Software Plugin Vendor Examples

The following products can be considered a software plugin method for providing third-party video:

• Cisco UC Integration for Microsoft Lync (CUCILYNC)—Cisco’s product that integrates with VCS and Cisco Unified Communications Manager. All the media is done through Cisco’s plugin rather than the Lync client.

• Avaya Microsoft Lync Integration—Previously called Microsoft ACE, this product behaves similarly to CUCILYNC and ensures that all the media occurs within Avaya infrastructure.

The video integration story is constantly changing, and always improving as vendors find new methods for providing interoperability. As video vendors begin to support integration with Lync Server 2013, the codec changes will conceivably allow for high-definition conferences to occur between Lync and third-party endpoints as vendors. Microsoft has certainly opened the door to more possibilities with the media stack changes introduced in Lync Server 2013.