Instant messaging, presence awareness and video calls for University Staff and Postgraduate Research students.
From autumn 2011, all University staff and Postgraduate Research students with a Microsoft Exchange email account, will be given access to Microsoft Lync.
The communication tools that make up Lync, will allow you to connect and work collaboratively in real-time, with colleagues who may be scattered all over campus. It is an intuitive tool to use, and anyone who has familiarity with services such as MSN or Skype will find it very easy to get started.
Basically Lync allows you to do two things:
- To know whether colleagues across campus are free, with presence icons that display in Lync and Outlook, which show their available/busy status.
- To reach colleagues in more ways than before, through a managed contacts list that lets you:
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- instant message
- voice call (you will need speakers and a microphone)
- video call (you will need a webcam, as well as speakers and a microphone)
IT Services will contact you to let you know when you will be given access to Lync. To help you get started, visit our Microsoft Lync quick start page which contains links to some useful tips and how-to videos.
Please note that IT Services will not be providing webcams as part of the rollout of Lync. If you wish to purchase a webcam, please speak to your line manager and follow your local route for purchasing IT consumables.