Analyst: Microsoft Lync puts UC competitors on notice

Henry Dewing, analyst at Forrester, weighed in on Microsoft's new Lync iteration of their line of unified communications and collaboration products. The name change shows that Microsoft is getting serious about its solution linking "people, processes, and ideas" and is ready to offer Lync as a replacement to the traditional PBX.

Dewing notes Microsoft is turning up the heat on competition with attempts to convince customers of the reliability and scalability of the Lync server trumpeting that it already has been deployed successfully by customers like A.T. Kearney, Intel, Shell, and Sprint. Lync's new added features like rich presence with access to location and user skills, conferencing with one-click scheduling, support for E911 calling, and consolidated management capabilities bring the offering up to rub elbows with some of the top UC solutions on the market.

Dewing ends his piece noting that Lync is a formidable UC&C offering and Microsoft's launch should have other providers on notice that there's another giant in the ring.

For more:
- read Henry Dewing's blog post here

Related news:
Microsoft Communications Server "14" emerges as Lync
Microsoft Lync: A New Name for a New Generation of UC