Howdy Folks,

Once upon a time installing Office Web Apps server was a breeze.  Anyone could roll up and use Pat Richard’s script to download the ISO and prep everything to be done on the server.

Now that Windows 2012 R2 has been released and Microsoft has amended the download locations, the script that Pat Richard created will no longer work to install Office Web Apps server on a Windows 2012 R2 server. It’s still a fantastic script:  http://www.ehloworld.com/1697  for most other roles within a Skype for Business topology, and Web Apps server can also still be installed – as this blog post will show you.

Allow me to walk you through the steps to get Office Web Apps installed and supported on Windows 2012 R2.

Prerequisites

There is a really good helpful guide on TechNet – although it isn’t entirely straightforward.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/jj219455.aspx

Install .net Framework 4.5.2 – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42643

Launch PowerShell as an Administrator and use the following:

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server,Web-Mgmt-Tools,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-WebServer,Web-Common-Http,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Static-Content,Web-Performance,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Dyn-Compression,Web-Security,Web-Filtering,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-App-Dev,Web-Net-Ext45,Web-Asp-Net45,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Includes,InkandHandwritingServices,NET-Framework-Features,NET-Framework-Core,NET-HTTP-Activation,NET-Non-HTTP-Activ,NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45

Obtaining the ISO

This task requires its own section as it’s so awkward to find.

https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/ – sign in and you want the Volume Licensing Service Center.

Once signed in using your Live ID, click Downloads and Keys.

Find the Office Professional Plus 2013 and select the Download tab.

Now the less intuitive portion.  Windows 2012 R2 only comes in 64 Bit, but the Office Web Apps ISO is located under the 32 Bit Section.

Setup

Once the ISO is downloaded you can mount the ISO natively in the Windows Explorer.

Now, you just kick off Setup and everything works… Easy?  Not exactly.  There are some significant gotchas to concern yourself with:

1. You must have at least 2 processors. I was running this in a lab and trying to squeeze as much as I could out of it with a single V Core and it wouldn’t install – and the error gave me nothing to assist with troubleshooting.
2. Don’t try to do any power management. Anything other than Balanced won’t do.

Likewise, any power management on the ESX or Hyper-V will stop the installation.

Now we’re able to launch Setup…

• open the .iso file directly and run Setup.exe

• On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, select I accept the terms of this agreement and click Continue
• On the Choose a file location page, select the folder where you want the Office Web Apps Server files to be installed (for example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps) and select Install Now. If the folder you specified doesn’t exist, Setup creates it for you.
• When Setup finishes installing Office Web Apps Server, choose Close
• Download and install Office Web Apps Server SP1 which is required for Windows Server 2012 R2.

Installation of Language Packs

Language packs can be downloaded from:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35490

Launch the wacserverlaguangepack.exe

In the Office Web Apps Server Language Pack 2013 Wizard, on the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, select I accept the terms of this agreement and select Continue.

When Setup finishes installing Office Web Apps Server, choose Close

Important notes:

• If you want to add the language packs after you create a farm, think again. You have to remove it out of the farm and then add it back in.
• If you want a language pack to work, it needs to be on all of the servers in the farm.

Create the Office Web Apps Server farm.

This depends on what flavour of OWA you’re working on.  In my lab I only require one to function.  In production it is highly recommended you deploy a farm of no less than 2 Office Web App servers and, dependent on the load, you could require more.   In addition, anything more than a single server will require a Hardware Load Balancer to be in place to load balance the HTTP traffic.

From PowerShell:

For a single server in the farm you use the following configuration.

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalURL “http://servername” -AllowHttp –EditingEnabled

Validate that it’s responding as you would expect, with http://servername/hosting/discovery from the browser of your choice.

Expected results will be similar:

I have enabled HTTPS in mine which will add the step of creating a certificate request on the local machine, then utilising the Web Tool on the Certificate Authority and creating the relevant certificate.   Add this certificate to the trusted personal store.  If the OWA server will be used externally the certificate installed must be from a public certificate provider.

In addition, the PowerShell required to create the Farm is slightly different.

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalUrl “https://server.contoso.com” -ExternalUrl “https://wacweb01.contoso.com” -CertificateName “OfficeWebApps Certificate” –EditingEnabled

This can be validated by visiting the URL https://server.contoso.com/hosting/discovery

As always if you have any comments or questions feel free to ask!

The post Office Web Apps on Windows 2012 R2 appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks,

This week I have a review on the Jabra Evolve 80 headset.  I am in no way sponsored by Jabra and this is an independent opinion in a series of Lync product reviews I plan to publish.  Jabra is up first as the company was the first to send me the headset as part of this series.

Jabra description declares them to be a “more than headsets, a workplace evolution” but are they?

Stale Hanson has already provided some information on the headset which can be found as part of his LyncPro series here.

For any office worker who works in an open plan or open area this is an optimal headset.  I have three children whom I often have to work within earshot of and having the ability to use the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to eliminate the outside interference gives me the chance to concentrate on the task at hand and finish that Pomodoro timer. The brilliant ANC isolates from distractions whether at home or inside the office working from cubical or open area to turn anywhere into a ‘Concentration Zone’.

Rating headsets falls into three separate categories; sound quality, microphone, and comfort.  Because people often wear a headset inside the office for several hours in a stretch it’s imperative that the headset is able to meet all of the features simultaneously.

Sound Quality:

I’ve noticed that the sound quality from the headset from the PC Powered USB is really good, one of the best headsets I’ve used, and activating the ANC seems to push the amplification up a gear—although this does come with some sound bleeding, as you would expect.  Although the headset is closed cup, in that they isolate the nose around you and in doing so prevent others from hearing your music.  Whereas an open headphone will possibly provide better sound but with little to no isolation from music and outside world.

