Software giant Microsoft is touting its corporate communications platform, Skype for Business, which will replace semi-competitor, Microsoft Lync.
This week, Microsoft unveiled Skype for Business, the next version of Lync with a new client experience, new server release and updates to the service in Office 365 - all available in the first half of 2015.
The announcement comes more than three years after Microsoft bought Skype in an $8.5-billion deal.
In a statement, the software maker says Skype for Business will offer the familiar experience of Skype, boosted by new security, compliance and control features. As Lync is today, Skype for Business will be a separate client, server and service, it adds.
Uriel Rootshtain, business lead for Office at Microsoft SA, says Skype for Business will be able to communicate with users on Skype with most standard communications functionality like presence, IM/chat, audio and video.
However, a few of the more advanced features ?like multi-party calls and screen sharing ? are not supported, he says.
He adds Skype users will maintain the same communications calling capabilities they have currently, but will not have access to enterprise-specific features such as meeting controls, recording, IT manageability and enterprise voice features.
Microsoft will have several ways to help Lync 2013 customers quickly adopt Skype for Business and realise its benefits, he notes, adding, for example, the company is enabling video connectivity between Lync 2013 users and the Skype network by the end of the year, and will provide administrators with the option to use either the new Skype for Business UI or the existing Lync UI with the Lync 2013 client.
"This allows them to take advantage of the familiar Skype interface immediately once the new client is released. Additionally, Lync Server 2013 customers will be able to migrate easily to Skype for Business Server because Microsoft uses the same hardware profiles and provides easy-to-follow steps for upgrading server software. There are no changes for Lync 2010 customers."
Rootshtain says Skype for Business and Skype have the ability to bring together businesses and consumers while maintaining the appropriate features and benefits for each audience.
"Our competitors, for example, offer legacy solutions for the enterprise but no solution for consumers and no plan on how businesses can connect with consumers," he says.
"Skype for Business gives business users full access to the vast Skype network to have rich communications through audio, video and chat," he says
Competitors also do not offer a complete cloud solution, Rootshtain notes, adding their only public cloud is for Web meetings and it depends on partners to offer hosted solutions they describe as cloud.
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