Nov 18, 2010 10:35 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has officially launched the next generation of its unified communication platform which has been rebranded as Lync on November 17th, 2010. Lync will hit commercial availability in just a few weeks, on December 1st, and is aimed at businesses of all sized, according to the Redmond company.

While customers might not be familiar with Lync, they are more likely to have come across or even used the software giant’s previous UC offerings, including Microsoft Communications Server, Microsoft Office Communications Online and Microsoft Office Communicator.

Lync is in this regard a brand umbrella as a variety of solutions will be offered to businesses, including Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010, but also Microsoft Lync Online and Microsoft Lync Web App and Microsoft Lync Online.

Come December 2010 business customers will be able to buy Lync 2010 and Lync Server 2010, with additional Lync offerings planned for delivery in 2011.

It is the case with Lync Online, which will be available as part of Office 365, the software giant’s Cloud-based productivity solution.

While at TechEd 2010 Europe earlier this month I had the chance to talk to Microsoft employees working on Lync and they explained that the aim is to have the same range of features and capabilities for Lync Online as for the on-premise version of the UC platform.

There’s a caveat however. While Lync Online will include instant messaging, presence, audio and video conferencing, and will allow for PC-to-PC voice calls, voice is actually extremely hard to do in the Cloud, and as such customers will also need on-premise components.

“Lync delivers on our vision to unify all of the modes of modern business communication, giving people a more collaborative, ‘in person’ experience with features like HD video, conference recording, and social features like status updates and activity feeds,” noted Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Lync & Speech Group.

“In addition to transforming how people communicate, IT departments are also looking to Lync to evolve their infrastructure and enhance or eliminate their traditional PBX systems, saving money and saving time.”

But while Lync 2010 will only be offered to customers on December 1, the RTM version of the offering is already available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 RTM is available for download here.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 SDK is available for download here.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Attendee is available for download here.

Microsoft Lync Group Chat is available for download here.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat is available for download here.