Announcing Preview of Skype for Business Services in Office 365

Serafin also said that Microsoft’s strategic partners – AT&T, BT, Colt, Equinix, Level 3 Communications, Orange Business Services, TATA Communications, Telstra, Verizon and Vodafone – would begin offering direct connections to Office 365 Skype for Business later in the year through Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365, Microsoft’s dedicated networking service.

Microsoft has been wise to offer free technical previews to eager consumers to help mold and improve its software before it is available for purchase.

Microsoft pertinent Products/Services, Skype’s parent corporation, launched the newest version of Skype for Business previous this year with the guarantee that new enterprise Relevant Products/Services-grade feature would be coming in the summer. customers interested in testing the novel functions will have to sign in for the preview program. This beta feature is available to Office 365 users worldwide.

Skype Meeting Broadcast enables broadcast of a Skype for Business meeting on the Internet to up to 10,000 people, who can attend in a browser on almost any device.

Meeting broadcast is intended to make it simple for company to host large, virtual town hall-style meeting as well as public webinars. Bing Pulse support allows hosts to track sentiment and run real-time polls during a Webcast. It is meant as an offline alternative; online meetings can include people in places with no Internet access.

PSTN Conferencing With this capability, invited conference participants will be able to dial in to Skype for Business meetings in Office 365 from landlines or mobile phones. A new PSTN Conferencing feature allows people to call into Skype for Business meetings using a traditional telephone, and allow people who are in those meetings to dial out to phone users.

These new features will enable companies to use Skype for Business to replace traditional phone lines and video conferencing services through either an Office 365 enterprise plan or Skype for Business Plan 2.

Those eligible will be able to select some or all of the features listed above to trial. If Microsoft continues delivering on pace, each of these capabilities will be generally available this year, Haberkorn said. Users can also add members to the Office 365 Skype suit, just by dialling out on their numbers and they will be added to the ongoing Skype call.

Of the various enterprise features Skype is previewing, one of the most appealing to businesses may be Skype Meeting Broadcast. This preview is USA only at this time. This feature is available globally while the other features are limited to the United States.

ExpressRoute lets enterprise customers create private connections between their premises and Microsoft data centers.

End users can not sign themselves up for these previews.