search for anyone in your address book and initiate a call to that person, or simply type a phone number and then right click to initiate the call.
Direct dial from dial pad
Use the dial pad to enter a phone number to place an audio or video call.
Inbound call notification
Receive incoming call alerts with the option to answer with audio only or with video, or divert the call to your voicemail.
Click to call from Microsoft Office applications and browsers
Streamline processes by placing calls from the application you are currently using. You can click to call, or video call, directly from Mozilla Firefox; Microsoft Internet Explorer; Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, and Word; and Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint applications.*
Call history display
Reference missed, placed, and received phone calls directly from Microsoft Office Communicator.
Call forwarding
Receive phone calls when you are away from your desk by having your calls sent to another number; for example, to a cell phone.
In-Call Features
Conversation information
You have visual access to information about your active conversations, including calling name and number display; call status; and information about participants, including presence and duration counter. You can control your phone call directly from the conversation window.
Call control
The solution provides proven and reliable call-control features of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, including dual tone multifrequency (DTMF), call waiting, mute, transfer, conference, redial, hold, hang up, merge, park, and the capability to adjust the volume of your calls.
Launch a chat
You can launch chat from your conversation window for sending text such as URLs.
Start a meeting
You can start a point-to-point or multipart voice, web, and video meeting so that you can share documents, as well as see and talk to your contacts.
You can make and receive phone calls from anywhere you can access the corporate network with your PC or laptop.
Desk-phone control (computer telephony integration [CTI]-based)
You can control your desk phone from your PC or laptop while in your office.
User switch between modes
You can switch between desk- and soft-phone mode as you move around with your PC or laptop.
Audio Support
G.722, G.711, G.729a, Internet Low Bitrate Codec (iLBC), and Internet Speech Audio Codec (iSAC) voice codecs
Standards-based and wideband audio codecs deliver an enterprise-class quality experience.
Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP)
Audio traffic is encrypted to help ensure communications security.
Audio tuning wizard
You can set headset and audio preferences from the Microsoft Office Communicator audio tuning wizard.
Video support
Codec H.264
Standards-based H.264 video provides a high level of interoperability with other video endpoints and conferencing systems.
High-definition video
You can make and receive high-quality video calls using 1280 x 720 pixels (720p) in either softphone mode or deskphone control mode on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 32 and 64 bit operating systems.
Multipoint video
You can join or initiate multiparticipant video calls at QCIF, CIF, VGA, or HD resolution with the addition of Cisco Unified Video Conferencing or the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace® meeting application. You can conduct video calls with a variety of standards-based endpoints from third parties and Cisco, including Cisco TelePresence™ conferencing.
Video setup
You can set up your web camera preferences from the Microsoft office Communicator audio and video tuning wizard.
Control video usage
Enable video only for certain users, allowing an administrator to make decisions about bandwidth usage throughout the network
Presence and Availability
Microsoft Office Communicator Server-based presence
When you make or receive phone calls from Lync or MOC, your presence is communicated to the Microsoft Lync or Office Communicator Server so that anyone else looking at your status will see that you are on the phone. (Cisco Unified Presence is not required.)
Do not disturb
You can set the do-not-disturb feature through MOC or through your IP phone.
Call History
View recent phone activity
You can view your recent placed calls, missed calls, and received calls and initiate a new call or view the contact card of the other party.
Integration with Microsoft Outlook
You can view your call history in Microsoft Outlook.
Voicemail Features
View voicemail messages
Receive an alert when you have a new voicemail message, see how many new voicemail messages are waiting for you, view a list of voicemail messages, or play back messages in the order you wish to listen to them instead of sequentially.
Filter voicemail messages
View your voicemail messages based on heard, unheard, urgent, or private status. Filter your voicemail messages so that you can see all of today's messages, all of yesterday's messages, all the messages for the last week, or all the messages for the last 30 days.
Respond to voicemail messages
Respond to voicemail messages by clicking to call, making a video call, or sending an IM to the person who left you the message.
Voicemail message waiting indicator (soft phone only) and one-click access to voicemail system
As an alternative to unified messaging, your voicemail system is easily accessible, and you receive alerts when new voicemail messages are available.
Cisco Conferencing Features
Screen sharing
From an existing conversation, click to share your screen with the person(s) you are talking to.
Start an online conference
Start a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace audio, video, or web conference with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 7.0 screen sharing or Cisco WebEx™ screen sharing by selecting contacts in the contact list, or turn an online chat into a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace meeting.
