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StConn-MSFT's avatar
StConn-MSFT
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jul 18, 2017

Discontinuation of support for Session Border Controllers in Exchange Online Unified Messaging

In July 2018, we will no longer support the use of Session Border Controllers (SBC) to connect 3 rd Party PBX systems to Exchange Online Unified Messaging (UM).  We're making this change to provide ...
exchange online
Brian Frook's avatar
Brian Frook
Copper Contributor
Mar 15, 2018

I saw a technet post done on 2/28/2018 that said the same thing as what this vendor says but the Technet article has been removed recently, but it also stated that AnyNode from TE-SOLUTIONS is no longer recommended. Is this still true and why?

https://blogs.perficient.com/microsoft/2018/02/discontinuation-of-support-for-sbc-in-exo-unified-messaging/

 

Screenshot of of original Technet article attached to this post..

 

  • Anthony Caragol's avatar
    Anthony Caragol
    MVP
    Mar 15, 2018

    The message was retracted, and the original recommendations stand.  However, even though this was retracted, be advised that ultimately Exchange Unified Messaging is a dead product based upon very old technologies and will very likely never see new development or updates.  It's not a direction you'd want to head unless you have no other option.  I suppose there's a chance that the vendor products that connect with it will be able to leverage Azure VM in future versions, but that's pure speculation on my part at this point.

    • Oliver Koerber's avatar
      Oliver Koerber
      Copper Contributor
      Mar 15, 2018

      anynode is already able to use Azure VM and Exchange UM. That was the initial approach to use Skype for Business instead of a direct connection in the cloud. Maintain 2 solutions for the same feature does not make any sense. 

      Depending on the user´s home anynode (the call) will end up in Exchange UM or Azure Voicemail. 

      We expect more changes in the backend to get a 100% feature parity. 

       

      Oliver

       

      • Anthony Caragol's avatar
        Anthony Caragol
        MVP
        Mar 15, 2018

        Thanks Oliver!  Good to know.

    • Phil Lyle's avatar
      Phil Lyle
      Brass Contributor
      Mar 26, 2018

      Thanks Anthony.  From what I can tell, Azure VM requires Phone System PBX licensing.  It doesn't make sense to license Phone System while simultaneously attaching your users to an external PBX (essentially double-paying), except perhaps in a migration scenario.


      I think customers who leverage Exchange UM with a 3rd party PBX are still looking for solution to go to the cloud.  I was disappointed to confirm that X-UM requires Enterprise Voice CALs, and am currently trying to find out whether anynode has the same requirement.

       

      • Anthony Caragol's avatar
        Anthony Caragol
        MVP
        Apr 02, 2018

        Anynode will have the same requirement I suspect, it's just the way it's designed to communicate.  It's basically an trusted application bolt-on to Skype that delivers direct to voicemail from what I understand.

  • Sankarasubramanian Parameswaran's avatar
    Sankarasubramanian Parameswaran
    Iron Contributor
    Mar 16, 2018

    any third party recommendation from microsoft. we are looking into the options of AVST and Avaya

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