14 DAY TRIAL // Customers that want to test the latest iteration of Microsoft’s unified communications offering but without all the hassles associated with setting up a testing environment, deploying the solution, etc. need to download the Lync Server 2010 virtual hard disk.
VHD Test Drive - Lync Server 2010 VHD is live on the Microsoft Download Center and up for grabs free of charge, as are the additional trial releases of Lync Server 2010 (links at the bottom of this article).
With the pre-configured VHD of Lync Server 2010, the software giant is offering its fully-fledged UC solution for customers to test inside a virtual environment.
“Download this fully configured virtual machine set of the latest release to evaluate Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and discover the full power of the Microsoft Business Productivity Platform,” the software giant said.
“This VHD set enables real-time communications and collaboration using presence, instant messaging, enterprise voice and video, conferencing and application sharing, as well as features like Unified Messaging and Skill Search powered by Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint Server.”
Since this is a trial tailored to business users, it will only work with the company’s hypervisor technology, namely Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.
Customers that are already leveraging Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V will need to do nothing more than download the VHD and fire up the image in a virtual machine in order to start testing.
According to Microsoft, testers will need to use the following username: fabrikam\Administrator and this password: pass@word1.
“Microsoft Lync Server 2010 combined with Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1 Unified Messaging and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 delivers a fresh, intuitive user experience that brings together the different ways people communicate and collaborate in a single user interface,” the company said.
“This unified experience facilitates rapid user adoption, while the ability to support a full range of communications from a single platform reduces both capital and operational costs.”
VHD Test Drive - Lync Server 2010 VHD is available for download here.
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.