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Lync Room System: Microsoft Ventures Beyond Desktop Video

Like other No Jitter bloggers, I recently attended Microsoft's inaugural conference dedicated to Lync, the company's UC and collaboration platform. Eric tells us about Skype integration, one of the most anticipated features in Lync Server 2013. Sheila recounts Lync's contact center options. And Irwin touched on plans to (finally!) bake "enterprise voice" into Lync Online. And Marty provides an overview on Lync's advances in the areas of mobility, video, and CEBP. So with all that out of the way I'll restrict myself to the one new product announcement made at the event: Lync Room System.

Lync Room System (which I'm going to try to avoid calling LRS, because if there's one thing the industry just doesn't need it's another three-letter acronym) is Microsoft's first attempt to deliver a Lync-based video conferencing experience beyond desktops and mobile devices. I mean, it's long been possible to integrate Lync with room-based video conferencing systems. Solutions from Radvision, Polycom, Vidyo, Cisco and others let end users with Lync clients participate in room-based video conferences based on these vendors' technology. But with Lync Room System, Microsoft is making the video conference room itself a fully functional Lync client. This means it's not just pumping in the video stream of remote participants, but delivering all of Lync's other collaboration capabilities, including presence state, document sharing once the meeting is started, Outlook integration for coordinating with participants' calendars, and interactive white boarding. Granted, the lattermost doesn't fit into the "all of Lync's other collaborations capabilities" category, but its white boards are a central Lync Room System feature and are pretty slick. You can get a better sense of what Lync Room System is all about at the Lync Team Blog.

To deliver Lync-based video rooms, Microsoft is taking much the same approach it took with delivering Lync-based desk phones: Deliver a set of hardware specifications to a select set of partners and let them go at it. The partners in question this time around are LifeSize, Polycom, Crestron, and Smart Technologies. Each has been working on their iterations of Lync Rooms System for the past year or so. Each plans to have shipping solutions later this year. And each was providing demos at Lync Conference 2013. I attended each of the demos to see how the four solutions will be distinct from one another. Here's what I learned:

The LifeSize solution is called LifeSize LRS 1000 for Microsoft Lync. The company has already produced a FAQ on it and has given it a dedicated product page. Click on the link and you'll see the components that make up all of the Lync Room System solutions: An HD camera, large touch-screen monitors, speakers, a conference table microphone, a dedicated control console, and a CPU of one sort or another. In the case of LifeSize, the camera is a modified version of the recently introduced Logitech C930e, and the monitors are either one or two 55" Smart Board 8055i displays.

When I asked how LifeSize will differentiate its Lync Room System solution, senior product manager Ryan Stuczynski said the company will focus specifically on connecting smaller-sized rooms of six to eight participants, rather than larger board rooms. This will be reflected in the price, which Stuczynski says will be significantly lower than his competitors' Lync Room System solutions. (I heard some pricing details for another vendor's solution, but I'm not sure if it's list or street...and I don't think I'm supposed to publish it so you all will have to wait for the official pricing announcements to be made in a few months.)

As with all the Lync Room System solutions, no hardware-based MCUs are required since Lync Server 2013 provides the intelligence for setting up the multi-point video sessions. But this is only to interconnect multiple Lync Rooms Systems, as well as Lync desktop and mobile clients. LifeSize LRS 1000 can optionally be deployed with LifeSize UVC Multipoint, a software-based MCU that connects to other video endpoints already deployed within the enterprise. This way Lync Room Systems are not video conferencing islands unto themselves, but rather able to participate in the LifeSize customer's existing video network.

Next page: Crestron, Smart and Polycom

Ok, let's move on to Crestron. This isn't a company I come across often...ok, ever...in tracking the UC market. These are the utilities automation guys--turn off your home's lights, control the thermostat, and whatnot from a centralized point. They are very entrenched in the workplace, not just with sensors that automatically turn off offices' lights when no one is in the room, but with systems that control the environment of video conferencing rooms.

Crestron RL, as the company's Lync Room System solution is called, uses 65" Samsung monitors (either one or two, like LifeSize) that are not inherently touch-screen capable but rather have an overlay literally bolted on that turns them into touch screens. This, Crestron folks say, will reduce TCO by more than $7,000 since touch-screen displays are so expensive. Use of Crestron's DigitalMedia cables rather than more expensive HDMI cabling further lowers the price, according to the company.

Another differentiator: the 10" control panel isn't only for controlling the video and collaboration experience; it also provides the conference room's environmental controls. Crestron also says that the CPU for its system fits behind the monitor, rather than being exposed like other Lync Room System solutions, making for better aesthetics. Finally, integration with non-Lync video systems (from Cisco, Polycom, and LifeSize, among others) is facilitated via optional Radvision gateways. So like LifeSize, Crestron says it can integrate with existing video conferencing environments.

Smart Technologies plans to formally unveil its Lync Room System on March 18 at Enterprise Connect. But they had a working demo of it at the Microsoft event and here's what I found out about it. Unlike the other solutions, Smart's will have three monitor options: single 70", single 84", and dual 70". This will help it fit into a wider range of conference room environments. It will have an ultra wide-angle (190°) camera that's capable of showing all participants even in a large conference room (but no ability to zoom in on any of them). The monitors have proximity sensors that automatically activate them and launch the Lync software when people enter the conference room. And Smart--like both LifeSize and Crestron--is touting super-low TCO as a differentiator. Something we'll hopefully learn more about next month.

And last but not least, Polycom. Unlike the other companies, Polycom didn't have a living, breathing Lync Room System to demo at the conference. Rather, there was a sort of miniaturized mock-up in the expo hall using smaller, desktop-sized monitors. As a result I wasn't able to poke and prod and ask questions. Polycom issued a press release that mentioned its Lync Room System solution, but didn't provide any actual details about how it will be differentiated from those of LifeSize, Crestron, and Smart. I'm guessing that, like the LifeSize solution, it will have optional interoperability with other non-Lync video conferencing solutions. And in one of the conference sessions there was mention of a next-generation "round table camera" to be released later this year. So maybe the Polycom solution will incorporate that. But it looks like we'll have to wait for a while before getting more details on this particular Lync Room System solution.

Let's see...what else is in my notes about Lync Room System? Each of the four vendors will offer their solutions as a single SKU. That should make it easy to order given that each of the solutions is made up of several vendors' hardware and software. The Lync Room System software is a modified Lync client and as such takes one Lync license per room. You deploy five rooms, you use five client licenses.

Lync Room System uses Lync's facial recognition feature to keep the camera centered on people as they move around. However, it doesn't support active speaker detection...something that's on the roadmap and expected to be delivered later this year. If a Lync Room System loses its connection to the Lync Server 2013 software in the data center it can still be used for audio conferencing over the PSTN.

That's about it. Hope it's useful info for those of you interested in this new, unusual area that Microsoft's hoping to expand into.

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