Microsoft® Lync Server 2010 Unleashed

Presence

Presence is the core feature of Lync Server and drives or enhances almost every other feature. In its simplest form, presence is defined as the combination of a person’s availability and willingness to communicate at any given time. This presence is published to colleagues and peers. It is what allows others to determine an appropriate time to contact a user and what communication modality makes the most sense at that time. A user has complete control over his presence state, which means he can choose when to appear available or unavailable to peers.

Without presence information, users tend to fall back on other communication methods such as sending e-mail messages that say, “Are you free?” or “Do you have time to talk now?” With presence ...