Free Lync Server 2010 Capacity Calculator Available

Companies embracing the latest iteration of Microsoft’s unified communications offerings can take advantage of a resource designed to help them deal with assessing their infrastructure needs. The Lync Server 2010 Capacity Calculator is available free of charge via the Microsoft Download Center, along with additional tools customers will need, as well as the necessary guidance.

According to the software giant, the Lync Server 2010 Capacity Calculator will streamline planning for the adoption of Lync Server 2010, especially around estimating hardware requirements.

The resource is nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet, and IT professionals will need to know details such as the number of users, types of communication as well as the traffic their servers will need to support.

In addition to the XLSX Lync Server 2010 Capacity Calculator, customers downloading the spreadsheet will also be able to access a guide provided by the Redmond company.

“You enter your organization’s profile, and the calculator provides recommendations that help you plan your topology,” Microsoft stated. “The recommendations created by the calculator are for planning purposes only. Actual load simulation is required to ensure that Lync Server 2010 is adequately provisioned.”

The software giant is also streamlining stress testing under a simulated load. In this regard, customers will be able to download the Lync Server 2010 Stress and Performance Tool, also available for free.

“After you have determined your user profile and the modalities that you want to enable for your users, it is time to use the calculator to plan the number of servers, memory, and bandwidth that you need. This version of the calculator does not provide guidance for disk I/O requirements,” the company said.

In addition to the Capacity Planning section of the Lync Server 2010 Planning documentation, Microsoft is also offering customers resources such as the Lync Server 2010 Planning Tool and Lync Server 2010 Planning Guide, both free of charge.

“You can benefit most from the calculator if you have accurate, detailed information about your specific user profile. For example, the percentage of voice-enabled users, average calls per user per hour, call duration, and the percentage of concurrent users in conferences can make a huge difference in server requirements. The accuracy of the recommendations created by the calculator depends on the accuracy of the information that you provide,” Microsoft added.