In case you didn't know, Lync 2013 Best Practices Analyzer has been released some time ago and you can grab it here.

In this blog post I'll give you a quick overview on how BPA for Lync 2013 works.

What is it?

Apologies for just copying and pasting from the download site, but I think it's already a good summary

The Microsoft Lync Server 2013, Best Practices Analyzer is designed for administrators who want to determine the overall health of their Lync Server environment.

The BPA Allows you to :

• Proactively perform checks, verifying that the configuration is set according to recommended best practices.
• Automatically detect required updates to Lync Server 2013.
• Generate a list of issues, such as suboptimal configuration settings, unsupported options, missing updates, or practices that we do not recommend.
• Help you troubleshoot and fix specific problems.

System requirements can also be found on the same BPA download page. Make sure you install the "WMI Backwards Compatibility Package" to have all checks executed.

Installation

As you'll see this one is very easy: next, accept & next, choose destination folder and install.

Running & Updating The Tool

I got Lync 2013 installed on Windows Server 2012 so my start screen now has a new icon: Best Practices Analyzer.

Click the icon to start the BPA...

The first screen requests if BPA Should get the latest XML files from Microsoft, containing the latest updates. I always recommend doing this so you're sure BPA knows about latest product updates and known configuration issues. Click on "Check for updates now".

The BPA will now connect to Microsoft servers and download the appropriate data

Because Lync 2013 is pretty new, at this time no updates are available

Executing a BPA scan

Now let's run the scan, shall we?

The welcome screen allows you to start a new scan or view the result from a previous scan. We will off course select options for a new scan...

The tool will then propose you an automatically detected Active Directory Domain Controller it will use for the scan. You can modify this if you want the tool to use a different DC.

Using the Advanced logon options you can provide different credentials to access the DC, Edge and Exchange Servers.
For my setup I only need to provide credentials for the Edge server.

Then click "Connect to the AD Server" to continue

After connecting to AD, BPA will present you all detected pools and servers and let you select which of these components you want to be included in the test.
In my setup it has detected one Edge Server and One Front End Pool, both containing one server

You also have to type a descriptive label for the scan (so you can review it later)

Press "Start Scanning" to run the scan

The scan now starts and shows you current progress

And.... done...
Press "View a report..." to view the scan report

Viewing the Report

1. The report viewer allows you to print or export the report. If it's all green you can use this feature to show your manager how good of an engineer you are
2. In my environment, the tool detected that the Front-End server was not sized properly (number of CPU cores and available RAM). Since this a small environment and I chose this configuration on purpose, I can safely click "Do not show me this item again for this instance". 
3. If you chose "Do not show me this item again for all instances" you are in fact disabling this BPA Rule, which is not recommended.
4. If you have other warnings or errors, please investigate them one by one and solve the configuration issues. Re-run the BPA to make sure you no longer have any unexpected notifications.

Remark : If you did not install the WMI Compatibility component, a warning will be shown on top of the report.

Cheers!

Check out this video by Jamie Stark and Lauren Horgan.
http://www.lyncconf.com/LyncLove.aspx

Lync Mobile supporting Voice & Video over IP for all mayor platforms.

Express your Lync Love!

Do you love Lync? Show us! Record a fun, unique videoof yourself describing your Lync Love and submit it on the Lync Facebook page (look for the pink Lync Love app) by February 1. We'll select a winner at random and award a free attendee pass to Lync Conference 2013 in San Diego, CA.
So bust out the camera and show us the coolest way Lync has made your life easier.  Feel free to get creative! (Just keep it under two minutes for those of us with short attention spans.)

For official rules, please click here.

After you post your video, let everyone know on Twitter using the hashtag #LyncConf13. Be sure to follow @msftLync, as well, for up-to-the-minute news and information.
We can't wait to see your Lync Love!

As announced earlier Microsoft wants to discontinue Windows Live Messenger (still very well known as MSN Messenger) clients in favor of Skype, which was acquired a while ago.  Today Microsoft announced they will discontinue support for the famous chat client on March 15th, 2013.

