Microsoft has released Lync Server 2010 Release Candidate and Lync Server 2010, Planning Tool Release Candidate



Lync Server 2010 Release Candidate (RC)

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 provides complete presence, instant messaging, conferencing and enterprise voice capabilities through a single, easy-to-use interface that is consistent across PC, browser, and mobile device. You can Architect your deployment for high availability using data center resiliency and survivable branch appliances. Administrators benefit from a single, consistent management infrastructure, new capabilities to increase availability, and interoperability with existing systems. Administrators also use a new PowerShell-based foundation for administration consistent with Exchange Server, Active Directory, and other Microsoft server products.

This Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Release Candidate includes both editions of the server (Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition), along with the Microsoft Lync 2010 client.

Note:
The Release Candidate (RC) is intended for lab use only.
The RC version of the software will cease to function on or around February 20, 2011.
The following resources are available for use with the RC:
Wave 14 Tech Center
Getting Started
System Requirements
What’s New
Planning Primer
More Planning chapters
Lab Deployment
Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Planning Tool
There is no product support for this RC. You are welcome to share your trial experiences with others and to ask for advice by participating in the forums:
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 RC
Microsoft Lync 2010 RC

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Lync Server 2010, Planning Tool Release Candidate (RC)

The Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Planning Tool (RC) asks you a series of questions about your organization and the features that you are interested in. The planning tool will then use your answers to recommend a topology based on the tested Microsoft Lync Server 2010 user model.

Your organization may have a different user model. If so, you should adjust the recommended topology as necessary to fit your organization’s needs.

What’s New in the Planning Tool for Lync Server 2010?
The Planning Tool now estimates the amount of bandwidth you may require for your WAN for audio and video conferences for each central site.
The Planning Tool now invites you to participate in helping make the planning tool better.
You can view your edge network diagram and enter FQDNs and IP addresses and view the certificates, DNS settings, and firewall settings for your edge network in the central sites when using DNS Load Balancing for Edge Servers. You can also import this information to Topology Builder.
The Planning Tool is supported on Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)
You can export your topology file to Topology Builder for a faster, easier Lync Server setup experience
You can export the global topology, with its corresponding branch offices, as well as the number of concurrent calls connecting each data center to the PSTN into the Microsoft Visio drawing and diagramming software. The Visio output contains improved drawings for each of the site topologies.
The Planning Tool exports a list of the hardware for all sites, including branch offices, to a Microsoft Excel worksheet
The Planning Tool accommodates more supported topologies for Enterprise Voice and dial-in conferencing.
Navigation between topologies and server information has been improved.
You can resize or maximize the Planning Tool window to better accommodate your screen resolution.
The Planning Tool provides a menu bar and a toolbar for available actions.
The Planning Tool incorporates new Microsoft Lync Server 2010 features and topology recommendations.
Users are now evenly distributed among the Front End pools.

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