Microsoft’s Ignite 2017 in Orlando took place and some very interesting announcements were made. This post sums up some contents and highlights regarding Skype for Business and Teams which were mentioned in one of the sessions (see link/video at the bottom). All contents might be subject to change and only provide a high level overview and summary.
Probably no SBA but backwards compatbility might be provided
Skype for Business Server (SFBS) 2019 Migrationpaths
Server 2013 -> Server 2019
Server 2015 -> Server 2019
Minimum OS: Windows Server 2016
Minimum SQL: SQL Server 2016
Current State –> Migration Proposal towards Teams
No onpremise Lync/SFB server–> Go for a TEAMs pilot (IMP, Meetings, Voice)
Onpremise SFB server without Enterprise Voice–> Go for TEAMs pilot in coexistence with SFB, migrate to TEAMs over time
Onpremise SFB server with Enterprise Voice–> Assess current capabilities incl. third-party integrations, service contracts etc., go for TEAMs pilot in coexistence with SFB, evaluate migration feasability to TEAMs or SFB Server 2019
Call Analytics and Retention in one portal for all useres
Voicemail Services provided via Cloud Backend for SFB Server 2019
Auto Attendant provided via Cloud Backend for SFB Server 2019
Call Queues provided via Cloud Backend for SFB Server 2019
One experience for all users
Modern Auth (in Public Preview for SFB Server) –> AAD
Meeting Migration Service
Scheduled Meeting Update Service
Replaces Meeting Migration Tool
Supports moving user from SFBS to SFBO
Supports Exchange Online or Exchange Server 2016 User Mailboxes
CloudPBX
Bring your own trunk
No CCE
Skype for Business Server (SFBS) 2019 Response Groups News?
No news/no new features regarding on premise response group/s
High Availability – Windows Fabric
New Fabric
EE 1 – 16 Frontends (not 2!)
EE 2 does not work –> Quorum problem! Not usable
Future Roadmap Microsoft UC?
More details might be provided on the October 2017 Roadmap of TEAMs.
Source of the above information
To stay up to speed do not forget to check out http://skypepreview.com for new (preview) features and functions on SFB/Teams as well as the other links listed in my previous posts here on this blog.
Yesterday on Ignite, Microsoft announced two important milestones regarding UC:
First of all, Skype for Business will become Teams over time.
Second, Skype for Business Server vNext is planned for Q4 2018.
It was very nice to see how smooth the migration can be done (SFB2Teams) and especially how the voice features (enterprise voice features from SFB) will be part of Teams.
The migration seems to be primarily “app-based”, i.e. you decide on O365 how to transition / migrate (side by side, side by side with notify, teams-only) and the client app is “switched” including contacts etc. A coexistence of clients seems to be possible, too, but of course not with the “persistence”. The most impressive and futuristc part regarding teams were options to integrate holo lens / mixed reality into team conversations…
Tomorrow, 2017/25/09 Microsoft’s Ignite 2017 in Orlando (US) will kick off. You will be able to watch the keynotes from 15:00 – 23:00 h (UTC +01:00 Amsterdam, Berlin, …) via live stream. I’m looking forward to pretty awesome news and announcements regarding Office 365, Skype for Business, Teams, Yammer, … As you maybe already know there are rumors about SFB Online and Teams to become one or being merged to one single (cloud) platform (see links below)?! I’m thrilled to hear what’s going to happen with SFB and Teams. 🙂
I’m also very interested in UC-related AI (artificial intelligence) topics especially bots and fancy things we will be able to do with it. Automate things for communication-enabled business process (CEBP) etc. There so many options what can be done with it for all kind of companies, from small to large.