Microsoft started to contact their 100+ Million MSN/Windows Live Messenger users by email to get it done:

In this email Microsoft communicates the deadline of 15 March 2013.  After the 15th of March Windows Live Messenger users will be unable to log on and forced to update to the latest Skype client. The move to Skype is very smooth: the new Skype client allows you to sign in using your Microsoft account and then your Messenger contacts will be migrated. I tried this myself and it worked out just fine.

In the back-end Microsoft worked hard and moved both platforms to the Microsoft Account infrastructure.  Since Microsoft announced Skype federation for Lync some time ago, it's just a matter of time before Lync users are ready to federate and communicate with an additional 300+ Million users!

Lync Server 2013 stores certificates into contact objects and keeps information in common fields

I decided to protect these containers from accidental deletion

If your AD is still in good shape maybe you should do the same and prevent unknowing admins to stop deleting these containers.
It is not because it looks a little bit weird that there would be a hidden container “Program Data” in the root of you AD Domain that you should just delete it.

I am using the Lync 2013 client for a while now and noticed that the Presence does not update based on Calendar infomation.

Starting the Lync 2010 client gets the correct Calendar Presence right away without any problems.
That means that Exchange Autodiscover and Webservices are working as expected.

There is a problem with Updating the Lync Presence based on Calendar information in certain conditions with Lync 2013.
It may be related to email address configuration but still researching how this can be fixed.

Other people are also reporting this issue in the Lync forums at Microsoft Technet.

Symptoms

Lync Client

Users hosted on a Lync 2013 server and using Lync 2013 client are unable to add and present a PowerPoint presentation.  They get the following error in Lync: "Some presenting features are unavailable due to server connectivity issues"

WAC-Server

In the WAC server Application event log you see the following event popping up:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        ASP.NET 4.0.30319.0
Date:          17/01/2013 15:31:51
Event ID:      1310
Task Category: Web Event
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      server.domain.tld
Description:
Event code: 3008
Event message: A configuration error has occurred.
Event time: 17/01/2013 15:31:51
Event time (UTC): 17/01/2013 14:31:51
Event ID: 398a6469b56349ebae01d8aa9cc019d1
Event sequence: 1
Event occurrence: 1
Event detail code: 0
 
Application information:
    Application domain: /LM/W3SVC/2/ROOT/m-1-130029067086927262
    Trust level: Full
    Application Virtual Path: /m
    Application Path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps\BroadcastServices_Host\
    Machine name: server
 
Process information:
    Process ID: 2004
    Process name: w3wp.exe
    Account name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
 
Exception information:
    Exception type: ConfigurationErrorsException
    Exception message: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Build.Utilities, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps\BroadcastServices_Host\web.config line 44)
   at System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective)
   at System.Web.Configuration.AssemblyInfo.get_AssemblyInternal()
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart()
   at System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException)

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Build.Utilities, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean forIntrospection)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection)
   at System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(String assemblyString)
   at System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective)

 
 
Request information:
    Request URL: https://wac.domain.tld:443/m/Presenter.aspx?a=0&e=true&WopiSrc=https://lyncfe.domain.tld/DataCollabWeb/wopi/files/1B-1-1DA545D&access_token=AAMFEMcXMba5uZVbva7TUp_-FpUGEMDL0-g4MKvhBFnFdDwj3oGBEMcXMba5uZVbva7TUp_-FpWCAuHYgyDo5MzCtEE9dxeIRDCiiZ3xBoHMQc25gcSH8JPJC5be-oYInVzkjRnDzwgIDURhdGFDb2xsYWJXZWI&fs=false&rec=false&thm=1&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&
    Request path: /m/Presenter.aspx
    User host address: A.B.C.D
    User:  
    Is authenticated: False
    Authentication Type:  
    Thread account name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
 
Thread information:
    Thread ID: 7
    Thread account name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
    Is impersonating: False
    Stack trace:    at System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective)
   at System.Web.Configuration.AssemblyInfo.get_AssemblyInternal()
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart()
   at System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException)
 
 
Custom event details:

