Triggered by discussion thread [0958f2af].
Lync clients use a new HTTP-based discovery protocol which directly returns the home server name without involving DNS or SIP handshake. In the case seen by the user this circumvents using IPv6 conection for talking to SIP, because the home server only has a IPv4 address.
Links:
Forums: 0958f2af
Forums: Issues connecting to SFB using sipe 1.21.1 & pidgin 2.11.0... IPv6 related?
Implemented in git commit 025c055
Verified with my Office 365 test account: with Lync Autodiscover we connect straight to the home server. No DNS SRV/A requests, no 301 redirect responses from the SIP server.