Lync Polycom VVX Manager Tool

UPDATE: There is now a new 2.0 version of the Polycom VVX Manager Tool available. See the blog post here for more details. I’ve recently been doing a lot of work with deployment and management of Polycom VVX phones on Lync. Like always, I’ve found that when rolling out hundreds of any device, there are certain challenges that arise. One of the main challenges is: how do you centrally administer hundreds of devices that are distributed around a large geography, remotely? The short answer to this usually turns out to be: with great difficulty! One...

Read more →

Lync 2013 / Skype for Business Call Pickup Group Manager Version 2

In Lync 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (February Update) Microsoft added the new call pickup group feature. Call pickup has been a classic voice feature since the very early days of PBXs. As a result, lots of businesses are still used to being able to answer other people’s calls by dialling special access codes from their phone. So it’s great that Lync finally has this capability to help ease some of the pain points for businesses transitioning from their previous traditional PBX systems to the new world. Group Call Pickup Operation: Calls coming in...

Read more →

Installing Lync 2013 Cumulative Updates with Mirrored Databases (CU1)

Overview Update (CU2): With the release of Lync 2013 CU2 (July 2013) the upgrade process has changed from what is documented here. The new process in CU2 does not include the requirement to break the database mirror anymore. You do need to still ensure that the database servers are running on the Primary side before applying the Install-CsDatabase commands though. Please refer to the updated KB article here. There is a nice flow chart detailing the update process for front end servers here too. There are now additional steps involved when running...

Read more →