The headset is easily unplugged from the USB control unit and a 3.5mm connection can be plugged into a mobile phone or other device. The quality to a phone is, again, good, perhaps not as good as plugged direct to the PC but the ANC and volume are more than adequate.

Microphone:

The boom is located on the right side. This isn’t necessarily a problem unless you have a preference of having the boom on the left.  When not in use, the boom is simply placed in an upward position and it’s out of the way. The quality from the microphone was clear and, even in an open-plan office, I was always able to hold conversations at a normal level. The microphone can be muted using the USB controller during a Skype for Business call and traditional volume and call functionality can be adjusted.

Comfort:

Having worn the headset for several hours per day for several weeks, I have found it very comfortable.  It is slightly on the heavier side at 11.7oz or 331 grams but, as with most professional grade headsets, to drive the sound you require a decent sized magnet. The ear cushions are made of leather and even with almost daily use, and several international flights, the headset has held up perfectly.  The leather ear cushions can be replaced at a cost of $20 from Jabra.

About the controller:

The controller has a foam underneath to prevent it from moving around on the desk.  The controller enables you to turn up and down the volume, mute the headset and pick up an incoming call.  But, in addition to that, you can press the central Jabra button and it illuminates the busy circle on both sides of the headset as a visual indicator to others that you’re busy.  This is what provides the Optimized for Lync functionality.   The controller is also the main source of charging the headset. The 3.5mm outer rim isn’t exactly round, it has flat points on two edges, and this must connect to charging points within the controller and when the device is plugged into the USB it charges the headset.

About the headset:

The headset seems to last over 24 hours with ANC enabled.  I try my best to remember to flick the ANC switch which illuminates when on, however I have returned to the office the next day having left the device on overnight and continued to use it with the noise cancelling turned on.   The sound is fantastic from USB, which I tend to use most days and the comfort is good.  The headset also has a listen/mute button—if you are in ANC mode and listening to something you can press the right ear cup and this will mute things so you do not have to take off your headset to speak or listen to things outside your ‘Concentration Zone’

The Software:

The Jabra direct software is pretty impressive.  On the landing page you can see which applications are configured to use the headset, and you can also launch the firmware updater which is native to this application without visiting a web page or launching another application like some other headset providers require.

One really cool feature that the software has is Intelligent Call Transfer.

Intelligent call transfer understands that while a Skype for Business call is in process, whether it is a conference or a point to point call, when the 3.5mm connection is removed it will call your designated number. In my case, it is my mobile phone.  The call is made through your Skype for Business server’s gateway. This is brilliant in bridging some of the capability that Cisco Call manager have had for some time.  Having the ability to take my call and seamlessly transfer it to my mobile phone by unplugging my headset from my PC, connecting it to my mobile, then answering it is pretty impressive.

What I liked:

USB Sound was a thriller, I genuinely love the sound that comes out of these when they are plugged into my PC.   The intelligent call transfer is a super-smart advancement in the way Lync and Skype work.  The first time it happened it caught me out as I wasn’t expecting it to work as well as it did.  I can look like a cool hipster with oversized headset, right up until they see my microphone and realise I’m just a dorky business guy.

What I disliked:

The headset is bulky. I understand the competition in that Bose, Beats, Sony, and even some of the higher end Sennheiser headsets I have used are comparably bulky, but the size makes it a bit difficult to transport them from site to site and, as a road warrior, I would prefer the ability to take advantage of the ANC yet travel with the headset in my bag.

Outcome:

I recommend the headset for a person who is stationary and wants to have top of the line sound quality.  For a person who works in an open office and would like to keep focused, these headsets are perfect.  The Optimised for Lync features work flawlessly, and the integrated software with Skype for Business is a really useful feature on top of a really well built headset.  For me, someone who spends just as much time at home and office as well on the road I tend to leave them for the home office and I use a Bluetooth headset which is smaller and lighter while out and about.

This is certainly a brilliant headset for someone who would like a sanctuary within the workplace.

The post Jabra Evolve 80 review appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks, business focused video is going mainstream. The range of providers is growing, the price of the hardware is falling and as consumer systems such as Skype and FaceTime grow in popularity, users are getting more comfortable sitting in front of a camera.

Our working patterns are also changing. Increasingly, employees are working remotely, sometimes across time zones. Meanwhile, our customers travel budgets are being cut: even governments are weighing in to reduce commute related pollution. For example, California is mulling proposals that businesses over a certain size should encourage remote working wherever possible.

In such an environment, video conferencing is the perfect way for a distributed workforce to keep in touch with the office – and clients. The cost savings and the opportunities for more agile working practices make it worth serious contemplation, whatever size our customer organisation.

Unseen advantage –
What’s the biggest advantage of video conferencing? People look at the money they save on travel costs. But the bigger benefits come from productivity and the fact that our customers can have meetings that simply wouldn’t happen otherwise because people are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because of the way video works these days it means you can bring in specialists whose advice you need with very little notice, even if they can only spare 15 minutes.

Such ad-hoc consultations simply wouldn’t be possible without video conferencing: those spare 15 minutes wouldn’t be enough to make a physical visit viable. It is important to point out that it’s actually in the implied proximity of the speakers that video conferencing’s value lies. Companies like mine can provide multi-stream systems for segregated colleges, where male and female students attend the same lectures, but in separate rooms. Logitech, meanwhile, has established a niche in worship: its cameras are popular among churches that broadcast across the web.

