Summary

It should be readily apparent that Lync Server has made significant improvements to the dial-in conferencing experience for end users.

Conferencing and PIN policies provide a degree of flexibility for users to grant different levels of capabilities to user groups. For example, executives might be allowed a PIN policy that never expires, whereas the rest of the staff might be required to change a PIN every 90 days. The new DTMF commands and conference announcements enable users to choose how they want to conduct conferences, all through a few simple clicks in an application they are already using.

Dial-in conferencing can be provisioned through an existing PBX if capacity allows, or organizations might choose to leverage an Internet Telephony Service Provider and SIP trunks for additional telephony capacity. In either case, organizations that are deploying Lync for other functions should spend some time reviewing the potential cost savings in moving to Lync dial-in conferencing over a hosted, subscription service.