Lync Server Standard Edition

The Standard Edition of Lync Server provides a relatively simple way for small- to medium-sized organizations to introduce unified communications into a network. It offers a relatively low cost of entry based on the fact that all internal components are hosted on a single server, with the option of adding an edge server to support external connectivity.

Standard Edition utilizes a local SQL Server Express Edition database to store Lync information, and the database is installed automatically by the deployment wizard. Although Standard Edition does not provide all the high-availability options that are available with the Enterprise Edition, with Lync Server 2013 new functionality has been added in the form of Front End Pool Pairing. This new feature allows Standard Edition pools to be designed for a level of resiliency, even across multiple sites. For this reason, many organizations, will find that installing multiple Standard Edition servers across several sites will result in an ideal combination of low cost, site resiliency, and a solid set of features. The primary disadvantage to Standard Edition is that it is designed to handle relatively low user loads, because the all-in-one nature of the system limits scalability in terms of performance. At the same time, the consolidated design of a Standard Edition server makes it simpler to deploy and maintain than an Enterprise Edition topology, and the performance characteristics will be more than adequate for many small-to-medium sized organizations.

A typical Standard Edition deployment would involve a single system acting as a Front End server, which might include additional collocated roles depending on the requirements, such as Mediation Server, Archiving Server, Monitoring Server, and Persistent Chat Server. To round out the deployment, a PSTN gateway can be used to enable Enterprise Voice, and an Edge Server can be installed to provide external connectivity. An additional system hosting the Director role can optionally be used to redirect incoming user requests to the Front End. This configuration is sufficient to provide IM, voice, and video services for a small- to medium-sized organization, as well as public IM connectivity, A/V conferencing, and more.