Server APIs

The server-side API is UCMA 3.0, which is a managed code API for building communications solutions that run against Lync Server—though in some cases the applications run under the UCMA Runtime without Communications Server. This API is highly scalable, very extensible, and is made up of multiple modalities (for example, Core, UCMA Runtime, and so on).

It allows for application provisioning and management as well as handling publishing of endpoints and subscribing to events. It enables you to create endpoints for audio, video, and messaging and can even serve as a back-to-back user agent. So, what kind of applications can you create with UCMA 3.0?

It can be used in a help desk or contact center/call center environment for enabling supervisors to monitor IM chats or voice calls, whisper instructions to an agent, or enable the supervisor to take over the conversation if needed.

One popular use is for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or personal virtual assistants. Think what it would be like if your customers started a voice call or an IM chat with an application that prompted the user for information and provided the caller with needed information or directed the call/chat to the correct agent to handle the customer’s request. You can even enable your customers to do all this from your website without requiring the Lync client to be installed on its local PC.

Have you ever received automated phone calls around election time or had an automated call from your doctor’s office or the kid’s school? UCMA 3.0 can do these tasks, too. Imagine what it would do for your business if you called your customers telling them about a new product in your line.

There are two basic modalities that you can use to achieve all this functionality. The Core API enables you full access to Lync Server and lets you get down and dirty by wiring up your event handlers to respond and add functionality to audio, video, and IM streams.

My favorite modality, and the one that most people start out with, is the UCMA 3.0 Workflow API. The Workflow API abstracts a subset of the functionality found in the UCMA 3.0 SDK. You can call the UCMA 3.0 SDK code directly from your Workflow activities. It is also built on top of Microsoft Speech, which means it gives you text-to-speech (TTS), speech recognition, and speech synthesis capabilities. It leverages the communications features of the UCMA SDK, but does so using an easy-to-read visual development model.