Availability of contacts based on Microsoft Outlook contacts stored in a Microsoft Exchange Server.

The Basic features of Skype for Business include:Īdvanced features relate to integration with other Microsoft software:

Windows Messenger 5.1 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 ( Live Communications Server 2005).

Windows Messenger 5.0 ( Live Communications Server 2003).

The next version of Skype for Business Server will be available with a subscription license. Since September 2019, Skype for Business Online is no longer offered to new Microsoft 365 subscribers, and are being directed to Microsoft Teams instead. Microsoft released a final on-premises version of Skype for Business Server as part of Office 2019 in late 2018, and announced in July 2019 that the hosted Skype for Business Online will cease functioning on July 31, 2021. On September 25, 2017, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business Online would be discontinued in the future in favor of Microsoft Teams, a cloud-based collaboration platform for corporate groups (comparable to Slack) integrating persistent messaging, video conferencing, file storage, and application integration. On October 27, 2016, the Skype for Business for Mac client was released. On September 22, 2015, Skype for Business 2016 was released alongside Office 2016.

On November 11, 2014, Microsoft announced that Lync would be renamed Skype for Business in 2015, also adding support for video calls with Skype users. This initially included support for text and voice communications. In May 2013, Microsoft announced that it would allow Lync users to communicate with Skype, a consumer IM platform it had acquired in 2011. In November 2010, the platform was renamed Lync. Microsoft released the successor to Office Communicator, Lync 2010, on January 25, 2011. It was followed by Office Communicator 2007 R2, released on March 19, 2009. Microsoft released Office Communicator 2007 to production on July 28, 2007, and launched it on October 27, 2007. Support for Skype for Businesses Online ended in July 2021, although a new version of Skype for Business Server will be available with a subscription license. In September 2017, Microsoft announced that it would phase out Skype for Business Online in favor of Microsoft Teams, a new cloud-based collaboration platform. Despite the same branding, Skype for Business and Skype have almost nothing in common and function as separate platforms. The software was previously named Lync before rebranding to Skype for Business in 2015, co-branding it with the Microsoft-owned consumer messaging platform Skype (which had begun to integrate with Lync in 2013). It supports text, audio, and video chat, and integrates with Microsoft 365 components such as Exchange and SharePoint.

It is designed for use with the on-premises Skype for Business Server software, and a software as a service version offered as part of 365. Skype for Business (formerly Microsoft Lync and Office Communicator) is an enterprise software application for instant messaging and videotelephony developed by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft 365 (formerly Office) suite.

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