Versions and Licensing

Like previous versions, Lync Server 2013 comes in two flavors: Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition. The two versions present a variety of deployment options for organizations of all sizes. A Lync server topology can be relatively simple, or as complex as needed to meet the requirements and budget of even the largest organizations. Features between the two editions are very similar, with Enterprise providing more scalability, along with high availability and disaster recovery options that aren’t available in the Standard Edition. However, to leverage these additional options, Enterprise Edition represents a more significant investment and requires higher-end components than Standard Edition. For example, a dedicated backend SQL server is required for Enterprise Edition rather than a local installation of SQL Express, which is automatically used and required with Standard Edition.