4. Lync-to-Phone
Lync-to-phone is a feature that provides a
“single work number” experience for Lync Online users, and is available
with licensing for Lync Online Plan 3. To enable Lync-to-phone, a
separate calling service from a qualified Office 365 partner is
required, and enables connectivity to the PSTN from Lync Online. After
the service is purchased and configured, the following features are
available with Lync-to-phone:
• Capability for PSTN phone calls to be
made and received using the Lync client on multiple devices, using a
single phone number provided by the calling service. Laptops,
smartphones, and tablet devices with the Lync client are all supported.
• Click-to-call functionality from Outlook and other office applications.
• Simultaneous ring to a mobile phone.
• Initiating calls using a smartphone or tablet with the Lync work number displayed to outside parties.
• Mid-call transfer from a PC to a mobile phone or to another number.
• Drag-and-drop of contacts into an existing Lync call or meeting.
• Delegation, enabling an assistant to make or receive calls on a user’s behalf.
• Team call, in which several users can be grouped to pick up incoming calls.
• Voice mail and auto attendant .
5. Lync Federation and Public IM
Lync Online supports federation with other
organizations that use either Lync Online or Lync on-premise. Federated
contacts can see each other’s presence, and can use IM, peer-to-peer
audio, and video to communicate. As with an on-premise deployment,
federation needs to be configured by both parties, and public DNS
configuration is required. Whitelists and blacklists are also available
to control which domains are available for federation. One difference
between the federation features of Lync Online and Lync on-premise is
that file transfer is not available with Lync Online federated
connections.
In addition to Lync federation, Lync Online
users can communicate with contacts that use Skype. However, federation
with AOL and Yahoo!, as well as federation with XMPP networks, is not
available for Lync Online.
Note
Federation with Skype is disabled by default, but can be enabled by a Lync Online service administrator.
6. Dial-in Audio Conferencing
Although Lync Online does not
natively provide dial-in audio conferencing capability, Plan 2
licensing does allow interoperability with third-party audio
conferencing services. The service also allows for scheduling and
joining a Lync meeting from any phone, and initiating a call to an
external number from within a Lync meeting. Microsoft maintains an
up-to-date list of approved audio conferencing partners that can be
used for this service on the Office 365 Marketplace site.
