The long-established trend to virtualize resources might suggest that applying virtualization, whether based on VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V, to a Lync infrastructure could be the likely, if not obvious, choice.

This is especially true when virtualization has already undergone successful adoption by your customer, and their IT teams are pushing for it. This also applies to UC partners who sell cloud-based Lync solutions, which are either single or multi-tenanted.

Virtualization is another among the many overlooked aspects that has led many Lync projects to the risk of failure. It should be noted that early documentation about Lync virtualization requirements was somewhat vague. However, the release of the Lync Server 2013 Virtualization white paper filled this gap.

The main issues that arise from virtualization relate to the system's performance. Virtualization plays an important role in cost optimization by leveraging hardware resource-sharing techniques...