Go Big! –
With such varied use scenarios, it’s no surprise that there isn’t a one-size fits all solution. How, therefore, do you choose the right hardware, software and online service for your business? The more you communicate externally, the more interoperability matters. The more external users you need to meet, the more you’ll have to consider what works for them. We’ve seen many of our customers solve this by saying they’ll just use whatever their customers use Skype for Business, WebEx, or Google Hangouts, for example. Ultimately, though, that breaks, because you have so many different tools, each department chooses what it wants to use, and you can’t possibly support all of them.

The key, then, is interoperability, and thankfully that’s something that companies like mine understands. The big players all sit on standards bodies, and they support rival services wherever possible –including Skype for Business and Lync, such is the power of Office 365. In most cases, you can purchase your first camera, mic or whole-room system without having to worry about locking yourself out of any of the major video platforms, and you can generally move from one supplier to another, taking your hardware with you.

It’s a principle that’s helped Swiss video conferencing giant Logitech grow to a dominant market position in just four years. Rather than trying to tie customers into a conferencing service of its own, the company provides hardware that serves as an “on-ramp” to whichever providers you might want to use. Logitech was the first company to come to the market with that philosophy, of not making the software or the service, so their hardware works equally well with every platform.

Strong and stable –
What about security? If you’re using third-party hardware, rather than getting your hardware and services from a single supplier, are you increasing the risk of hacker attacks or data leaks? Not at all, the encryption applied to your active call is handled by the provider from which you’re buying the service. Most business-grade services have a failsafe, too: if encryption is turned on at one end point, you won’t be able to make the call unless the other endpoint is turned on as well.

Consequently, it’s no surprise that video conferencing providers take security so seriously. It’s crucial that our customer’s managers and decision-makers can discuss business-sensitive issues without worrying about leaks. When choosing a vendor, ask specifically how they handle encryption: they shouldn’t be afraid to discuss it.

User Buy in –
The practical and financial benefits of video conferencing are clear enough that getting buy-in from our customers IT and management is rarely a problem. However, what about the users who are being asked to embrace a new mode of communication? When people have used a certain tool in a certain way for the majority of their career, getting them to change is exceedingly difficult. Getting someone to give up their BT number is tough, which is why we spend a lot of time on interoperability and ease-of-use. It is possible to tear down barriers that the incumbent vendor doesn’t have to overcome because no matter how bad the experience is, it’s familiar. Even if you make things infinitely better and easier, it’s still changed and people have a hard time with that.

At the opposite end of the age scale, younger employees are often much more open to using new technologies. This means that some of our larger customers are even using their video-centric approach to communications as a selling point. Our customers recognised the need to provide video as part of their communication processes, particularly for people under 30 who are used to doing it in their private lives and want to do it in business as well. In high-skill industries how do they attract and retain staff [other than by making the office environment fit their way of working]? While it’s not possible that video is the answer to all our customers’ problems but it is part of the toolset that goes with the modern working environment. Moreover, video conferencing can even help keep your workforce happier and healthier. People who work from home, or travel a lot, are the ones who hunger for something better, because they’re isolated, culturally and physically. If video helps them to do their job better or saves them a trip to the office just to be present that makes them more effective.

Business grade –
There are plenty of free, consumer-grade video conferencing systems, and for a small business, it’s very tempting to just make do with Skype, Hangouts or FaceTime. This is particularly true when the move to incorporate video is driven by the users, rather than management.

Be warned, though – free services could be a false economy. I have seen a lot of younger workers coming into the workforce as college grads, who use Hangouts and FaceTime a lot in their consumer lives, and they’re bringing those tools to the workplace. Many customers – particularly small ones – start with these consumer grade tools, but get frustrated because they don’t support multiple people on the call, or flexibility of screen layout, or simply because the quality of the video isn’t that good. That’s when they start to look at business-grade tools. Ultimately, if you pay less you get less – from a support standpoint, quality, service level…define it however you may. Many customers have decided that free isn’t good enough anymore, as they have no SLA, insufficient interoperability, no revenue producing functions, and so on. The key, is not to think about cost, but instead about the culture: What is the culture of the organisation we are selling to? What are the expectations? And if our customer is in a larger environment or a multinational, how does that affect how they communicate? However we get our customers how to choose to implement video conferencing, it’s important to remember that it’s a supplement to other means of sharing and communicating, rather than a wholesale replacement. It’s doubtful that any organisation that tried to entirely abandon physical travel and rely entirely on video would achieve the results it hoped for. It’s similar, perhaps, to the fax, which provided a useful alternative to physical mail but certainly didn’t supplant it.

Video conferencing is complementary to services like Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and Cisco Spark. It is unlikely that video replaces face-to-face meetings. The obvious thing is you can now have more frequent meetings, or the meetings you’re going to have can be one-third over video and two-thirds in person.

The good news is that this is very much a field in which you can experiment before you commit. Short contracts, broad hardware interoperability and seat or time-based options from many of our vendor’s mean our customer initial investment needn’t be large and can be built up over time.

What our customers really can’t afford to do, therefore, is ignore the potential of video conferencing. In today’s lightning-fast market, only the agilest organisations thrive. The key question isn’t how much it will cost to make the leap, but how.

Hope you all have been keeping well, feel free to comment and share!

The post Video is going mainstream appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks, today within many of my customers, elements of the UC solution are provided by a number of vendors. Cisco delivers the voice solution, Microsoft delivers Instant Messaging and presence.

A large volume of my customers are heavy users of many of the Microsoft technologies and several are core to the business for example Office, Outlook and SharePoint.

The key strategic goal for my customers are to select either Cisco or Microsoft to deliver the core UC services. In the first instance these will be delivered from a private cloud solution, but with the ability to shift into the public cloud in the future.

