Microsoft Turns to Ixia for Lync Wi-Fi Ecosystem Testing

By Rory Lidstone TMCnet Contributing Writer

Ixia (News - Alert), a global provider of converged network IP performance test systems, was today selected by Microsoft to be the official test house for qualifying Lync against Wi-Fi networking and client devices. The aim is to ensure that the entire Lync Wi-Fi ecosystem receives Ixia qualification, assuring enterprises that all devices in that ecosystem offer Wi-Fi performance equal to wired networks.

“With tablets and smartphones embedded in our everyday lives, Wi-Fi access to collaboration tools has become an integral part of today’s enterprises; however, poor quality over Wi-Fi has slowed that adoption,” said B.J. Haberkorn, director of Lync Product Marketing at Microsoft (News - Alert), in a statement. “Collaborating with Ixia to provide comprehensive, real-world Wi-Fi testing ensures that the power of Lync can be securely and reliably delivered to our customers.”

Microsoft Lync is a unified communications platform that offers a consistent single client experience for presence, instant messaging, voice and video. As it is available across even mobile devices, and in light of the recent uptake in adoption of BYOD, many devices with consumer-grade Wi-Fi features are being used with Lync in the enterprise, slowing the adoption of critical unified communication voice and video features.

In testing the entire Lync Wi-Fi ecosystem via Ixia's Wi-Fi test solutions, Microsoft will be able to ensure that users receive high-quality unified communications services, leading to an increase in the adoption of Lync. To complete this testing, Ixia will work directly with potential Microsoft partners to test and qualify technology used with Lync using the IxVeriWave solution, which simulates real-world conditions by emulating media-rich application traffic, over a two-week time frame.

In other Lync news, SimpleSignal, a provider of cloud-based unified communications and collaboration solutions, recently launched hosted voice integration with Microsoft's unified communications platform, resulting in a fully managed hosted option ideal for companies not equipped for managing on-premises systems.

In January, Genesys integrated its customer service platform with Microsoft Lync.

Edited by Braden Becker