Lync: 5 Ways of Anywhere, Anytime Access

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This is part 5 of a twelve post series. To see an index of all twelve posts click here.
On the Fifth day of Lync’mas my UC Team gave to me: 5 ways to access Lync!
One of the major value propositions that Lync has going for is that it’s so easy to access Lync from anywhere, making it easy for people of all stripes to connect. People forget how remarkably well Lync 2013 works across disparate devices:

1. Desktop computer (Mac or Windows)
2. Desk phone
3. Mobile phone (Windows, iPhone, Android)
4. Tablet (iPad, Windows)
5. Browser (IE, Safari, Firefox)

There are Lync clients for nearly every major platform method of access. Multi-device / multi-browser / multi OS; Lync is meant truly to enable communication anywhere, anytime. It’s the first major UC platform that’s made to run on the Internet and all its connected devices. This is built in to the product, not just retro-fitted bolt-on components jammed together. Lync’s architecture is fundamentally based on secure communications over common Internet ports & protocols – which is what allows the native extension to so many different devices anywhere on the Internet.
And with Lync 2013’s updated mobile clients due out in 2013, two users will be able to use just about any modality – IM, voice, video, conferencing, content sharing – using any combination of the above mentioned clients.
Imagine this scenario: A CIO on a Macbook IM’ing a VP who is using Windows 8, who escalates the conversation to an audio conference, to be joined by a consultant using Surface (me?) speaking with the CEO who is connecting in with her Android phone, pulling in an outside business partner via Firefox who’s sharing her desktop and using her web camera for video, being listened in on by an IT manager at home on his Internet-connected Polycom IP phone. This isn’t the stuff of fantasy, this is reality. This is what it means to “unify” communications: one unified application across a multitude of people, devices and locations.
Lync is how the world will stay connected in a BYOD, post-PC, consumerized IT (I’m running out of buzzwords here, forgive me) universe.
So on this 5^th day of Lync’mas, let us celebrate the many ways Lync lets us stay connected!