Topic Last Modified: 2010-11-15

IM and presence are automatically installed in any Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Presence information enables users to approach colleagues at the right time with the right form of communication, to lead to a more productive work environment. A user’s presence is a collection of information that includes availability, willingness to communicate, additional notes (such as location and status), and how the user can be contacted. Presence is enhanced in Lync Server 2010 with pictures, location information, and a rich set of presence states that includes “Off Work,” “Do Not Disturb,” and “Be Right Back,” in addition to basic states such as “Available,” “Busy,” and “In a Conference.” Administrators can also define customized, organization-specific presence states.

Contact management and user access options enable users to control what information others can see. Users can set different levels of contacts, each of which can view different levels of presence information.

By simply looking at a Contacts list, users can find everything they need to know at a glance. Simple colored icons indicate other users’ presence status, and picture and location are also shown.

With the integration between Lync Server and other products such as Outlook and SharePoint, whenever a contact’s name appears, such as in an email message or on a team website, the status and contact information is also displayed.

With the instant messaging in Lync Server, users can quickly message each other with timely information. If you prefer, your users can also communicate with users of public IM networks such as MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, and AOL. Note that a separate license might be required for public IM connectivity with Windows Live, AOL, and Yahoo!

Conversation history enables users to keep track of old IM conversations, and retrieve information that may have been communicated by IM months ago.

If your organization must follow compliance regulations, you can deploy a message archiving feature to archive the content of IM messages for all users in your organization, or for only certain users you specify.