Configuring Federation Types

A consideration for organizations when deploying Lync Server 2013 is to determine whether the federation feature will be used. Federation requires an Edge Server role, so even if remote access will not be allowed for employees, an Edge can still be deployed to provide federation capabilities. Another driver for enabling some degree of federation is the fact that the Lync Mobile clients for Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows Phone receive push notifications through federation with Office 365’s push service clearinghouse. So choosing to not deploy an Edge with federation will prevent a business from using push notifications on mobile clients.

Federation allows organizations that have deployed Lync to communicate securely so that not only can users see presence for users within their own organization, but they also can now see presence for partners or vendors they work with frequently. Additionally, all communication modalities are available through federation so users have a consistent experience when escalating an IM to audio, video, or web conferencing.

When deploying Edge Servers, make a decision about whether users are allowed to federate with other organizations that run Lync Server. Making such a decision is the first step, but the second is to determine what type of federation is allowed, because there are a few different levels that can be enabled.