New Features for Presence in Lync 2010
Some of the new features for Presence in Lync 2010 include message waiting indicator, privacy controls, contacts photos, and AV conferencing and web conferencing.
Message Waiting Indicator
New class of phones that run the MS lync phone edition is introduced in Lync 2010. This allows these phones to display if there is a message waiting in the mailbox. You must configure Exchange UM for this to work.
Privacy Controls
Lync 2010 client gives users more options as to how their information is available to others. These include options such as a user display location information or not. Also, presence information is only shown to people on the contact list. This provides more security when companies deploy Lync 2010 in open federation mode.
Contacts Photos
This is an obvious feature that an IM client should have and MS caught that late. It is the ability to show photos of contacts in the contact list. This is useful whe one get s call from an unknown person in the organization.
AV Conferencing and Web Conferencing Features
MS made a lot of investment here. They want to make sure that Lync is up to WebEx standards when it comes to AV/Web conferencing. Lync now has a single downloadable client which allows meeting attendees to download. Note that this is helpful of meeting attendees who are not part of the organization and do not have Lync client installed on their computer. For users who have Lync client, this process would be seamless without needing any additional client. Lync helps ease the administration by providing meeting admission policy and controls. Lastly, the concept of simple URL in Lync allows users use shorter links as https://lync.company.com/meet/123.