Office Web Apps Server

A new dependency for any Front End pool in Lync Server 2013 is an Office Web Apps Server. This role is treated as an external dependency, similar to how a SQL Server or file share is leveraged by a Front End pool. For Lync Server 2013’s purposes, the Office Web Apps server is exclusively used by rendering PowerPoint slide decks within the Lync client or Lync Web App. This is important because Microsoft Silverlight was used for rendering decks in Lync Server 2010, but the dependency on Silverlight has been removed to provide greater compatibility with web and mobile clients.

A single Office Web Apps Server, or farm of Office Web Apps servers, can be deployed to support Lync Server 2013, Exchange Server 2013, and SharePoint 2013 since all three platforms leverage the service for viewing or editing capabilities. The main advantage to Office Web Apps PowerPoint rendering is seen in improved support for animations and slide transitions, which Silverlight did not always render properly. This does, however, mean that organizations will need to deploy at least one additional server to support Front End pools.