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="ASP.NET 4.0.30319.0" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="32768">1310</EventID>
    <Level>3</Level>
    <Task>3</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-01-17T14:31:51.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>705</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>server.domain.tld</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>3008</Data>
    <Data>A configuration error has occurred.</Data>
    <Data>17/01/2013 15:31:51</Data>
    <Data>17/01/2013 14:31:51</Data>
    <Data>398a6469b56349ebae01d8aa9cc019d1</Data>
    <Data>1</Data>
    <Data>1</Data>
    <Data>0</Data>
    <Data>/LM/W3SVC/2/ROOT/m-1-130029067086927262</Data>
    <Data>Full</Data>
    <Data>/m</Data>
    <Data>C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps\BroadcastServices_Host\</Data>
    <Data>server</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>2004</Data>
    <Data>w3wp.exe</Data>
    <Data>NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE</Data>
    <Data>ConfigurationErrorsException</Data>
    <Data>Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Build.Utilities, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps\BroadcastServices_Host\web.config line 44)
   at System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective)
   at System.Web.Configuration.AssemblyInfo.get_AssemblyInternal()
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart()
   at System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException)

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Build.Utilities, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark&amp; stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark&amp; stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark&amp; stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean forIntrospection)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark&amp; stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection)
   at System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(String assemblyString)
   at System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective)

</Data>
    <Data>https://wac.domain.tld:443/m/Presenter.aspx?a=0&amp;e=true&amp;WopiSrc=https://lyncfe.domain.tld/DataCollabWeb/wopi/files/1B-1-1DA545D&amp;access_token=AAMFEMcXMba5uZVbva7TUp_-FpUGEMDL0-g4MKvhBFnFdDwj3oGBEMcXMba5uZVbva7TUp_-FpWCAuHYgyDo5MzCtEE9dxeIRDCiiZ3xBoHMQc25gcSH8JPJC5be-oYInVzkjRnDzwgIDURhdGFDb2xsYWJXZWI&amp;fs=false&amp;rec=false&amp;thm=1&amp;ui=en-US&amp;rs=en-US&amp;</Data>
    <Data>/m/Presenter.aspx</Data>
    <Data>A.B.C.D</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>False</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE</Data>
    <Data>7</Data>
    <Data>NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE</Data>
    <Data>False</Data>
    <Data>   at System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective)
   at System.Web.Configuration.AssemblyInfo.get_AssemblyInternal()
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart()
   at System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException)
</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Background

Integration between Lync Server 2013 and WAC has been done correctly. If you followed the "Deploy Office Web Apps Server" guide this problem occurs because the Windows Server 2012 prerequisites powershell command is incomplete: you need to install the .NET Framework 3.5 feature for WAC to operate correctly. The "Configuring Integration with Office Web Apps Server and Lync 2013" Lync 2013 Library article doesn't mention this either.

Solution

Use Server Manager to install the .NET Framework 3.5 Feature or use the following PowerShell command to add it afterwards: "Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Features, NET-Framework-Core"

For new WAC installs use the following modified prerequisite installer script:

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server,Web-Mgmt-Tools,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-WebServer,Web-Common-Http,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Static-Content,Web-Performance,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Dyn-Compression,Web-Security,Web-Filtering,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-App-Dev,Web-Net-Ext45,Web-Asp-Net45,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Includes,InkandHandwritingServices,NET-Framework-Features,NET-Framework-Core

Cheers

Via Neowin : Microsoft releases demo of its proposed web audio-video chat standard

What will the future of Unified Communications look like?

It is clear that the web based communication will gain traction as opposed to traditional communications as more and more devices like tablets and smartphones are connected to internet and bandwidth is no longer an issue even on mobile data networks.  Browser based communications, Skype on all possible platforms, Skype integration into Facebook, Lync federation between Lync, Public IM Networks, including Skype and so on you can only imagine where all of this will end up in the end.

Many initiatives are taken by various groups to get in browser communication up and running using protocols already being used in web development and optimized for web based internet communications.  HTML5, Javascript and REST API’s are at the base of these innovation, hiding the complexity of the communications layers which are baked into the Web Communication API’s layers.

