Direct Routing for Voicemail

[Lynn Towle]

We currently have an on-prem PBX with an SBC connecting to Exchange Online UM. We are looking to move to Cloud Voicemail using Direct Route. We do not have an on-prem SfB server or Cloud Connector.

Can we just enable Cloud Voicemail without enabling Enterprise Voice, or at the very least, just route voicemail to Cloud Voicemail without needing to route all voice through the Cloud phone system? We are not ready to roll that out yet.

[#2]

Hi,

The support for 3rd Party PBX systems connected to Exchange UM via SBC will be removed December 2019 (if MS doesn't postpone it again). 

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/2018/04/24/new-date-for-discontinuation-of-support-for-...

They have not announced any support for 3rd Party PBX systems connecting to Cloud Voicemail either, instead they have presented three alternatives for those PBX systems.

• Move voice to Office 365/ Microsoft Phone System (Microsoft Teams)
• Move voice to Skype for Business Server
• Move to 3rd party voicemail system.

[#3]

@Linus Cansby 

Please note the following:

Configure Cloud Voicemail:

configure-cloud-voicemail

Configure Direct Routing with an SBC

direct-routing-configure

Both use the same cmdlet to enable Cloud Voicemail:

Set-CsUser -Identity "User1" -HostedVoiceMail $True

Also, please note this latest on Retiring Unified Messaging. The comments from Microsoft seem to point to that Direct Route will work for Cloud Voicemail.

retiring-unified-messaging-in-exchange-online

That's the basis for the question. It would seem that Direct Routing will get you there, but I am unsure if you can just send voicemail to Cloud Voicemail or if all voice services need to be directed to Teams in order for it to work.

We are not in the position to use Teams for Enterprise voice yet, so we will still use our on-prem PBX for voice services, but I'd like to move voicemail to Cloud Voicemail if possible.

We may look at creating an auto-attendant, and very well may look at working with a Partner to figure all this out, but trying to learn everything I can before starting down that path.

[#4]

@Lynn Towle you will be able to use Cloud Voicemail with Teams or Skype for Business, not 3rd Party PBX.

Direct Routing allows you to use your own SIP-trunk provider to connect to Teams, not connect 3rd Party PBX to Cloud Voicemail. So if you want to keep your old PBX you have to activate users for Teams phone system and route calls from PBX > Teams > Voicemail to be able to use voicemail and that is not a good solution, then I think it is better to find i third party voicemail too.

[#5]

Really trying not to go with another voicemail system. Also, an on-prem SfB deployment or even the Cloud Connector is a bit overkill for us. We are a smaller midsized company, and we only have about 120 users that require dedicated voicemail. A full deployment of either of those just requires more specialized management, patching, monitoring and security auditing than we have resources to allocate. A single appliance would help with some of that.

We are also trying very hard to eliminate our on-prem footprint for many of those reasons. That's why I'm looking at how something like direct route may help.

We will most likely need to engage a partner, but I want some basic understanding of what is possible. and isn't before engaging one.

Thanks for the info!

Another question, if you don't mind, what would your objections be for the route you proposed? Having a pbx transfer a call to another pbx isn't unheard of, but does add a bit of complexity.

[#6]

If you don't want to use another voicemail provider and still keep your 3rd party PBX your option is to use Exchange Online Voicemail until December 2019. After that you can select on upgrading to Teams and use Cloud Voicemail, upgrade to Skype for Business + Cloud Voicemail or switch to a 3rd party voicemail system and keep your current PBX.

Microsoft might change and start to support 3rd party PBX systems later but I doubt it.