"Announcing preview of new Skype for Business services in Office 365" Posted by Skype for Business Team on July 1, 2015 - Zig Serafin, corporate vice president for the Skype for Business team.
When Microsoft launched Skype for Business earlier this year, I described our plans to deliver new Skype for Business voice and meetings capabilities in Office 365, beginning with a technical preview this summer. These new capabilities will enhance the existing Skype for Business experience, and allow us to offer a complete, enterprise-grade communications solution at global scale as part of Office 365.
I’m pleased to announce that the technical preview is here. Starting today, Office 365 enterprise customers can register for the following previews:
Skype Meeting Broadcast, available to eligible Office 365 customers worldwide, enables broadcast of a Skype for Business meeting on the Internet to up to 10,000 people, who can attend in a browser on nearly any device. Skype Meeting Broadcast makes it easy to host large virtual meetings like internal “Town Hall” style meetings and public webinars. The preview includes integration with Bing Pulse, for real-time polling and sentiment tracking, and Yammer, to enable attendee dialogue during the broadcast.
PSTN Conferencing, available in preview to Office 365 customers in the U.S., allows people invited to a Skype for Business meeting in Office 365 to join the meeting by dialing in using a landline or mobile phone. This traditional dial-in capability is in addition to simple, single touch join options on PC, smartphone and browser, and allows people to join an online meeting even in places with no Internet access. PSTN Conferencing in Office 365 will also allow people to add others to a meeting by dialing out.
Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling, also available in preview to Office 365 customers in the U.S., provides people the ability to make and receive traditional phone calls in their Skype for Business client, and manage these calls with features like hold, resume, forward and transfer. This preview is built on the proven enterprise voice technology available in Lync Server and Skype for Business Server. Later this year, we will ship Cloud PBX for customers worldwide, with a configuration option for customers to use existing on-premises phone lines for inbound and outbound calling.
In addition to these previews delivered by Microsoft, our strategic partners, AT&T, BT, Colt, Equinix, Level 3 Communications, Orange Business Services, TATA Communications, Telstra, Verizon and Vodafone, we will deliver direct connections to Office 365 Skype for Business customers later this year through Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365. ExpressRoute enables customers to create private connections between their premises and Microsoft datacenters, and offers more predictable network performance, the ability to better manage network availability, the reliability that comes with dedicated connectivity and additional data privacy.
Office 365 is the world’s cloud for productivity. Through these investments, we are making complete, enterprise-grade communications an integral part of Office 365. In doing so, we’re enabling people to connect with one another across all forms of human expression—verbal, written, visual and emotional.
With these new services, we will bring traditional calling and conferencing into the new era of workplace communications, and also add an entirely new way of communicating at much higher scale with much greater flexibility over the Internet. We can’t wait for you to try them!
—Zig Serafin
To see a demonstration of the Skype Meeting Broadcast experience and learn more about how it works, watch this Office Mechanics video:
Frequently asked questions:
Q. What are the eligibility requirements to participate in the preview?
A. The Skype Meeting Broadcast preview is available worldwide to customers with an Office 365 enterprise plan or Skype for Business Plan 2. The previews of PSTN Conferencing and Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling are available in the U.S. to customers with an Office 365 enterprise plan or Skype for Business Plan 2.
Q. Can end users sign up for the trial?
A. No, the trial must be provisioned for the customer tenant by an Office 365 administrator. End users interested in trying the new services should contact their Office 365 administrator.
Q. Are interested Office 365 customers required to trial all of the services currently in preview, or can they choose to preview only a subset?
A. Eligible Office 365 enterprise customers may choose to trial any or all of the services now in preview according to the geographies where each preview is available.
Q. When will these services be generally available, and how will they be priced?
A. We expect to make these services generally available before the end of this year. We will share pricing and licensing details when we are closer to general availability.
Managed Solution has developed a proven deployment and migration strategy for our clients moving to Skype for Business. Let our unified communications experts take away the headache of migration and deployment so that your transition to Skype for Business is simple, smooth, and secure.
Skype for Business can be purchased as part of an Office 365 plan that includes Office, Exchange and SharePoint.
For more information on deploying Skype for Business (Formerly Lync) in your organization, please fill out the contact form to the right and a Unified Communications expert will contact you shortly.
If you already use Skype to stay in touch with friends and family in your life away from work, you'll appreciate the power and simplicity of Skype for Business for Windows Phone 8.1. It's easy to find and connect with co-workers using the devices you already have, and take care of business through an enterprise-grade secure platform. If you're coming to Skype for Business from Lync, you'll recognize all of the features you already use, but with a fresh new interface, simplified controls, and some great new additions:
New look and feel
Emoticons
Encrypted local data
New features available with Skype for Business Server 2015
New look and feel
If you’re a regular user of the consumer version of Skype, then Skype for Business will seem very familiar: the Contacts list, presence indicators, buttons and icons, and even the app sounds should make you feel right at home.
Of course, all the essential Lync features are still there—like the Quick Actions buttons, which let you IM or call a contact (and more) with just two taps.
In the conversation window, chat text is formatted so you can easily see who’s talking.
Skype for Business now includes the same set of emoticons found in the consumer version of Skype.
Encrypted local data
All Skype for Business data stored locally on the phone—for example, recent conversations, voice mails, pictures and user settings—is now encrypted.
Note: You may need to uninstall and reinstall Skype for Business to turn on this feature. Go to Settings More settings button at bottom of screen > About to see if encryption is already set up. If not, uninstall and reinstall the app to turn on data encryption.
New features available with Skype for Business Server 2015
If your organization is using Skype for Business Server 2015, you'll see better integration between Skype for Business for Windows Phone and your other devices, and the ability to communicate with users of the commercial version of Skype.
Windows phone conversation sync Your recent conversations are now automatically synchronized across devices. You can see all your conversations, regardless of whether they took place on your desktop or mobile device. This allows you to continue a recent conversation or respond to missed IMs—wherever you are.
Improved IM reliability When you receive an IM on your mobile device, it's automatically accepted even if you miss the alert.
Communicate with Skype contacts If you have Skype users in your contact list, you can communicate with them via IM, audio call, or video call.
Installing & Upgrading Skype for Business Server Step by Step for Anyone is a free eBook by Skype for Business MVP Matt Landis that takes a generalist IT person step by step through the process of installing and/or upgrading Skype for Business.
This book is in progress which means more chapters are in the works and coming soon!
Current Chapters
Installing Skype for Business Server Standard Edition Step by Step
Lync 2013 to Skype for Business Server 2015 Front End In-Place Upgrade Step by Step
Edge In-Place Upgrade Step by Step
Enabling Enterprise Voice Features
Make the most of Skype for Business Server 2015!
Install and upgrade Skype for Business with the help of this eBook by #Skype4B MVP Matt Landis.