Mobility Features
Single number reach
People can reach you with one phone number no matter what device you are using.
Mobile handoff
You can divert a phone call to your cell phone when you need to leave your computer during a conversation.
Extension mobility
You can log in to another IP phone to use with Microsoft Lync or MOC when away from your usual office.
User and Support Tools
Call statistics
You can view details of your current conversation (for example, voice or video codec being used, packets lost, jitter data, video resolution being used, and video frame rate per second).
Server health tool
You can check your connection to Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Microsoft Active Directory.
Error reporting tool
It is easy to create diagnostic information to troubleshoot if necessary.
Survivability
Call survival when the server connection is lost
If the connection between the Microsoft instant messaging client and server becomes unavailable, you can still make and receive phone calls with the Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync.
If the connection to Cisco Unified Communications Manger is lost, Cisco Unified SRST rolls calls over to the backup branch-office call-control system so that you can still make and receive phone calls with Cisco UC Integration for Microsoft Lync.
Deployment
Push to deploy
Microsoft Installer configuration files (MSI files) can be deployed using such methods asMicrosoft System Center Configuration Manager.
Language availability
You can deploy the solution in any of the following languages: English, French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Danish, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, and Arabic.
Enhanced directory Integration
The enhanced directory integration allows UC Integration for Microsoft Lync 8.5(2) to be pushed out to users with minimal configuration overhead for the administrator.
Additional Features
Coexistence with other Microsoft Office Communicator integrations
You can use the application alongside other third-party Microsoft integrations.
Single Sign in an OpenAM server environment on with Smart Cards or Windows Authentication
If you have OpenAM servers (supplied by ForgeRock), you can configure Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync so that no username or passwords are required for Cisco UC functions.
Note: * Refer to the release notes for desktop application and web browser compatibility.
System Requirements
Recommendations for minimum requirements are based on Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync running on a system that is running only applications and services that are part of the base operating system image. Administrators should account for other applications on the workstation to determine whether the system configuration - the CPU speed and RAM in particular - can perform adequately with other applications that could affect application performance running concurrently on the PC.
Table 2 lists system requirements.
Table 2. System Requirements
Platform
Description
Cisco Unified Communications Manager
• 8.5(1) or later 8.5(x) releases1
• 8.0(1) or later 8.0(x) releases
• 7.1(5) or later 7.1(x) releases
• 6.1(4) or later 6.1(x) releases
• 6.1(3) with Cisco Options Package (COP) file to create the Cisco Unified Client Services Framework device type
Note: For adjunct mode use of the Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync, Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.1(4) or later is required in order for one Device License Unit to be consumed.
Server software
• Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (includes Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 in a Business Productivity Online Services [BPOS] environment)
Client software
• Microsoft Lync or Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Release 2
Operating system
• Microsoft Windows Operating System: Windows XP SP3, 32-bit, or Vista SP2 (Ultimate, Enterprise, or Business), 32-bit or 64-bit*; or Windows 7.0 (Pro, Enterprise, or Ultimate), 32-bit or 64-bit*
* The integration runs as a 32-bit application in 64-bit editions of Windows. Desk-phone video is not supported on 64-bit editions of Windows; that is, soft-phone video only is supported.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace* conferencing
• For conference calls with video:
• 8.0 or later
• 7.0 or later
• For meetings:
• 8.0 or later
• 7.0 or later
Note: Cisco WebEx Meeting Center is supported only when integrated with the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace application.
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing Multipoint Control Unit (MCU)*
• 7.1
• 7.0
• 5.6
• 5.6
Cisco Unity® and Unity Connection applications
• Cisco Unity 8.0 with Microsoft Exchange 2007 on another server, or in a failover configuration
• Cisco Unity 8.0 with Microsoft Exchange 2003 on the same server, on another server, or in a failover configuration.