The solution must unify the communication and collaboration experience across voice, IM, presence, conferencing (audio, video & web) and broadcasting, whilst delivering the best possible user experience globally. As both Cisco and Microsoft are existing strategic vendors to many customers and represent the two most mature UC platforms, there is a need to determine which should be selected as the strategic vendor of choice for Unified Communications.

Cisco

Overview

Cisco has a rich, mature set of capabilities that can fully address most organisations’ enterprise telephony, voice/unified messaging, audio conferencing, video conferencing, web conferencing, presence and instant messaging requirements. Cisco has also invested significantly in enabling mobility through supporting access to UC functionality through mobile clients for Jabber, WebEx and Cisco Spark. In addition, Cisco supports unique mobile integration capabilities such as Intelligent Proximity, which allows users to control Cisco-based video systems, interact with shared content, and share content wirelessly using a smartphone or tablet.

Cisco technologies

Cisco solution is based off of several key technologies.

• Cisco Meeting Server – This solution brings premises-based video, audio, and web communication together to meet the collaboration needs of the modern workplace
• Cisco Spark – This is an app-centric, cloud-based service that provides a complete collaboration suite to create, meet, message, call, whiteboard, and share, regardless geographic location
• Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (TMS) – This Solution provides the scheduling and management of Cisco telepresence end points.
• Cisco Unified Collaborations Manager (CUCM) – As part of the Cisco Voice heritage, this is an IP-based communications system integrating voice, video, data, and mobility products and applications
• Cisco WebEx Meeting Server (CWMS) – This offers the customer a conferencing solution that combines audio, video, and web conferencing in a single solution

Cisco Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• The existing telephone infrastructure can be utilised in doing so the same technology can be used which will lessen the user training, and no change means that there will be no disruption.
• Future state solutions can integrate seamlessly with the existing telephone service.
• Cisco has a distinct advantage with its hybrid UC offering, by connecting Unified Call Manager and HCS with Cisco Spark in the public cloud. Cisco Spark has also integration into WebEx with CMR Cloud, Collaboration acquisitions by Cisco also provide another layer of native integration to dispersed video conferencing end points.
• Cisco provides unified management for voice and video networks including automated, accelerated employment and provisioning. Real-time monitoring, proactive troubleshooting and an easy to understand license management solution.
• Cisco has a strong financial foundation. Revenue growth in its collaboration business has been good and earns a positive rating with Gartner.

Drawbacks

• Spark is primarily a workplace collaboration solution rather than a unified communication solution. Real-time presence is not included. However this is a road mapped item and will be available in the future.
• Cisco is continuously improving and simplifying its licensing. However, Cisco licensing is complex.  Not all software applications appear in the licenses management portal which can make central license management an issue.
• A common source of concern has been the user experience. For example, using Unified Communications Manager, WebEx and Cisco Spark can result in multiple user experiences creating confusion, increasing complexity, decreasing adoption, and expanding management and administration costs. In an effort to address this challenge, Cisco continues to invest in platform and service integrations, such as moving WebEx into Cisco Spark. With the implementation of Cisco Spark, Cisco’s customers can gain from the integration of all of these best-of-breed products to deliver a unified user interface. It is expected that in the future Spark will provide a single interface for separate systems into a single interface.
• Private certificates are not currently allowed within Cisco Spark however this is a road mapped item with no defined expected or anticipated timeline attributed.

Microsoft

Overview

Microsoft offers a broad UC solution set under the umbrella brand of Skype for Business. The on-premises UC solution is Skype for Business Server formerly known as Microsoft Lync Server. The cloud UC solution is Skype for Business Online, which is licensed as part of the Office 365 portfolio. The Server deployment has significantly more PBX and telephony capabilities than the online configuration, so it is critical to distinguish between these two offers. Microsoft also has some additional UC configurations, most notably Skype for Business Hybrid.

Microsoft Technologies

• Skype for Business Online – Microsoft unified communications platform located within Microsoft Data Centres located throughout the Office 365 infrastructure.
• Skype for Business Server (On-premises) – allows for connectivity to regional SIP trunks and Voice gateways and through a hybrid configuration to Skype for Business Online can utilise CloudPBX features with on premises PSTN calling.
• Office 365 – Microsoft cloud based solution providing Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, and Yammer services.

Microsoft Benefits and Drawbacks.

Benefits

• Microsoft solution would allow seamless native integration into Office 365 in the future without the requirements of plugins or third-party integration tools.
• Skype for Business has a broad range of well-established business, collaboration and office products, allowing it to leverage its dominance in enterprise IT and office solutions.
• Microsoft’s financial position is strong. It earns a positive rating according to the Gartner’s financial statement scorecard.

Drawbacks

• Microsoft solution would require a complete removal and replacement of the incumbent telephone solution currently in situ should a single vendor strategy be adopted.
• Conversations are not persistent. Chat history can be found in Outlook however not part of the continuation of the conversation as seen in Cisco. Persistent chat is managed through three possible solutions. Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Groups and Yammer.
• Enterprises regularly report some dissatisfaction with the quality and capabilities with the Skype for Business audio and video conferencing functionalities and often maintain a separate conferencing service for business critical use cases. As with any VoIP solution that is implemented poorly will deliver a poor user experience.
• Microsoft now offers several PSTN and telephone through the Skype for Business Online and Office 365. In doing so it is encouraging customers to migrate to an online deployment. Skype for Business online telephony functionality is new to the market is limited with references. Microsoft have had PSTN Calling from Office 365 since June 2015 and have been available in the UK since December 2015 and is a major commitment by Microsoft.  However, this is currently limited to United States, United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, and Porto Rico.  The roadmap of this is not clear and not explicitly expressed, but we know that Belgium and Germany are quickly arriving.
• Skype for Business deployments requires multiple partner solutions for implementation, design, and managed services. Microsoft has more than 900 partners in the Skype for Business certification and this number is likely to grow.  Microsoft is improving its partner program, determining which partner select remains a challenge. Historically this has been seen as a benefit within the Gartner review however in 2016 this has been seen as a drawback.  To deliver an entire hosted voice solution there is a requirement to utilise SIP trunks or session boarder controllers (SBC) from a third party providers.  IN addition if voice/ call recording, switchboards and Contact Centre solutions are required a 3^rd party solution is required.

