Microsoft

Last week, Microsoft made a huge announcement… That’s right! There is now a FREE version of Microsoft Teams! In today’s article I’ll be discussing what the free version of Microsoft Teams has to offer and also what will cost you extra if you plan on upgrading to the full version. As of July 12, Microsoft […]

Have you ever heard the song, “Anything you can do” by Irving Berlin? Well this song is a very accurate representation of Skype for Business and Teams. With the latest addition to the Teams stack comes live events, which is basically a new and improved version of Skype for Business Meeting Broadcast. In this article […]

One of the best ways to transition users over to Microsoft Teams is by enabling users to use Teams alongside Skype for Business. You will notice throughout this article that both Teams and Skype for Business have several functions that overlap. With that said, it is very important to review the different upgrade modes to […]

Welcome back! Last time we talked about the first phase in your journey to Microsoft Teams from Skype for Business. This included optimizing and assessing your environment prior to implementing Teams. In this blog article we will discuss the second phase of your journey, which includes piloting Microsoft Teams alongside Skype for Business. The pilot […]

As Walt Disney once said, “times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim focused on the future”. This applies to all aspects of change, especially in the technology world. That said, Microsoft has shifted gears over the past year to pursue a new hub for teamwork called Microsoft Teams. In this […]

Last month was loaded with some exciting news for the Microsoft Teams community. In this article I’ll be discussing all of the latest updates to Microsoft Teams for the month of June 2018. Direct Routing in Microsoft Teams released for GA That’s right, it’s here! Direct Routing has been released for general availability (GA). Direct […]

Customers have asked for it, and Microsoft has delivered! Microsoft just announced the launch of eDiscovery for calling/meetings. This latest update helps customers progress towards the Skype to Teams convergence roadmap. As a compliance admin whom are used to eDiscovery searches for Microsoft Teams messages and files, you will now be able to search and […]

Well, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but my recent series on “Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams Deep Dive” was impeccably timed 🙂 . Microsoft recently announced Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams GA (General Availability)! If you’re not familiar with Direct Routing, basically it allows you to choose your telecom provider to enable […]

Welcome back to the last blog in this series! In part 4 of this series, we talked about the SIP syntax, user provisioning, and voice routing scenarios for Direct Routing. This time we’ll discuss how to migrate from Cloud PBX with Skype for Business clients either utilizing on-premises Lync or Skype for Business Server. Path […]

Welcome to part 4 of our Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams Deep Dive series! If you are just joining us for the first time, I recommend going back to look at the previous blog articles on this topic. In this article we’ll be discussing the SIP syntax, user provisioning, voice routing basics, and lastly some […]

Welcome back! Last time, in part 2 of the Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams Deep Dive we discussed the Direct Routing call flow with and without media bypass in place. In this blog article, we will discuss the configuration aspects of Direct Routing. When talking about the configuration aspects of Direct Routing, it is important […]

In part 1 of the Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams Deep Dive, we discussed the foundational call flows from the Teams client. In this article we will continue the discussion by talking about Direct Routing call flow with and without media bypass. Lastly, we will take a look at a high level view of the […]

A little less than a month ago, Microsoft released Direct Routing for Public Preview. Right around that time, I also wrote a blog post covering Direct Routing at a high level. Today, I’ll be doing a deep dive (5 part series) for all of you Skype for Business/Teams administrators and architects that want to know […]

They say, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Although that might be true, Microsoft showcased an enticing portfolio of conferencing and collaborations devices at InfoComm in Las Vegas that is definitely worth spilling all the details! In this article I’ll discuss what Microsoft brought to the table at InfoComm and what this means for […]

Over the last month Microsoft has come out with a slew of new features and functionality for Microsoft Teams! In this article I’ll review some of the exciting news that Microsoft provided throughout the month of May. A lot of this news may have gone on under the radar for most users so I’ll do […]

Exchange hybrid environment users rejoice! Microsoft Teams now supports eDiscovery, Compliance Content Search, Review and Export for Teams users with your setup! In this article I will discuss: How this setup works Why Microsoft has chosen to support this How you can get enabled if you fit into this group How the heck does this […]

Azure Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft’s directory and Identity and Access Management (IAM) service in the cloud as opposed to ADFS, a Windows on-premise, claims-based Security Token Service (STS). In a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) federation however, Azure AD and ADFS are functionally equivalent acting as Identity Provider (IdP) for a Service Provider (SP) such as a […]

Microsoft Word has long offered support for loading images and templates over the network.  This is a great feature within corporate environments because it facilitates the reuse of assets like logos and corporate document templates.  Unfortunately, these features can be abused by bad actors to obtain operational intelligence on individuals, or even to steal credentials.  […]

Over the past few months Microsoft has discussed the concept of Bring Your Own Trunk (BYOT) which was briefly outlined in their roadmap. Then, in March Microsoft announced this capability to the public and termed this “Direct Routing.” In this article I will quickly recap what Direct Routing entails and then discuss the requirements for […]

Technology is a beautiful thing! It is crazy to think about how far we have come in the last 10 years with regards to our communication capabilities. With all these improvements and enhancements come the need for companies to adapt to that change. Many financial companies are still highly dependent on the traditional communication methods […]