Technical data

DATA CENTER and CAMPUS NETWORKS DEPLOYMENT GUIDE
Deploying Brocade Networks with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 4 of 52
INTRODUCTION
Workers today have many means of communication—cell phones, office phones, voice mail, Voice over IP (VoIP), fax,
e-mail, instant messaging (IM), video conferencing, and other ways to communicate. Advances in each of these
technologies has increased productivity and enabled instant contact with anyone across the globe. However, this
poses some IT challenges:
• Users still depend on their own isolated infrastructure and devices.
• There is a lack of integration between devices.
• The environment does not scale to meet the demands of newer technologies.
Organizations had to invest in a voice network for voice mail, telephone, and fax and then had to additionally invest
in a data network for data, Internet, and e-mail. Typically, different administrators were required to manage this
complex network. The emergence of new forms of communication, such as mobile telephony and video
conferencing, meant additional investment in infrastructure and management.
This paper is intended for network engineers, architects, and server administrators who are planning to deploy
Microsoft Lync Server 2010. It discusses network Layer 2 and Layer 3 and load balancing using a Brocade
®
infrastructure. It includes guidelines on reference architectures and provides examples of configurations used during
testing at the Microsoft Training Center in Mountain View, California.
A Global Workforce
Traditional campus communications were built for employees who stayed in their own offices. However, companies
are becoming more global, and the workforce is becoming more blended. Workers now work from home or roam
between their home base and other buildings on the corporate campus. The fact is that the mobile workforce is here
to stay, and companies need to find a technology that allows mobile workers to be connected anywhere and anytime.
Unified Communications (UC) is that technology, allowing organizations to respond to these communications
challenges by “unifying” corporate communications.
Streamlined Communications
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 uses a software-based approach to improving user productivity by enabling streamlined
communications from within the most commonly used applications. It provides an integrated presence throughout
the Microsoft Office suite. Whether making a phone call from Microsoft Office Outlook, or identifying the availability
of a document’s author, users can find what they need and can communicate using the most appropriate method.
They can reach one another with a single click in Outlook and answer an e-mail with a phone call to the sender or
with a conference call. Telephone conferences or live meetings can be scheduled in Outlook with one click. In
addition, the complete conversation history, including instant messages, is kept in Outlook for further use. Using
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 as the principal client application, the solution provides a rich, integrated
communications experience for enterprise users.