Required Capabilities

This section details capabilities required by many of my customers solutions, but not necessarily in use today. Details of how those capabilities are met by each solution are captured below.

Cisco

Required Capability:

Ability to appear seamlessly in the office. This is the ability to have a single number that follows the user (phone mobility) and can be answered on the device the user currently has, i.e. Mobile, Desktop, and Desk Phone.

This capability can be met using Cisco UCM. The phone mobility feature allows users to answer incoming calls to their extension on either their desktop IP phone or at a remote destination, such as a mobile phone. Users can pick up active calls on the desktop phone or the remote phone without losing the connection.

Using Cisco CUCM and Jabber, a device using the Jabber client can become the phone extension. Calls can be made from the mobile device using Jabber, or by using Dial via Office (DVO) to retain the illusion of a user calling from their office number. Using the Cisco phone mobility capability, the mobile phone and the Jabber client if connected will receive the call. This allows people to dial a single number, but reach the user wherever they might be. This improves productivity and removes the time wasted trying to contact a person across multiple numbers or mediums.

Reduce the cost of international travel. This is the ability to use technologies to reduce the amount of travel needed, whilst still having productive meetings and sessions.

This capability can be met using Cisco WebEx. Cisco WebEx can perform the Video, Desktop Sharing and voice conferencing elements necessary to bring staff together regardless of the geography and device used to connect. Individuals on a mobile phone can connect to room or desk based video systems to provide face-to-face video meetings with access to voice, video, content etc. as required for the session. Depending the licenses purchased for Spark Flex WebEx is available to consume – further information on Spark Flex can be found in the appendix.

Moderated interactive large events; employee engagement

WebEx provides the ability to have 3,000 users engaged at the same time.

Unification of UC leading to reduced cost. This is the ability to use a single Unified Communications product to reduce cost through support, simplification and training.

Using a single vendor for unified communication allows cost reduction in a number of areas. Support for products will be reduced as users learn and utilise a reduced product set. In addition, training costs will be reduced by a number of products a user must learn and remember is smaller, which should, in turn, reduce the number of calls to the helpdesk or peers for support.

A further benefit is seen by the reduced testing and interoperability of a single vendor solution as opposed to a larger number when enabling or trialling new features.

Users have the ability from Jabber to be able to utilise the mobile client to make and receive phone calls natively within the iOS application.  In addition to this, Spark has the ability to rest natively within the Apple Call Kit API so calls can be made and received without having to launch the Spark Application.

Use of mobile device as a replacement to the desk phone; Move to a softphone where appropriate to aid more flexible working by ensuring users remain contactable

Using Cisco CUCM, Jabber and integration into Spark, a device using the Jabber client can become the phone extension. Calls can be made to and from the mobile device using Jabber, or by using Dial via Office (DVO) to retain the illusion of a user calling from their office number. Using the Cisco phone mobility capability, the mobile phone and the Jabber client if connected, will receive the call. This allows people to dial a single number, but reach the user wherever they might be. This improves productivity and removes the time wasted trying to contact a person across multiple numbers or mediums.  Likewise, in the future, the users will be able to use Spark as a means as a desk phone replacement.   In order to meet all local legal requirements dependent upon local geographies a hybrid configuration would be required between Jabber and Spark.  Spark is not allowed in all geographies at this moment in time.

Use of SIP trunks to allow the removal of secondary ISDN lines thereby reducing the costs; improve resilience where diverse ISDN lines are not available; and increase speed to market for new offices

Where applicable SIP trunks can be used.  For areas where only geographical presentation is mandatory the solution will require a locally hosted telephone presence.

Ensure voice traffic is routed the most effective way; capitalise on “best cost” routing to reduce telephony costs

Utilising the least cost routeing within Call Manager would ensure that where applicable the lowest cost calling would be used.  There are regulatory requirements which must be met, the vendor solution where applicable will fulfil these.

Move to a managed/ hosted service for telephony and UC to reduce the amount of time and effort involved in maintenance and align with cloud strategy

All core telephone and server infrastructure can be hosted in a service provider’s data center.  There may be a requirement for some local PSTN breakouts that may require a telephone presence in some locations but these would be managed and supported by the managed service provider. In addition, cost reduction could be realised with the reuse of hardware in local geographies where applicable to do so.  This will be understood in more detail upon the due diligence phase of the project.

Deliver moderated Q&A capability for broadcasting large events (town halls & Open forums)

Meetings can be recorded and Q&A sessions held, this is currently limited to 3,000 users

Skype for Business

Required Capability:

Ability to appear seamlessly in the office. This is the ability to have a single number that follows the user (phone mobility) and can be answered on the device the user currently has, i.e. Mobile, Desktop, and Desk Phone.

Softphone, mobile clients, and desk phones that users authenticate with will fully meet this requirement.  Users have the ability to make and receive phone calls from either their soft client or their mobile device.  In addition, people are planning on allowing users to have the ability to access their Office 365 email and cloud-based content while using the native integration either the full client or webRTC.

Reduce the cost of international travel. This is the ability to use technologies to reduce the amount of travel needed, whilst still having productive meetings and sessions.