Here is a list of web based communications implementations:

• WebRTC: W3C Current Draft. WebRTC is a free, open project that enables web browsers with Real-Time Communications (RTC) capabilities via simple Javascript APIs. The WebRTC components have been optimized to best serve this purpose.
• UC-RTC-Web: Microsoft Proposal for Open Standard.  This specification describes a proposal to bring real-time communications capabilities to web browsers. It addresses four critical requirements: it is designed to honor the key tenets of the web architecture, it supports a customizable response to changing network quality, ubiquitous deployability on existing network infrastructure, and flexibility in supporting popular media formats and codecs, as well as openness to future innovation.
• UCWA : Microsoft Proprietary. The new Unified Communications Web API for Lync 2013

A great article by Microsoft explaining what they actually want to achieve and make it super easy for developers to integrate and customize Communications into application without even having to know the ins and outs of SIP and SDP which is very specific to Real Time Communications in VOIP networks and more importantly are not very well know by developers, especially web developers.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/interoperability/archive/2013/01/17/ms-open-tech-publishes-html5-labs-prototype-of-a-customizable-ubiquitous-real-time-communication-over-the-web-api-proposal.aspx

Background:

When migrating from Lync 2010 to Lync 2013 you have to move all users, services and trusted applications to Lync 2013.
(Outlook Web App is implemented as a Trusted Application)
We ran into the folllwing issue “Cannot process routing destination” for users hosted on a Lync 2013 SBA.
The Trusted Application does not run on the SBA but is Registered on the Front-End Server (STD or ENT)

Issue:

This is what we tested:

OWA 2010 Integration configured on Legacy Lync 2010 Pool

• Works with users hosted on Lync 2010 Pool
• Works with users hosted on Lync 2013 Pool
• Works with users hosted on Lync 2013 SBA

OWA 2010 Integration configured on Lync 2013 Pool

• Works with users hosted on Lync 2010 Pool
• Works with users hosted on Lync 2013 Pool
• Does not work with users hosted on Lync 2013 SBA

This is what we saw in a trace:
ms-diagnostics: 1022;reason="Cannot process routing destination";destination="sip:APDC1SBA01.domain.com:5061;transport=tls;opaque=state:F;lr";source="APDC1LSFE01.domain.com"

So if the OWA integration is running on Lync 2010 everything is fine untill we move it the Lync 2013 then the users hosted on the SBA 2013 cannot use OWA integration into Lync.

Solution:

During the Lync 2010 deployment the Exchange 2010 CAS Servers have been installed with Lync 2010 integration, now after the Lync 2013 migration the Trusted Application talks directly to Lync 2013.  The integration components on Exchange 2010 have never been updated to a later version.  After Updating the Exchange 2010 CAS components for Lync Integration the problem was resolved.

• OCS 2007 R2 Web Service Provider Hotfix KB 981256
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=797
• Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Redist (64 Bit) Hotfix KB 2647091
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7557

As you have to update your other clients to the latest patches also make sure that the components for integrating on the Exchange server are also updated because essentially Outlook Web App is also a client application that registers to Lync.

Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer helps Lync administrators find out if the deployment and configuration of their Lync Server environment meets the requirements to support connections from Lync Windows Store app for Windows 8 and Windows RT and from Lync mobile apps.

Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer attempts to connect to your Lync server using the same services and protocols that are used by Lync Windows Store app and Lync apps for mobile platforms. You can perform the connection tests over your internal network or an external network that connects to your Lync server. Lync Connectivity Analyzer provides a report with detailed information about each connection step to help you validate your configuration and troubleshoot connection problems.
Lync Connectivity Analyzer tests the following Lync server components:

• Autodiscover service
• Authentication Broker (Reach) service
• Mobility (MCX) service
• WebTicket service

Lync Connectivity Analyzer tests the configuration of the following other components:

• Publication of DNS records for Autodiscover URLs
• Certificates
• Proxy servers

Download:

Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer (64 Bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36535

Microsoft Lync Connectivity Analyzer (32 Bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36536

