2 min read

What's New in Skype for Business Server 2019 Edition?

Picture of Kade Herbert Kade Herbert : Sep 12, 2019 9:33:00 AM

Skype for Business skype4b Microsoft Skype for Business

Connect your teams with a familiar experience and in the Office applications they use every day

With Skype for Business (SfB) you can simplify your infrastructure with one platform for calling, conferencing, video, and sharing. The Server 2019 Edition release enables customers that are not yet ready for the cloud to continue using Skype for Business in a on-premises environment while making it easy to take advantage of key cloud experiences.

The key feature of Skype for Business Server 2019 is billed as functionality to help simplify the migration process for organizations transitioning users from SfB to Microsoft Teams. Microsoft is updating the Move-CsUser cmdlet to allow for a full user move to Teams.

In the list of major upgrades for Skype for Business Server 2019 Edition, there are two major components and several small-but-important additions as well. Here's a quick overview:

Cloud Voicemail

Exchange UM remains available in Skype for Business Server 2019 when you integrate Skype for Business 2019 with Exchange 2013 or Exchange 2016. Due to changes in support in Exchange 2019, Exchange UM integration is being de-emphasized in favor of Cloud Voicemail and Cloud Auto Attendant features.

Cloud Voicemail enables all your Skype for Business 2019 users—whether they are homed on premises or online—to have access to the same voicemail service in the Microsoft Cloud. Cloud Voicemail provides the following benefits for both your on-premises and online users:

Access to voicemail in their Exchange mailbox by using the Skype for Business Online, Teams, or Outlook clients
Ability to use the web-based portal to manage their voicemail options

Call Data Collector

Call Data Connector greatly simplifies call monitoring in a hybrid environment because you no longer need to use different sets of on-premises and online tools to monitor all of your users call quality. Whether your users are homed on premises or online, you can choose to view call quality for your entire organization online.

With Call Data Connector, you can perform the following tasks by using a single toolset:

Monitor your user experience across Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business Online, and Skype for Business Server.
View and troubleshoot problems across your network
Assign helpdesk and administrator roles for Call Analytics, so that you can empower helpdesk workers to view and troubleshoot their areas of responsibility.

Other Features

Streamlined Teams Migration allows administrators to easily move on-premises to Teams with a simple Admin experience.
Meetings First – Continue to use Skype for Business Server for Chat and Calling while harnessing Microsoft Teams for true cloud-based meetings. Your users will enjoy a great meetings experience while your company experiences improved performance using the Microsoft global cloud infrastructure.
Support for Cloud Auto Attendant, so that on-premises customers can always use the latest version. Customers will need to use a hybrid configuration for users syncing to AAD.
TLS 1.2 support now enabled for improved security.
Added support for Windows Server 2019 and continued support for Windows Server 2016.
Skype for Business Server 2019 works with Exchange Unified Messaging for older Exchange versions.

To learn more and to see if Skype for Business 2019 is right for your organization, schedule your consultation today:

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