Whats Changed in Lync 2010

This is a punch list of some of the major changes in Lync 2010, when compared to the previous releases of OCS.

• You no longer require a hardware load balancer for SIP traffic.  This is done through DNS load balancing now.  You still need a HLB to balance HTTP traffic for web components.
• All servers and roles now support virtualization, however at a reduced level of load.
• Mediation server can now be co-located on the front end server.  This is largely due to the new media bypass feature which offloads much of the strain from the mediation server.
• The director is now a full server role.
• A/V conferencing can now be separated off of the front end server and run as a new A/V conferencing pool.
• The Lync server architecture is now viewed as a topology.  You use the topology builder for most of the setup and for some maintenance tasks.
• Most of the configuration information for Lync is no longer stored in AD.  Instead each server now runs a copy of SQL Express and stores locally a copy of the topology.  One pool will serve as the central manager and all servers will replicate the configuration from this pool.  Replication is handled through simple file transfers, and each server will update their local databases with changes.  Replication will occur on roughly a 2 minute interval.
• Due to this new way of storing the configuration, Edge servers can now receive configuration updates the same as every other server role.  You will not have to log into the edge separately any longer.
• The new Lync WebApp only supports meetings.  There is no built in CWA type web client.  If you require the features of CWA, then you will need to keep your existing 2007 R2 CWA server, or deploy one prior to deploying Lync.
• There is a new survivable branch appliance feature that can be deployed in remote sites to provide some features that can survive a WAN link failure to the central site.
• Lync supports call park, which allows a call to be placed on hold and retrieved elsewhere using the park number.
• Lync supports E911