Lync Skype Integration is Completed and Live Now
Microsoft has
completed the first phase of the integration between its enterprise unified
communications (UC) Lync server and its Skype consumer IM and IP telephony
network.
The company announced on Wednesday that it's now possible for Lync and
Skype users to contact each other, engage in IM text sessions and communicate
via audio calls. Video conferencing integration will be delivered later. Microsoft
disclosed its Lync-Skype plans last year, and in February demonstrated the
interaction between the two products for the first time, promising global
availability of the first phase of the integration in June of this year, a
deadline it has now met. The interoperability works both for companies that
have Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 installed on their own servers and for companies
that use it as part of the Microsoft-hosted Office 365 suite, whose other
components include Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.
Skype users must have
the latest client software for Windows or Mac OS. Lync is used by more than 90
of the Fortune 100 companies, and the product provides voice communications for
5 million enterprise users, while Skype has 300 million active monthly users,
according to Microsoft. Enterprises can benefit from the integration in two
main ways, said Henry Dewing, a Forrester Research analyst. First, Lync users
will be able to communicate with customers, partners and other outside parties
who use Skype. Second, Lync customers will be able to have some users on Lync
and others on Skype. Security and compliance concerns about using Skype from
enterprise IT leaders shouldn't be major at this point, he said. Microsoft owns
both products and has been working on the integration for a while, and even
before the $8.5 billion acquisition in 2011, Skype had been strengthening the
service for workplace use, releasing a version of called Skype for Business. At
L'Occitane en Provence, the French skincare and beauty products company, the
Lync-Skype integration has been in demand by its users, according to Stephen
Roux, the company's infrastructure manager.
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