Planning for Exchange UM Integration

In conjunction with the Lync-to-phone feature, Exchange Online Unified Messaging is available as the voice mail solution for Lync Online users. Similar to the integration of Lync and Exchange on-premise, the combination of Lync Online with Lync-to-phone and Exchange Online enables users to access voice mail and receive missed call notifications from either the Outlook or the Lync client. Subscriber access and auto attendant are also optional features that can be enabled with the service.

To allow for integration of Lync Online and Exchange Online UM using Lync-to-phone, Exchange Online Plan 2 and above must be purchased. After the licensing is in place, enabling voice mail for Lync-to-phone users is a matter of creating a SIP URI dial plan within Exchange Online, and then enabling each user for Exchange UM. When the user is configured for Lync-to-phone as described previously, integration with Exchange UM occurs automatically.

Aside from the individual phone numbers that will be assigned to users, an additional planning consideration is the minimum number of digits that will be required for PIN access to voice mail, and the procedure that will be used to generate PIN numbers (automatic or manual). The number of minimum digits required for PIN numbers is associated with the SIP URI dial plan, and can be edited as necessary. The user can also be required to change the PIN number at first logon if desired.

If the subscriber access and auto attendant optional features will be used, these features will be applied to calls that originate from outside the organization. One phone number will need to be assigned for each subscriber number and each auto attendant number planned, and therefore this should be taken into account in determining the number of DIDs that are ordered from the Lync-to-phone provider.