Microsoft Lync 2010, Asterisk & Skype Integration Tutorial

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Microsoft Lync 2010, Asterisk & Skype Integration Tutorial

I came across an excellent tutorial on installing and integrating Microsoft Lync 2010, Asterisk and Skype. The tutorial covers installing AsteriskNOW within a virtual machine on Windows, so you don't even have to have spare hardware lying around to install Linux + AsteriskNOW on. The tutorial mentions integrating with Skype using Skype for Asterisk (SFA), which unfortunately was killed earlier this year. You can of course use Skype Connect (formerly Skype for SIP) to create SIP trunks, but the integration isn't as "tight". smiley-frown
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Image courtesy of I'm a UC Blog

The tutorial then explains how to setup Microsoft Lync to work with Asterisk, including configuring the Voice Policy, dial plan and routes. It assumes you have Lync already installed. If you need step-by-step instructions for installing Lync from scratch, the tutorial points to another guide for that. Integrating Microsoft Lync with Asterisk may be a bit of overkill for most companies. Choosing one or the either might make more sense, simply from a management / TCO point of view. Though if you already invested in SIP-based desktop phones, it might make sense to have Asterisk handle the SIP registrations and act as the gateway since Lync only works with Lync-certified desktop phones due to some proprietary codecs. This eliminates the need to throw away your SIP phones for Lync-compatible ones. Though some phone vendors let you flash the firmware of SIP phones and convert them to Lync-based firmware.

Go check out the tutorial.


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