We often hear the phrase “Seek first to understand and then to be understood” or are told to actively listen. While these are important, often time it’s simply not tactical enough. Too often what we hear is skewed by the filters that we (and our audiences) apply. So how do we ensure what we say […]
Posts Tagged ‘unified communications’
A look at the new Cloud features for Skype4B in Office365
Beginning December 1, 2015, Microsoft will be officially rolling out a number of new features within Office365 that significantly enhance the Skype for Business workloads. These features have been in preview form for a few months now, but December 1 marks the date where it becomes generally available (GA) for all tenants within Office365, across the […]
Controlling Skype4B Application Sharing Bandwidth
In a previous blog post I talked about how administrators and architects should place more emphasis on planning for application sharing bandwidth in their Skype4B deployments. Armed with that information, the next logical progression of this blog series continues the focus on application sharing and discusses the available methods within Skype4B to manage and control […]
Skype4B App Share: What in the World Are You Doing to My Network?
For many of the Skype for Business and Lync readers out there, you may think to yourself, “Hey, I’ve seen a similar title like that before…”, and you would be absolutely correct. During Lync Conference 2014, Lync MVP Jeff Schertz gave a fantastic presentation about “Video – What in the World Are You Doing to […]
How The Default SIP Domain Impacts Exchange Online UM Connections
Background I was recently working on an engagement where the customer was migrating from Exchange 2010 to Office 365 Exchange Online. The customer had been a long time Enterprise Voice customer (OCS, Lync 2010, and now Lync 2013). As the customer grew over the years, so had their Lync environment. The customer originally deployed OCS […]
One Of My Favorite Skype For Business (Formerly, Lync) Features
Is she online yet? Is he free or in a meeting? Ugh, how many times a day do you find yourself wondering whether your colleague is available for a chat? Relax. And quit checking your instant messenger (IM) every five seconds. With Skype for Business (formerly, Microsoft Lync), your needs are met by one […]
Skype for Business – Reverse Proxy 101
First let’s start off with what a Reverse proxy is and then cover how it fits in with with Skype for Business Server. The Reverse proxy is a device that receives requests from clients on and then forwards the request on to another resource, in this case a Skype for Business Front End server. This is done in […]
How to Plan & Prepare for Skype for Business – Webinar Recap
It’s official – as of mid April, which was covered in another post – Microsoft Lync is now Skype for Business. As expected, customers who have Lync deployed either on premises or in the cloud have questions, and folks who use Skype for personal use are wondering how well this communication tool, which works wonders […]
Ignite 2015 – Monitoring Investments in Skype4B
It’s the typical issue all IT professionals face: a new system is designed, built and deployed to end users, but months down the road issues arise and administrators are faced with the overwhelming task of trying to find root cause to remediate issues. As an IT Pro (in a previous life) this is definitely something […]
Ignite 2015 – Skype4B Mobility Security Improvements
I’ll admit that the title is a bit misleading because much of what existed (in regards to mobility) in Lync Server 2013 still exists in Skype for Business Server 2015. Unfortunately there has not been a great leap forward in functionality….YET. The “Yet” is there because there are HUGE improvements forthcoming in the Skype for […]
BUILD & IGNITE Know It. Prove It. Tech Challenge Tour
I recently blogged about my personal experiences with the first “Know it. Prove it.” challenge that ran through the month of February 2015. The “Know it. Prove it.” challenge is back! This time it’s bigger and better than ever. The new challenge is a companion to both the Build and Ignite Conferences with 11 amazing […]
The Skype For Business Client Has Arrived!
Today is the day that the official Skype For Business Client gets released! I have been using the Technical Preview for about a week now and can honestly say that I like the new Skype-influenced interface. I have a couple customers that have been waiting for this new UI to come out before they begin their client rollout, because they […]