Teams can work collaboratively on projects through the use of Skype for Business and Office 365 collaboration tools.  The use of a privately hosted Skype for Business which is connected to a hybrid Office 365 allows the content of all Unified Communications platforms to be centrally managed and secure while allowing the information within Office 365 to be accessed from Skype for Business.  Remote working and multi-user collaboration while working on documentation, spreadsheets, and presentations is also possible.

Moderated interactive large events; employee engagement. This is the ability to host larger than 20 people meetings and control the content and the attendants within the larger events.

Skype for Business allows for meetings up to 250 users in an interactive session.  For users on Office 365, the ability to use Skype for Business meeting broadcasts are available.  This is a One to many – town hall style event.  This has the capacity to provide 10,000 users access to the media via a standard HTML 5 browser.

Unification of UC leading to reduced cost. This is the ability to use a single Unified Communications product to reduce cost.

Use of the mobile device as a replacement to the desk phone; Move to a softphone where appropriate to aid more flexible working by ensuring users remain contactable – This is the ability to use a mobile device as a native UC and telephone endpoint to ensure that the user is contactable.

Skype for Business has the ability to utilise a softphone and mobile client to aid in flexible working.  The quality of calls will be impacted by the quality of the network provided.  Skype for Business and Apple devices have the ability to take priority over a software defined network.  Where this is not possible such as a shared public internet connection.  When network connectivity is an issue the ability to have the calls direct to your native telephone number is possible.  This will be seamless from the inbound caller perspective.   However, this call configuration must be managed by the end user and is not dynamically configured by the software on the mobile device.

Use of SIP trunks to allow; the removal of secondary ISDN lines thereby reducing the costs; improve resilience where diverse ISDN lines are not available; and increase speed to market for new offices – This is the ability the ability to reduce the overall number of ISDN lines by implementing SIP trunks where applicable and possible to do so.

SIP trunks can be used.  For areas where only geographical presentation is mandatory the solution will require a locally hosted telephone presence such as an enhanced session boarder controller which would allow for the local registration of clients and the break out of telephony.

Ensure voice traffic is routed the most effective way; capitalise on “best cost” routeing to reduce telephony costs

Tail end drop off or least cost routeing can be used in locations that allow. There are regulatory requirements which must be met, however where applicable this is possible.

Move to a managed/ hosted service for telephony and UC to reduce the amount of time and effort involved in maintenance and align with cloud strategy

All telephone and server infrastructure will live within a hosted data centre where possible.   Some local breakouts may maintain a telephone presence managed and supported by the managed service provider.

Deliver moderated Q&A capability for broadcasting large events (town halls & Open forums)

Meetings can be recorded and Q&A sessions held, this is currently limited to 10,000 endpoints from Skype for Business online town hall meeting 1 to many is limited to a maximum of 250 for an interactive user meeting.

Vendor Roadmap

Cisco

The publicly announced items which are currently in development and are road mapped for Cisco and Spark for Business are listed below.  Due to the nature of a hosted solution, the roadmap continuously changes and the future solution is continuously improved upon addition more features and functionality as the hosted solution matures.  This is the current announced roadmap at the writing of the document.

• Spark Call is currently only available in the United States, however this is likely to be rolled to other geographies in the future. There is no set roadmap to identify when this will be available. This can be overcome through integration with CUCM onsite.
• Hybrid Architecture with Cloud providing full required feature set to my customers. This would involve utilising existing infrastructure onsite at my customers and consuming additional cloud services to provide full feature functionality
• Cisco Spark integration to on premise
  • Cisco Hybrid Media Service:
  • Optimises media for dial-in to a meeting from on-net endpoints and clients:
    • SIP based endpoints/clients (Cisco endpoints, Jabber, 3rd party SIP).
    • Cisco Spark clients that join a meeting.
    • Cisco Spark room devices that join a meeting, including Spark Board.
  • Provides WebEx clients with an optimized call back to on-net SIP based endpoints and clients-applied to the call my video system option in WebEx.
  • Provides optimized interactive voice response (IVR) to on-net SIP based endpoints and clients-an audio prompt plays when the host hasn’t joined.
  • Improves quality and reduces latency by allowing you to keep your calls on premises.
  • Extends your calls transparently to the cloud when on-premises resources have reached their limit.
  • Allows you to manage your Hybrid Media Nodes from the cloud.
  • Allows you to optimize resources and scale capacity, as needed.
  • Combines the features of cloud and on-premises conferencing in one seamless user experience.
  • Eliminates capacity concerns, because the cloud is always available when more resources are needed.

• Jabber iOS notification for voice and instant messaging

Apple is expected to release iOS 11 in the autumn 2017.  A major change is coming in the way that push notifications work for apps that are in the background in iOS 11.  Apple will deprecate the existing background API architecture (keep-alive socket) and require notifications to be pushed via the cloud-based Apple Push Notification service (APNs).  The primary reason for this is to save battery by stopping IM and VoIP apps from continually doing a keep-alive to their backend service.  When the app is put into the background it will be completely terminated, this requiring APNs to wake up the app to receive IM/VoIP calls.  All APNs notifications are encrypted all the way to the device.  This work allows us to support APNs on the infrastructure.

This change in iOS 11 will affect ALL Vendor’s IM and VoIP solutions, not just Cisco Jabber. This will effect all platform developers, not just Cisco

• Security – increasing TLS v1.2 support across the products to fix inherent issues in TLS1.1 and 1.0. this provides ongoing security patching for by customers. Multiple customers want to depreciate support for older TLS protocols across the infrastructure and applications
• IPv6 support

Support for ipv6 across more components in the infrastructure.

