Topic Last Modified: 2011-02-01

Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Group Chat enables users to participate in multiparty, topic-based conversations that persist over time. Lync Server 2010, Group Chat can help your organization do the following:

Some combinations of Lync Server 2010 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 can coexist. For details, see Migrating Group Chat Server in the Migration documentation.

Both Microsoft Lync 2010 and Lync 2010 Group Chat support instant messaging (IM) and presence. The content of IM is not persistent. Lync 2010 Group Chat IM and presence features and functionality are the same as those provided by Lync 2010, except that Group Chat IM does not support multiparty IM. For details about IM and presence support available to Lync users, see Planning for IM and Presence.

Archiving of instant messages in Group Chat is available if Microsoft Lync Server 2010 is set up to support archiving. For details about archiving, see Planning for IM and Presence.

If your organization must follow compliance regulations, you can deploy Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Archiving Server to enable archiving support for Lync Server 2010 IM, conferencing, and Group Chat content. Chat room archiving requires deploying the Group Chat Compliance Server.

To enable chat rooms in Lync Server, deploy Group Chat. For information about enabling chat rooms, see the Group Chat Help at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=209000. If users are enabled for Lync Server, and Lync Server support is deployed, users can install and use Lync Server to provide chat room support.

Group Chat Server supports federated user access. Using Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Group Chat Admin Tool, it is possible to explicitly provision federated users for access to specific chat rooms.