You can download this tool from here:
http://www.pro-lync.be/blogs/lync2013/archive/2013/02/08/microsoft-lync-connectivity-analyzer-available-for-download.aspx

Just a simple windows application where you specify 4 things:

• SIP URI
• Password
• Account (Optional if different from SIP URI)
• Network Access (Internal/External)
• Check for App (Lync Windows Store App / Lync Mobile Apps)

Summary View of the results

All Results View (you can even select detailed view which displays everything)

You can also send the logs

Update : For me it also fixed the Calendar Presence Integration issue
http://www.pro-lync.be/blogs/lync2013/archive/2013/01/16/lync-2013-client-fails-to-update-presence-based-on-calendar-information.aspx

Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Lync 2013 64-Bit Edition. This update provides the latest fixes to Microsoft Lync 2013 64-Bit Edition. Additionally, this update contains stability and performance improvements.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2812461/en-us
This article describes the Microsoft Lync 2013 updates that are dated February 2013. These updates for Lync 2013 include many basic quality improvements since the initial release of Lync 2013. These updates include the following improvements:

• Enables users to hide offline contacts in the contact list.
• Enables users to receive buddy invites from untrusted networks.
  
  Note This option is available under Alerts in Lync Options.
• Improves the support for high dots per inch (DPI) displays, for Microsoft Narrator, and for other accessibility features.
• Fixes bugs that are related to Location sharing and settings.
• Fixes bugs that are related to Tabbed Conversations.
• Enables participants to join online meetings by dialing out to their telephone number if online meetings are scheduled by a non-audio-enabled Lync 2013 user.
• Improves the handling of devices that have both a front-facing and rear-facing camera.
• Improves the user experience when you join a Lync meeting in a Lync Room System-enabled room.

 Note These updates affect only the Lync 2013 Desktop client. The Lync 2013 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) client is not affected, and will be updated at a later date. We do not recommend that you install these updates if you use Lync 2013 in VDI mode.

Important : You need to install both the Lync & Office 2013 Update in order to get the update installed correctly!!!

Download:

Update for Microsoft Lync 2013 (KB2760512) 64-Bit Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36757

Update for Microsoft Lync 2013 (KB2760512) 32-Bit Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36742

There is also an update for Office 2013

Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Office 2013. This update provides the latest fixes to Microsoft Office 2013. Additionally, this update contains stability and performance improvements.

Update for Microsoft Office 2013 (KB2767852) 32-Bit Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36747

Update for Microsoft Office 2013 (KB2726954) 64-Bit Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36756

Microsoft has finally released the much anticipated Update for Lync Server 2013 that bring some updates to the following features

• Improves the reliability, stability, and performance of Lync Server 2013
• Lync 2013 Mobile Clients support for Voice & Video over IP
• Routing Enhancements based on Locations
• Call Pickup feature

Lync Server 2013 Cumulative Update KB 2809243
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36820

Reboot is Required

If you are installing the update via Windows Update then you MUST NOT FORGET to install the Database Update

Ex. For Lync Server 2013 STD Edition
Install-CsDatabase -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn SE.FQDN -Verbose

The Following Tools have also been updated/published

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Resource Kit Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36821

Microsoft Lync Server 2013, Planning Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36823

Lync Server 2013 Whiteboard Archiving Viewer
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36822

Microsoft Lync 2013 SDK
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36824

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Persistent Chat Server SDK
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35458

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Persistent Chat Resource Kit
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36827

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Documentation Help File
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35405

Lync Server 2013 Stress and Performance Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36819

Lync Server 2013 Capacity Calculator
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36828

The Presentation of our Techdays Session has been uploaded
http://www.microsoft.com/belux/techdays/2013/SessionDetail.aspx?sessionId=77

Microsoft® Lync® 2013 is an enterprise-ready unified communications platform. Lync connects hundreds of millions of people everywhere thanks to the new mobile experience on tablets, smartphones and federation with partners, including Skype. Organize enriched virtual meeting experiences with HD Video Conferencing, Gallery view and high quality online meetings from web based clients. This session is packed with demo's Lyncing you to the future.