• Presence via Spark

Ability to see presence status colours within the Spark application however this is still on the roadmap with no date being provided at this stage.

Microsoft

The publicly announced items which are currently in development and are road mapped for Office 365 and Skype for Business are listed below.  Due to the nature of a hosted solution, the roadmap continuously changes and the future solution is continuously improved upon addition more features and functionality as the hosted solution matures.  This is the current announced roadmap at the writing of the document.

Road mapped items which are in development within Skype for Business Server and Office 365 currently are:

• Auto Attendant in Cloud PBX

The Auto Attendant in Cloud PBX provides call treatment and routing to end-users in Office 365.  Includes support for multiple languages, voice commands and menu options for all size businesses. Hunt Groups provide a simple call queuing and routing capability suitable for help desk and other internal functions.

• Automatic transcription and Translation in Skype Meeting Broadcast

Automatic transcription and translation of audio in a Skype Meeting Broadcast.  This was publicly demonstrated in the Enterprise Connect keynote — see playback around minute 36 at http://aka.ms/eclive . The preview will include English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and German.

• Call Queues in Cloud PBX

Call Queues in Skype for Business Cloud PBX provide the ability to queue and route calls using a service operating in Office 365.  Callers hear custom greetings and music on hold and multiple routing options are available for flexible configuration.

• Cloud Connector Edition 1.4 and 2.0

This update to the Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition provides for an automated update mechanism going forward, where any new updates to the software are automatically pushed from Office 365 and made available to the appliance, greatly simplifying administrative overhead of the software.

• Cloud PBX Support for Exchange Server

Provides the ability for customers with Cloud PBX in Office 365 to have their Exchange Server 2013 or 2016 on-premises act as a repository of their voicemails.

• Search & Acquire Service Numbers in PSTN Calling

An enhancement to the PSTN Calling service from Microsoft, customers will be able to search for, acquire and use in their tenant service numbers including both Toll and Toll-Free.  This will allow for auto attendants and call queues to be directly dialled using numbers designed for high volume.

• Regionally Hosted Meetings

Support for a Multi-National Corporation tenant to have users be distributed across multiple data centres for Skype for Business Online in the Multi-Tenant environment to provide better media quality by reduced latency.

• Skype Meetings

Free online meetings from Skype for Business that is easy to set up with a personalised meeting URL, helps team collaborate with screen share and is built for business with reliability and encryption.

Market View

Some key information from market analytics.

Forrester review

According to the Forrester Total Economic Impact study:

• Cost reductions have been known to hit up to £2,500,000 per 1000 employees in six months.

This can be achieved by:

• Replacing the ongoing and costly maintenance and management of a traditional PBX telephone system. This is because Skype for Business does not require an on-site telephone PBX hardware, software, or annual maintenance contract.
• Delivers in-built conferencing which can save up to £1,000,000 over 3 years as business are not required to use expensive, third party conferencing solutions such as BT Meet me.
• Reduction of IT and telephone support and labour costs
• The increase of user productivity, which has been conservatively assessed at more than £8,000,000 over 3 years.
• Travel savings due to meetings can now be hosted online via any device regardless of physical location.
• Skype for Business customers can also save on average 43% on monthly telephone line rental as well as 57-94% on telephone call costs.
• Skype for Business customers have a further achieved >60% reduction in costs compared to traditional ways of working.
• Free end to end user calls (Skype for Business to Skype for Business calls)
• Using a single communication system across PC, Mobile, and Tablet saves time and makes it easier for end users to communicate.

Forrester have also stated in the 2014 review that both Cisco and Microsoft had better programs for developers and that their platforms meet a broad swath of business needs to deliver real business value like increased revenues, reduce cycle times, and improved customer satisfaction.

Figure 1 – Forrester Wave

Cisco – After entering the communications market with the acquisition of Selsius Systems in 1998, Cisco has built share and added capabilities, consistently innovating and expanding its offering both organically and via acquisition. Cisco’s focus on collaboration tools enables workers to easily connect between different media — including voice, video, and web conferencing — to deliver a more unified user experience. Cisco’s strategy to optimize and standardize Jabber experiences across all users will drive more rapid adoption by end users, while its Cisco UC Prime management capabilities lead the market in satisfying IT system owners’ need to manage and monitor their UC deployments.

Microsoft –The Microsoft Lync client can access the range of communication and collaboration capabilities from tablets, smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers running a wide variety of operating systems. Microsoft’s single familiar user interface drives rapid adoption and utilization of its solution by information workers. The single integrated package of communications and conferencing capabilities delivered by the Lync client/server infrastructure in a web/XML paradigm makes it easy for developers to customize and build applications to complement Microsoft’s UC&C capabilities with industry- and role-specific capabilities from contact centre to enterprise resource planning.

Table 1 – Forrester Weighting

Gartner Review

Both Microsoft and Cisco have maintained their strong leads within the market.  Cisco continues to execute well in both the market and within its strategy for evolving the next generation of Unified Communication services. Microsoft solutions continue to attract significant on-premises growth while continuing to advance its Office 365 offering.  Gartner feels however that the uncertainty around Microsoft’s on-premises versus cloud focus resulted in lower ratings for its on-premises Skype for Business solutions.

Figure 2 –Gartner Magic Quadrant

Gartner Cisco review – The on-premises solution is based on the well-established Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM); bringing together voice, video, telepresence, messaging, presence and several forms of conferencing. It also leverages WebEx for web conferencing; Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Cloud for cloud-based videoconferencing; and its merging portfolio of TelePresence and Acano video solutions for on-premises-based videoconferencing. For on-premises deployment, Cisco offers Unified CM Session Management Edition for large enterprises, and has packaged offers for easier configuration — Cisco Business Edition 7000 (BE7000) series for large enterprises, and Cisco Business Edition 6000 (BE6000) series for SMBs of fewer than 1,000 users. Cisco also offers Unified CM as part of a cloud-based service — Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) — hosted and offered by its partners. Cisco also provides a full range of endpoints, including phones, desktop video endpoints, room video systems and immersive video solutions, plus its Cisco Jabber mobile and desktop client.

