RATHER THAN SIMPLY REPLACING PHONES and instant messages, Microsoft Lync, Microsoft ’ s Unifi ed Communications platform, makes communicating in completely new ways possible. Lync users can see whether a contact is available and where he or she is located before reaching out. After a user has decided to contact someone, he can choose between a variety of methods, including audio, video, and instant message, depending on the situation, or even combine them all. Users can even send context along with a communication, so that the person on the other end does not need to scramble for old emails or account details before the conversation can begin.

Once of the most distinctive things about Lync, though, is how easy it is to extend. Conventional telephony platforms tend to be diffi cult to customize, and require learning esoteric development platforms or hiring expensive consultants. The Lync development platform described in this book allows developers to build custom solutions for Lync in a fraction of that time using the familiar and widely used .NET platform. This makes Lync perfect for building a custom communications solution for your organization.

This book explains in detail how to write custom client and server applications for Lync.