• Cisco Unity 7.0(2) with Engineering Special (ES) 19 or later, with Microsoft Exchange 2007 on another server, or in a failover configuration
• Cisco Unift 7.0(2) with Engineering Special (ES) 19 or later, with Microsoft Exchange 2003 on the same server, on another server, on in a failover configuration
• Cisco Unity Connection 8.5(1) or later
• Cisco Unity Connection 8.0(1) or later
• Cisco Unity Connection 7.1(4) or later
Cisco Unified SRST
• 8.5 with IOS 15.1(1)T with Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 8.5
• 8.0 with IOS 15.1(1)T with Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 8.0
• 7.1 with Cisco IOS® Software Release 12.4(24)T with Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 7.1(2)
• 7.0 with Cisco IOS Software Release 12.4(20)T with Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 7.0(1)
• 4.2 with Cisco IOS Software Release 12.4(11)XW5 with Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.1(3)
Click to Call from Microsoft Office Applications*
• Microsoft Outlook 2010
• Microsoft Outlook 2007 SP1
• Microsoft Outlook 2003
• Microsoft Word 2010 (32 bit)
• Microsoft Word 2007
• Microsoft Word 2003
• Microsoft Excel 2010 (32 bit)
• Microsoft Excel 2007
• Microsoft Excel 2003
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 (32 bit)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
• Mozilla Firefox 3.2 or later
Note: Click to Call is supported on 32-bit Office applications and not at this time on 64-bit Office applications.
Single Sign On Requirements
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.5
• Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync 8.5 (running with either the Lync client or Microsoft Office Communicator)
• OpenAM server Release 9.0 supplied by ForgeRock
* Optional
Table 3 lists the hardware requirements for desktop and laptop computers for audio and video in various modes.
Table 3. Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync Hardware Requirements for Desktop and Laptop Computers for Audio and Video in Various Modes
Item
Audio Only
QCIF
CIF
VGA
720 HD
Memory
1 GB
1 GB
1 GB
1 GB
2 GB
Available disk space before the application is started
350 MB
350 MB
350 MB
350 MB
500 MB
Available disk space
1 GB
1 GB
1 GB
1 GB
1 GB
Minimum Windows Experience Index (WEI) processor score
2.0
4.0
4.0
4.8
5.9 or a system with 4 or more CPU cores
Video card: A direct 9-compatible graphics card with the following video RAM:
Windows XP
-
128 MB
128 MB
128 MB
256 MB
Windows Vista
-
256 MB
256 MB
256 MB
256 MB
Windows 7
-
256 MB
256 MB
256 MB
256 MB
I/O ports
When using USB audio and video, USB 2.0 is required.
HD-capable USB 2.0 web camera, or HDMI capture card and HD camera
Tables 4 and 5 list the tested video and audio devices, respectively.
Table 4. Tested Video Devices
Cisco cameras
• Cisco VT Camera II
• Cisco VT Camera III
• Cisco TelePresence Precision HD Camera
Logitech cameras
• Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000
• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks
• Logitech QuickCam Deluxe for Notebooks
• Logitech QuickCam Fusion
• Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision
Microsoft cameras
• Microsoft LifeCam Cinema
• Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000
• Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000
Sony cameras
• Sony HDR-CX12
• Sony PCSACHG90
Computers with built-in video cameras
• Dell Latitude E6500
• Dell XPS M1330
• HP Compaq 2710p Notebook PC
• HP Compaq 2710p Notebook
• Lenovo ThinkPad X200
• Lenovo ThinkPad T400
• Lenovo ThinkPad T500
• Lenovo ThinkPad W500
• Song Vaio VGN-CS290
Table 5. Tested Audio Devices
ClearOne
• Chat 50 USB
Polycom
• XC100 Speakerphone USB
Jabra
• GN8110 USB
• GN8120 USB
• GN2100
• GN2000
• GN9350
• GN5390
Plantronics
• The Blackwire USB wired headset family
• The Savi Office Dect Wireless headset system family
• The Vpro UC Bluetooth headset system with Bluetooth dongle family
• The CS 50/60 USB Wireless headset system family
• The DA 45 USB adapter family for use with Plantronics H-Top headsets
• The Calisto USB handset/speakerphone family
Note:the above headset families are included with the exception of the -M versions.
Ordering Information
Table 6 provides ordering information for Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync.
This product is part of Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing, which is the recommended way to license this product. Please visit http://www.cisco.com/go/workspace_licensing for more information.
Table 6. Ordering Information for Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync
Product Name
Part Number
Cisco UC Integration™ for Microsoft Lync
UCILYNC8.5-K9
Please refer to the Cisco Unified Communications Applications Ordering Guide for additional details about Cisco Unified Communications part numbers and prices.
Cisco Unified Communications Services allow you to accelerate cost savings and productivity gains associated with deploying a secure, resilient Cisco Unified Communications Solution. Delivered by Cisco and our certified partners, our portfolio of services is based on proven methodologies for unifying voice, video, data, and mobile applications on fixed and mobile networks. Our unique lifecycle approach to services can enhance your technology experience to accelerate true business advantage.
