It is official – new Skype for Business Server, Client, and Online Service coming in April 2015! The announcement for the new Skype for Business products happened today during the Microsoft Keynote at Enterprise Connect.
Items covered during the Keynote:
- Office 365 – Skype4B Online Enterprise Voice, Audio Conferencing, and PSTN Calling features being added – coming later this year
- Office 365 – Azure Express Route Partners – AT&T, BT, Colt, Equinix, Level 3 Communications, Orange Business Services, TATA Communications, Telstra, Verizon and Vodafone
- Skype User Search integration into the Skype4B client
- Skype Room System Partners – Crestron, Polycom and Smart
- Polycom RoundTable 100 – coming in early Summer, the price expected to be ~$1,000 and able to control via mobile phone. picture1 – picture2
- Microsoft Surface Hub – coming later this year – http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-hub/en-us
- WebRTC coming soon
Here is the latest Microsoft Office Blog on Skype4B for more info – http://blogs.office.com/2015/03/18/skype-for-business-is-here-and-this-is-only-the-beginning/
We have known that the rebranding of Lync to Skype For Business has been planned since November 2014 – but now we will start seeing the changes come to life. Microsoft has launched the Skype For Business web site – http://next.skypeforbusiness.com/ and a new YouTube video for their Vision for the Future.
Also, if you want to get your hands on the new client – the Technical Preview for the Skype For Business client is available now to try until it expires on May 1st, 2015 – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-skype-for-business
To get a hands on preview of the new features of the new Skype4B client, check out Matt Landis’s blog post and YouTube video.
