UC Unleashed

I’m sure you’ve had this happen. You’re sitting at your desk, deep in thought on a serious issue, and someone walks into your area and just starts talking. You don’t want to be rude and ignore them, and you really need to restrain from your desire to strangle them for causing that great troubleshooting thought to leave you head. If only they could see your Lync presence and know that you’re in Do Not Disturb. Well, now they can!

Introducing the BusyLight for Microsoft Lync from Kuando. This slick little device has a multicolored light on the top, and indicates your Lync presence using one of four colors. It does this via a USB connection and a simple little application that runs in the system tray. Available? The unit glows green. Do Not Disturb? Deep red should keep people away. And, of course, the normal green for available and yellow for away.

Also built into the unit is a call alert feature that blinks blue to indicate an incoming Lync call, and a small speaker with customizable ring tones.

The unit is adjustable for angle and can be attached to a wall or cabinet with the included Velcro fastener.

I’ve had mine for several months now, and everyone in my house knows that while my home office door may be open, all hail the BusyLight before interrupting. I’ve taken it to client sites, too. In my current cube farm, my cube is a considerable distance from my team mates. So I placed it on top of my cube partition, and they can see it before making their way towards my cube.

The unit works great, but there is a little issue that it causes. The “what’s that?” issue. People who come up to my cube, point at it, and wonder what it does. So I take my time to explain what it is and what’s it purpose is. I even made a little sign with a little blurb about the device, complete with color coded indicators.

BusyLight

This is a neat little unit that has really helped me stay focused and uninterrupted. The only problem I’ve had with the unit is that over distance, the colors can be a bit washed out. The red for busy and the deep red for Do Not Disturb are a little too close together. And the “available” green fades a little towards the yellow of “away”. The only other suggestion I’d make is that the USB cord be a little longer. But that’s just my personal preference.

The BusyLight works with Windows XP SP3, Vista, and 7. A Windows 8 driver will be available soon. It is available from many resellers for about $49.00 USD.