Download Presentation
http://www.pro-lync.be/media/p/1717.aspx

In case you lived under a rock for the last few weeks, on February 19-21 Microsoft organized the first ever Lync Conference in San Diego / USA.  I've heard only a few Belgian IT-professionals made it so many will be hungry for 3 days of great Lync content!

Well, I've got some very good news for you: all sessions are uploaded online by Microsoft and ready for watching/download for only 199$.   Register here 
After registering and paying with credit card, you immediately get access to the sessions which you can watch online or download to your computer in 720p H264 MP4.

Remark: content will only be available until April 16th so be quick!!

I just finished downloading the content video and presentations so you'll be needing some free space:

Finally!

The first child of the new wave of Lync Mobile clients has arrived: Lync 2013 for Windows Phone 8 is now ready for download in the Windows Phone store.

The most important new features of this client  are:

• support for Voice and Video over IP over WiFi and 3G/4G networks.
• Settings to allow/disallow voice/video over 3G/4G (for data usage savings)
• Calendar view of all scheduled Lync meetings

Remark: This client REQUIRES Lync Server 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (February 2013) to work correctly.

If you want more information on it's features, please download and check out the the PowerPoint from our Techdays 2013 session.

Today the Lync team blog announced that:

• Lync 2013 for Windows Phone 8 is available (which has been posted on pro-lync earlier today)
• Lync 2013 for iPad and iPhone has been submitted to the Apple App Store and should be available this week

More information on the Lync Team Blog

As a follow-up for my previous post, Lync for iOS (iPhone & iPad) is now available in the app store:

Lync 2013 for iPhone
Lync 2013 for iPad

Most important new features are:

• support for Voice and Video over IP over WiFi and 3G/4G networks.
• Settings to allow/disallow voice/video over 3G/4G (for data usage savings)
• Calendar view of all scheduled Lync meetings
• Ability to view meeting content like desktop sharing and powerpoint presentation (iPad only)

Just as with Lync 2013 for Windows Phone 8, Lync 2013 CU1 (February 2013) on the server is required for these clients to work.

This update fixes several bugs in the RTM versions of Lync 2013 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) clients. Additionally, after you apply this update, you do not have to re-enter a username and password when you pair a Lync 2013 VDI plugin with a Lync 2013 Desktop client.

You can apply this hotfix on both Lync 2013 VDI clients and Lync 2013 Desktop clients.

Description of the Lync 2013 update: March 2013
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760556/en-us

Introduction

Just got a question regarding network handover support for Lync 2013.

Handover is the process that happens when a mobile client is switching between networks. There are several options to handover:

• Within an enterprise network, i.e. between different Access Points while walking through a building
• Between different networks, i.e. between Enterprise Wifi and 3G/4G while leaving the company building

So what is supported for Lync 2013 Mobile?

Case 1: within an Enterprise Network

Handover is supported and will work as long as your wireless network infrastructure supports fast-handover.  Fast-Handover is required because Voice/Video over IP streams are very sensitive for delays and packet loss, thus requiring the connection switching to be very fast (+/- 50ms maximum).

"To mitigate this handover delay and keep it below a threshold of 50 milliseconds (ms), several methods have been implemented. (Within 50 ms delay, there is typically no or very little impact on an existing real-time communications session.)"

More details can be found in the Delivering Lync 2013 Real-Time Communications over Wi-Fi whitepaper.

Case 2: between different networks

Handover is not supported. While not mentionned in official documentation, bloggers at LyncAtea.no asked this question during after-session Q&A on the Lync Conference in San Diego.  Lync MVP Matt Landis also blogged about it briefly.

"The new Lync mobile client will not have automatic handover between different networks (eg. Wifi <-> 3G). This need not be a major issue, since mobile users experiencing failure anyway, and it is easy to establish the connection / register device networking and just continue the conversation from the Conversation History. Notwithstanding anything to be aware of and inform end-users."

Other factors

Aside the network delay in switching Access Points, other factors may be important.  If you are using a buggy WiFi driver on your Windows 8 tablet which has issues with switching AP's, do not expect your Lync MX client to handover correctly.  More details can be found in the WiFi Whitepaper