Lync On-Premises vs Lync Online


A common question about Lync Online (and the other Office 365 products too, but this post is Lync-centric) is “how is this different from the on-premises solution?” And there is a comprehensive feature comparison available at the Office 365 Community site, but usually the next question I get is “yeah yeah, but what does that really mean for me?”

So here’s a shortlist of the more pertinant features that you don’t get with Lync Online.

  • PSTN calling (incoming or outgoing)
  • PBX integration
  • Advanced call handling (hold, redirection, park)
  • IP Phone support (USB only)
  • Analog line support (eg. fax)
  • Response groups (ie. Direct inbound call to a recipient group)
  • Persistent group chat
  • Skill search from SharePoint (either on-premise or online)
  • Client-side recording
  • Dial-in conferencing
  • Interop with on-premise video conferencing systems (eg. Polycom suites)
  • QoS
  • Quality of Experience Reporting

This usually leads to a question like, “ok, so what do they have in common then?”

So for completeness, here’s some of the more popular things you can do with both versions of the product.

  • PC-to-PC audio/video
  • Address book search
  • IMPresence
  • Office application integration (click-to-chat)
  • Federation with Lync Online, Lync On-Premise, and OCS On-Premise
  • Application/Desktop/Whiteboard/Presentation sharing
  • Online Meetings
  • Guest attendees (via rich client and web client)
  • Roundtable support
  • Meeting lobby

Hope that’s helpful.  Might add SharePoint Online and Exchange Online comparisons too.


JB / The Daywalker

Ginger IT dude hanging out down in New Zealand, playing with technology since ages ago.

Currently Service Delivery Manager at Silicon Systems, formerly Skype for Business MVP, and generally into all things Microsoft (and a few things that aren’t).

When I’m not nerding out on technology, you can find me running ultramarathons, brewing beer, or in my woodshop building something.


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