Devices and Clients

With a unified communications (UC) device, users can perform typical call-management tasks such as placing a call on hold, forwarding a call to another user, and parking calls (putting a call on hold and retrieving it later from a different phone). Lync Server also supports Response Groups that can route and queue incoming calls to designated users for special purposes, such as customer service or reaching an internal help desk.

UC devices that work with Lync Server’s Enterprise Voice feature (called Voice here) include IP-enabled phones or handsets, USB microphones and headsets that plug into desktop computers, and hands-free IP-based or USB-based conference room phones. These UC devices run or attach to a computer that runs a Lync Client, which is software that facilitates user access to Lync Server Voice features. Phone devices typically include an embedded version of the Lync 2010 Phone Edition; devices with USB phone hardware connected to computers running Windows use the Lync 2010 Client software, and USB phone hardware connected to computers running Apple OS X uses Communicator for Mac 2011.