First Look at Microsoft Lync 2010First Look at Microsoft Lync 2010

Lab testers see significant improvements in quality and feature/function.

Testing lab partner Miercom recently conducted testing on the just released Microsoft Lync Server 2010 unified communications solution. The focus of this test review was to verify new features, functionality, performance, security, and resiliency, and verify that new enhancements corrected deficiencies noted in previous test reviews.

Microsoft Lync is far more than a rebranding of the previous UC offering, Office Communications Server (OCS). Overall we were extremely impressed with Microsoft Lync 2010, and feel Microsoft can now do serious battle on the enterprise unified communications front. We verified a rich feature set, high quality audio, video and web conferencing, a wide variety of third-party "Lync optimized" peripherals, voice-to-text voice mail preview sent to email, and many more business-enabling applications and functions.

The server component is now consolidated, eliminating the disjointed and hard-to-manage four separate servers required previously. There are significant enhanced capabilities such as multipoint voice and video conferencing, reporting and CDR records server, enhanced client features including Call Park, Call Admission Control, and well-integrated Instant Messaging, email, and voice/video conferencing ability. A complete test report is available for download at Miercom's website.

Fixed and Improved
Features missing and performance limitations previously noted, including less-than-optimal quality of experience (QOE) have been corrected in this release. Voice and video QoE achieved near perfect 5.0 on MOS (Mean Opinion Score) on uncongested network, and 4.5 on constricted networks. Latency is no longer an issue. Impaired or degraded network conditions are no longer a show-stopper for the Microsoft Lync 2010 UC offering.

Features improved from previous published testing included the addition of music on hold, call park with ability to dial an extension number from anywhere to pick up a call on hold, and the addition of an interactive whiteboard sharing application to go with desktop sharing.

There are many other business enabling features and "neat" things we will let other editors pull from the Microsoft reviewer guide, or from a product demo to further elaborate in their articles. We focused our review on the hands-on testing of the product under less-than-favorable conditions; we tried to break the product, but found no vulnerabilities inherently in the Microsoft Lync 2010 Server from load or attack.

Our bulk testing effort focused on three areas that the customers we consult with have identified as their concerns in deploying the predecessor to Lync, OCS: Performance, Resiliency and Security.

Performance Testing
Microsoft Lync successfully passed voice and video Quality of Experience (QoE) tests under heavily loaded and degraded network conditions. Even with significant jitter and a packet loss (percentage in excess of 5%), the voice and video quality of the Lync client with High Definition Video was superb. High Definition Video Peer-to-Peer calling was conducted over T1 bandwidth, with an average bandwidth of 142 Kbps needed to maintain the connection. Peak traffic utilization did hit 1.5 Mbps at times when there was full motion in the video sessions.

SIP trunk load testing for Lync Server 2010 Mediation Server is still in progress at the time of writing this article. Endpoint Lync Client scalability testing verified up to 8,000 clients, limited only by the test delivery system.

Resiliency
To verify the branch resiliency, the Miercom engineers put Microsoft Lync 2010 thru a series of tests by failing connections between Lync Client and the Lync Server. We found the Lync Client to recover quickly (within seconds) upon restoration of the network connection to the Lync 2010 Server.

We also conducted failover scenarios for simulated branch locations using a Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA) from NET, the UX 2000. During a WAN outage, it can provide more than basic voice services to users in the branch--services such as IM, desktop sharing and video calling. Microsoft Lync passed resiliency tests for local client as well as branch office deployment.

Security
Security testing for the Microsoft Lync Server revealed a "pass" rating for reliability and security (with an appropriate network firewall employed). No inherent vulnerabilities were discovered in Microsoft Lync Server 2010 outright, when a battery of vulnerability and protocol analysis tools from Ixia, Mu Dynamics, and Touchstone were used (for more details, see the Sidebar at the end of this article, "How We Did It").

Other New Features and Capabilities of Microsoft Lync 2010
* More complete set of voice features supported, including Forward, Transfer, Hold, Call Park, E911 and others.
* Integrated natively with Active Directory to provide access to contact database..
* Connections can be initiated directly from the Contact Card (i.e., electronic business card).
* Mobile and web access is available over leading browsers and platforms.
* Other IM networks supported.
* System scales up to 10,000 users per server and 80,000 users per pool.
* Lync Server 2010 can be used in an on-premise, hosted or combination (hybrid) environment.
* Client and server APIs available for developers.
* Allows existing A/V infrastructure use in room systems and conference solutions.
* Enhanced Virtual meetings: schedule a meeting from Outlook; join the meeting though Lync 2010 via phone, PC, or Web interface. Includes integrated audio and video for presentation sharing. Allows Lync ad hoc meeting using IM to an Online Meeting.

