Getting started with UniCom

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Note: During July and August 2011, Indiana University's UniCom service was upgraded from Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) to Microsoft's new Lync service. For more, see About the UniCom Lync deployment.

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Emergency 911 Notification

To be activated for the UniCom service, first read and agree to the IU Emergency 911 Acknowledgment Statement. As described more fully in that statement, computer-based phone services have inherent limitations with connecting to location-specific services, such as the emergency response services accessed by dialing 911. This is chiefly a problem when using UniCom to make calls from a location other than your desk. If you make a call from your desk, your location should still be transmitted to emergency responders correctly. VoIP phones will transmit the location correctly if used in the location where they were installed. Also, newer cell phones use either GPS or triangulation to determine location.

Software

If you have accepted the Emergency 911 Acknowledgment Statement, you can download the clients for Windows or Mac OS X from IUware, or install a client on your mobile device.

Windows

Lync: Lync is the client most people will use with UniCom in Windows, replacing Office Communicator; for more, see About Microsoft Lync and Communicator clients. Download it from IUware.
Lync Attendant: This client is intended for administrative assistants, receptionists, and others who routinely answer calls for others or handle high call volumes; it replaces the previous UniCom Attendant client. You can install both Lync Attendant and Lync on the same machine, but they cannot be running at the same time. Download it from IUware.

Mac

Lync for Mac: For more about the Lync client, see About Microsoft Lync and Communicator clients. Download it from IUware.
Communicator for Mac: This Mac version of the Communicator client is bundled with Office 2011. For more, see About Microsoft Lync and Communicator clients. Anyone may download the software, but Communicator for Mac will not work with UniCom unless you have a UniCom account, created by acknowledging the Emergency 911 statement (see above).

Note: For Mac users, UITS recommends Lync for Mac to connect to UniCom at Indiana University. Communicator for Mac, available with Office 2011, still works with UniCom, but has fewer features. Messenger for Mac is not supported.

Mobile clients

Lync 2010 for Mobile Devices: See At IU, what mobile clients can I use with UniCom?

Account setup

When you sign the Emergency 911 statement, you automatically get a UniCom Basic account. Faculty and staff at IUB and IUPUI may switch to UniCom Enterprise Voice (formerly called UniCom with Outlook Voice Mail), which provides additional features; see IU UniCom feature comparison. To change your service, contact your department's telecommunications coordinator. For information about contacting your telecommunications coordinator, see At IU, how do faculty and staff request telephone service in an office?

Equipment

To use the voice communication capabilities of UniCom, you'll need a headset. If you want to do video conferencing, you'll also need a webcam. For more, see About equipment for use with UniCom.

Learning the basics

IT Training resources

UITS has created self-study training resources for UniCom; see UniCom Self Study Training Resources.

Microsoft resources

To learn how to perform common tasks in the Lync client, see Microsoft's Quick Start guides and How-to videos (Windows) or Lync Help (Mac). You can also find these and other resources from the Help menu in Lync.

Troubleshooting, help, and feedback

To get help with UniCom, or comment about the service, contact the Support Center. If you're having trouble, you can also try signing out of and completely closing your client software (including Outlook, if you use UniCom Enterprise Voice), and restarting to see if that resolves the problem.

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Last modified on December 28, 2011.