Dial-In Conferencing Overview

The dial-in conferencing features of Lync Server 2010 can certainly be considered part of the voice enhancements, but the key differentiator with dial-in conferencing is that an organization can continue to leverage its existing phone handsets and PBX while still using the rich dial-in conferencing meeting and scheduling experience. This enables organizations that already use Lync for instant messaging and presence to begin using the audio conferencing service without a significant investment or change to user behavior. Users can continue to use their current handsets, but gain the capability to schedule and join meetings using a Lync client.

When joining audio conferences, Lync can even dial the user’s work number automatically when entering the meeting. This removes the need for users to manually dial the access number and enter an extension and PIN to authenticate because they are already authenticated to Active Directory through the Lync client. Figure 19.1 depicts how a user can select to have Lync dial their work or mobile number automatically when joining a meeting.

Figure 19.1 Join Meeting Preferences

Most of the configuration required for dial-in conferencing builds on the steps used to provision Enterprise Voice services. For instance, the infrastructure for a Front End pool, Mediation Server role, and an IP/PSTN gateway must already be in place before configuring dial-in conferencing.

Depending on the PBX integration in place for voice services, it might be necessary to create a separate trunk configuration for dial-in conferencing. This is typical if an Internet Telephony Service Provider provides SIP trunks for the dial-in conferencing. If the trunk configuration differs for the provider, an additional Mediation pool might be required with the trunk configuration scoped to the new pool.