Integration with Exchange

Lync Server 2013 will continue to provide the integrations with Exchange that existed in previous versions, and will introduce several additional integrations as well.

Continuing in Lync 2013 is integration with Exchange Outlook Web App (OWA). Lync and OWA integration allows Presence and IM capabilities within an OWA session, and includes the following useful features:

• Presence for internal and federated Lync Server contacts

• The capability to start and maintain chat sessions directly from OWA

• Lync Server contact list integration, including adding and removing contacts and groups

• The capability to control Lync Presence states from OWA

As in previous versions, Lync Server integrates with the Unified Messaging role in Exchange, which allows Lync Server to use Exchange as a replacement for traditional voice mail systems. Voice messages stored in Exchange can then be retrieved from the Lync client as well as from the user’s Exchange mailbox.

Lync Archiving Integration is a brand-new feature that integrates the Lync Archiving role with the Exchange In-Place Hold feature, resulting in a common repository of archival data that simplifies compliance and eDiscovery tasks across the two communications platforms.

An additional new integration feature between Lync 2013 and Exchange 2013 is the Unified Contact Store, which presents a common repository for user contacts that is shared between the Lync and Outlook clients. When enabled, the Lync client connects to Exchange Web Services (EWS) to read and maintain contacts instead of using SIP to connect the Lync Front End server for contacts, as in previous versions.

Rounding out the new integration features between Lync and Exchange is the storage and retrieval of high-resolution photos that are shared between the two platforms. Both Lync 2013 and Exchange 2013 support photos of up to 648×648 pixels, which are stored in Exchange 2013 and are added to contacts within the Lync and Outlook clients. The photos are stored as a hidden item in the root of a user’s Exchange mailbox. Having the option to store these photos in Exchange is an improvement from previous Lync versions, since the photos were typically stored in Active Directory, which presented some limitations due to potential problems with replication.