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[posted By Lesley McCreath on voip-news.com] snom technology AG, a leading developer and vendor of IP business phones, began business in Berlin back in 1996 as one of the pioneers in the VoIP sector, and today they continue to develop some of the world’s leading VoIP telephones for business communication based on the open standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

You might think that an old-fashioned military school in Georgia would be the last place to embrace VoIP, but snom phones have been enlisted there in a campaign to save money and improve on old legacy systems that have been hitting the school’s budget to the tune of $11,000 in monthly costs through a local telephone operator. And, all they got for their money was – calls - no bells, well, bells but no whistles – and, if they were lucky, caller ID. The Georgia Military College turned to snom technology AG's OCS edition telephones, designed to work natively with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and deliver seamless end-to-end unified communications. Going VoIP brought a huge list of features to the college and saves  80% on their telephony bills, bringing the monthly costs down to a little over $2,000. Wow.

snom Phones – Ready Right Out-of-the-Box

Now, snom has announced new auto-configuration capabilities for its snom UC edition 7xx series and snom 821 business phones. These phones will now offer seamless, out-of-the-box configuration with Lync server, directly from the phone for fast, plug-and-play. The phones all feature new base firmware that natively connects to the Lync, enabling rapid and streamlined provisioning in multi-site enterprise Microsoft Lync environments.

Dr. Michael Knieling, Managing Director, snom technology AG, spoke of snom’s new enhancements, “snom continues to find new ways to simplify Lync with Voice deployments by improving connectivity and compatibility of standards-based snom UC edition phones.” snom’s offerings are the first standards-based Lync-qualified phones to offer this plug-and-play integration with Lync. Microsoft Lync Server 2013 is an enterprise-ready unified communications platform that productively connects people, everywhere, on Windows 8 and other devices.

The snom 7xx series as well as the snom 821 employ the company’s Apollo firmware that has helped earn them a full qualification and certification with Lync. All of the phones also feature ergonomic design and support for high definition wideband voice, programmable function keys, and an intuitive user interface. The models bring easy configuration with PIN authentication and manageability features, including automatic updates. snom’s UC Edition IP phones represent the industry’s largest portfolio of full-featured business phones compatible and interoperable with Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and 2010.

Michael Knieling concluded, “We’re excited to continue our unique partnership as Microsoft upgrades to Lync 2013.” snom was even one of the sponsors of the inaugural Lync Conference. Lync Server 2013 voice users utilizing snom UC Edition phones for desktop communications receive a full range of traditional IP PBX and Lync collaboration features, including Boss/Admin, Music on Hold, Call Park and integrated presence buttons.  And, it’s all right out of the box.

At the recent Lync release Derek Burney (Corporate VP, Microsoft Lync & Microsoft Office Data) took the center stage showcasing Microsoft Lync 2013 fully running on Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365. This integration will be implemented across the service within the next 18 months.

Here are the highlights of the items demonstrated at the release event:

The ease with which a new user can be added to an Office 365 account with whatever Office application license.

Using Lync on array of mobile clients. Starting obviously with a Windows phone to Android and iPhones. He expressed that the client retains its "Lync-ness" while still adapting to the design of each mobile operating system. Creating ease of use and comfort.

Discussion of Lync Web app for browsers. Allowing any user join a meeting from a PC or Mac browser

WebRTC – the Web Real Time Communication and the premise to support this exciting initiative in the near future once standard is ratified

Focus on moving Microsoft Lync into the conference room. Using two large touch-screen displays, Burney demonstrated how with single-touch to join a meeting and then designate one screen to video and the other to electronic virtual whiteboard. This allowed for note taking of the meeting eliminating the need to take pictures of the old-fashioned whiteboard.

While the demo wasn't groundbreaking, the overall delivery signified the fulfillment of the vision Microsoft had for Lync. They have delivered a UC system that can provide voice as well as IM/Presence, video, desktop sharing and overall all elements of modern communications system. It can run on all the major platforms whether desktop or mobile and now is moving into conference rooms. The success and popularity of Microsoft Lync keeps on growing and enhancing.