Future for Unified Communications and Microsoft Lync 2010
Lync Server 2010 funnels the ways people communicate with each other to a single intuitive interface that IT can manage in a unified way. Because Microsoft Lync groups the most common ways of communication (phone, email, IM, desktop sharing, Office applications) into one platform to be ported to any device, communication is simpler with real-time presence and collaboration.

Bottom Line
Microsoft Lync 2010 is a resilient, scalable, feature rich Unified Communications system. Microsoft Lync 2010 should be on the short list for enterprise communication infrastructure upgrades. Quality third party peripherals from Aastra, Polycom and snom will help Microsoft achieve more market acceptance at the enterprise desktop. Third-party hardware such as the survivable branch appliance UX 2000 from NET will enable branch offices the resiliency needed for enterprise communications.

Rob Smithers is CEO of Miercom, which is the leading independent testing center that provides unbiased thorough engineering test analysis to trade publications including No Jitter. Additional information on Miercom can be found at www.miercom.com or message us at [email protected].

NEXT PAGE: How We Did It

NEXT PAGE: How We Did It

How We Did It Testing was conducted on an 8-way core i7 server with 16GB of RAM containing five virtual machines using the Microsoft Hyper-V manager built into Microsoft Server 2008 R2. The five installed virtual machines included a Mediation Server, Domain Controller, Exchange Server 2010, SharePoint 2010 and a server running a Quality of Experience Monitor. These servers were used to view the total experience that Microsoft Lync 2010 has to offer. Other included devices and software contributed in Microsoft Lync server 2010 testing included the Aastra 6725ip Lync phones, Microsoft HD webcams and Microsoft Lync client software.

The MuDynamics Mu-4000 www.mudynamics.com security appliance consists of a complete service assurance solution for determining the reliability, availability and security of IP-based applications and services. The Mu solution is highly automated, with lights-out fault isolation. The Mu Test Suite speeds the remediation of software flaws by providing actionable reports and complete data on any faults. Mu-based testing is managed via a variety of interfaces, including its highly visual web-based graphical user interface or remotely controlled using REST- or XML-based APIs for integration into common laboratory automation frameworks such as HPQC or STAF. Protocol mutation attacks were generated and directed at Microsoft's Lync server and NET's UX-2000 appliance.

Touchstone WinSIP www.touchstone-inc.com is a high-performance software-based SIP bulk call generator. The WinSIP suite was used to generate calls through the Lync mediation server to test its ability to handle thousands of simultaneous SIP calls. SIP calls were generated using the G.711 uLaw audio codec and were directed to the mediation server to ring a client at the Lync site. Once the Lync client receives the WinSIP call, the call will simultaneously ring another WinSIP user. The WinSIP receive side will answer the call and immediately disconnect it. Simultaneous calls were increased to stress the mediation server to see how many calls it can actually support.

The Apposite Linktropy 7500 Pro www.apposite-tech.com was used to simulate the WAN link between the Microsoft Lync environment and the NET UX-2000 branch site. HD video conferencing calls were initiated across the WAN link while simulating a 1.5-Mbps T1 link. Video and audio quality at both ends were observed during the T1 simulation.

The Adtran Atlas 800 www.adtran.com simulated a local PSTN which was connected to the UX-2000 branch site with a T1 connection. This connection to the local PSTN allows users at a branch site to make calls to the outside. In the event of a WAN link outage, the UX-2000 can failover to the PSTN T1 connection back to the Microsoft Lync site through the Adtran Atlas 800 to maintain connectivity with Microsoft Lync.

We used an Ixia XM12 chassis www.ixiacom.com using IxLoad to apply IMIX background traffic while generating SIP calls for analysis. Real-world traffic was also used in testing as generated by Ixia’s test platform and test applications, principally IxNetwork for Layer 2-3 routing and switching traffic and IxLoad for Layer 4-7 application traffic.