Skype for Business on Mac is now Available!
Great News! On October 27, 2016, Microsoft made the all new Skype for Business on Mac client generally available for download. I've posted a blog with more information in our Product Updates - have a look! https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Full-Circle-Product-Updates/Skype-for-Business-on-Mac-is-now-Generally-Available/ba-p/25147Skype for Business 2019 Standard Edition Server Back!
I'm shouting this from every rooftop, because it's a very important role to me. As you may have heard, at Ignite it was announced that the Standard Edition would NOT be included in Skype for Business 2019 \ vNext. Today I have been given permission and am allowed to confirm that it is BACK IN! Thank you to all who commented and voted on the issue on skypefeedback.com!Skype for Business Video Broadcast - September 23, 2016 @ PT- Behind the scenes and Ignite Update
Join our Broadcast - 1 st Anniversary Broadcast Join the Skype for Business team for our 29 th broadcast which marks a full year since the series began. We will be doing a brief preview of what to expect from the upcoming Ignite 2016 technology conference, and will be sharing some Skype for Business Meeting Broadcast best practices that we’ve gleaned over the course of our first year. Join the Skype Meeting Broadcast, Friday, September 23, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. PST. Speakers: Sean Wilson and Jamie StarkDid you miss Ignite? Join Jamie Stark and Sean Wilson recap Ignite live at 5pm.
Live From Microsoft Ignite Jamie Stark and Sean Wilson will walk through Ignite talking about the latest updates we have announced in Skype for Business and good news from the Show Floor as well as a quick recaps of what the show has been like. Join us at 5PM Eastern Time Todyay Thursday September 29th at http://aka.ms/sfbcast.
Cloud Connector Edition 2.0 is GA with Media Bypass
Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition 2.0 is generally avaialble now. Auto updates soon/60 days to manual update Skype Broadcast: Cloud Connector Edition – What’s New in 2.0! Friday the 21st July at 9 a.m. Pacific This session covers the new release of CCE v2.0. We will discuss the major new features of Media Bypass and several improvements in reliability and scale. Speakers: Oliver Chiu, Bill Verthein Where: http://aka.ms/sfbcast Download: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52963 #Skype4b #Office365
Recording and Questions: SfB Broadcast: Avoid 5 Skype for Business Deployment Pitfalls
Hi all, The recording of my Skype Broadcast with Delanda Coleman is now up on Youtube. I'd be interested in your thoughts and questions. Here are some questions we got during the show: Question: Can you remind us where we can get the S4B metrics again? Sure, there are quite a few places to get these. For SfB Server, the best place is SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) with you Monitoring Reports. In SfB Online they are spread across a few places on the tenant, I've done an overview blog post here: http://tomtalks.uk/2017/06/skype-business-online-reporting-need-know/ Question: Why should we use Skype for Business Online and Teams instead of Fuze and Slack? Interesting question. A lot of this will come down to your specific scenario and business requirements, but some thoughts on why Office 365/Teams/SfBO might be a good fit: Security model is consistent across Office 365 One Identity and licencing model Increasing integration/interop between SfBO and Teams Nice mobile client experiences Question: What does a network assessment typically look like Skype Operations Framework (SOF) has a great overview of what a network assessment should look like, check it out here: https://www.skypeoperationsframework.com/Offers?pageState=NetworkReadiness For Modality Systems Network Assessment approach, you can find out more here: https://info.modalitysystems.com/impact-assessment/readiness Question: How can I deal with configuration drift (diagnostics/reporting) This is a good question, the best thing is to keep an eye on the reporting to make sure your performance is not changing. If you are looking at third party product options, anything that continuously tests the network/ports or service is great. Modality Systems have a Diagnostics Service offering where we have test nodes continuously make Skype for Business calls and test the service site to site, end to end, internally and externally. For more details check out the blog post here: https://info.modalitysystems.com/blog/modality-systems-diagnostics Question: Will there by snacks on this flight? Strictly virtual snacks on Skype Broadcast :-) Got more questions or thoughts? Please reply to the thread and I'll do my best to answer them. Cheers Tom
Skype for Business MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) - Available Now
Hi all! I wanted to share some great FREE training available to you called MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). The first of three Voice and the first of three Infrastructure Skype for Business MOOCs have been released on https://www.edx.org/. These new Skype for Business courses cover topics ranging from cloud voice planning and workloads to how to plan, design, configure, and maintain a Skype for Business deployment. . This is in addition to the Skype for Business Fundamentals MOOC that is already on https://www.edx.org/. Take a look at the courses below and share with your colleagues, partners, and customers. Skype for Business: Fundamentals - https://aka.ms/edx-cld228x-about Want to learn about Microsoft communications and collaboration solutions and products? Skype for Business provides a single platform for both meetings and voice at hyperscale. This course is an introduction to Skype for Business. By completing this course, you will learn about the vision, value, features and capabilities of Skype for Business. No previous knowledge is needed. Skype for Business: Voice Concepts and Planning - https://aka.ms/edx-cld233x-about First in a series of Skype for Business Voice courses, this course will teach you how to plan and deploy voice capabilities with Cloud PBX. This course will help you prepare for taking the “Deploying Enterprise Voice with Skype for Business 2015” exam (70-333). Skype for Business: Infrastructure Planning and Design - https://aka.ms/edx-cld230x-about First in a series of Skype for Business Infrastructure courses, this course guides you through planning and designing server components. This course will help you prepare for the “Core Solutions of Microsoft Skype for Business 2015” exam (70-334). We will continue to provide updates when the next Voice and Infrastructure courses are going to be available.
Windows server 2016/SQL 2016 support for SFB
Is there an ETA on when we'll see official support for SFB server roles on Server 2016/SQL 2016? We're spinning up some new pools in our cloud, and would especially like to take advantage of SQL 2016 on the back end. I haven't seen anything indicating one way or another whether it'll work.