Key recent additions to the portfolio include: Cisco Spark, a cloud UCaaS service that offers business messaging, meeting and call capabilities; integration of its CMR Cloud hosted video bridging service with WebEx; and the acquisition of Acano for video scale and interoperability. Cisco has also introduced a cPaaS solution with a developer community of 200,000 that will speed development of communications integrated with targeted vertical and mobile applications.

Cisco’s UC solution is an attractive prospect for midsize, large and multinational corporations requiring strong voice, video or conferencing capabilities. Cisco UC is available on-premises, in the cloud and as a hybrid option through a network of global partners.

Gartner Microsoft Review: Microsoft offers a broad UC solution set under the umbrella brand of Skype for Business (SfB; formerly Lync). The on-premises UC solution is Skype for Business Server (SfBS; formerly Lync Server). The cloud UC solution is Skype for Business Online (SfBO), which is licensed as part of the Office 365 portfolio. The Server deployment has significantly more PBX and telephony capabilities than the Online configuration, so it is critical that planners distinguish between these two offers. Microsoft also has some additional UC configurations, most notably Skype for Business Hybrid.

Microsoft made some year-over-year improvements to SfBS 2015; notably, an improved client for mobile devices and improvements to its video and meeting capabilities (including the release of Surface Hub), with plans for an improved Mac client to be released in September 2016. However, the bulk of Microsoft’s SfB development and marketing improvements during the past year were targeted at the Office 365 portfolio, including SfBO. Most notably, it added a range of telephony capabilities to SfBO that, while new to market and not proven, represent significant emerging capabilities for that platform.

Microsoft has partners capable of hosting and operating SfB Server for enterprises, both stand-alone or as part of an Office 365 configuration. Although this approach does overcome many of the telephony limitations of SfB Online, it also introduces complexity and cost.

The SfBS solution will be useful to a broad range of enterprises. Enterprises with advanced telephony and video feature requirements should ensure that the necessary functions are supported and, as is true for any VoIP deployment, should undertake a thorough network readiness assessment. Often, working with a Microsoft Skype partner helps to ensure the deployment is as successful as possible.

My observations

I have observed an exponential increase in use of cloud technology rather than on-premises technology.  This has been observed through both vendors as a Hybrid First stance.  A major shift from on-premises to Spark or Office 365 has been observed over the course of the last year.  I expect this trend to continue as the functional parity between an on-premises solution becomes surpassed by cloud offerings.  Both Cisco and Microsoft have already started offering the new technology first from the cloud.

The post Cisco vs Microsoft Unified Communications appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy Folks,

I’ve recently had a customer enable Multi Factor Authentication for all admin roles within the Microsoft Office 365 Tenant.  This causes problems when you need to do any PowerShell activities, such as submitting customized number normalization which need to be completed in the Skype for Business Online PowerShell.

To connect up, you will need the latest Skype for Business Online management shell.  At the time of writing this was released in 19th of April 2017 – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=39366   – version 7.0.1045.0 or later.

Once this is installed you will need to launch the Windows PowerShell

The Shell we will use is as follows:

$acctName=”user@domain.com”

#Create a Skype for Business Online session
$sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName

#Import the Skype for Business session
Import-PSSession $sfboSession

You will then be prompted for your password:

You will need to authenticate with your Multi Factor Method.

Once you import the PS Session you will then have the Skype for Business Online PowerShell commandlets which you are a custom to.

I hope this helps with your Multi Factor Authentication Customers.

Be sure to share, like, and ask any questions you may have.

The post Skype for Business Online PowerShell with Multi Factor Authentication appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks,

One that I’ve just found while working on other aspects of my Office 365 tenant is the control and management of Advanced Threat Protection.  Advanced Threat Protection is obtained when you purchase a Microsoft E5 license or can be purchased separate Add On and for Britain, where I live, it’s £1.50 per user currently.

What is it?

What is Advanced threat Protection?  It’s a solution from Microsoft that protects against unknown and sophisticated attacks which ultimately adds a better zero-day protection.

How to enable it?

So, how do we enable it for Microsoft Teams?!  Exchange Admin Center of course.

1) Log onto your Microsoft Portal using your an Exchange Admin or Global Admin privileges.  Go to Admin Centers and select Exchange.

2) Once you’re inside your Exchange Admin Center select Advanced threats sub menu and you should have an option for Protect files in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams.

3) Tick the Turn on ATP for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams to enable the service.

Easy as 1,2,3

Why should I do it?

As more and more information is shared with our teams on OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams we need to ensure that we are able to provide the levels of protection we would expect of the confidential and secure information required.  For such a small cost, or one that is included in the E5 suite, for me it makes sense to enable the service.

For a bit more information check out the TechNet article here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/wbaer/2017/12/05/office-365-advanced-threat-protection-for-sharepoint-onedrive-and-microsoft-teams-now-available/

The post Advance Threat Protection for Microsoft Teams appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks,

This week I have a review on the Jabra Evolve 80 headset.  I am in no way sponsored by Jabra and this is an independent opinion in a series of Lync product reviews I plan to publish.  Jabra is up first as the company was the first to send me the headset as part of this series.

Jabra description declares them to be a “more than headsets, a workplace evolution” but are they?

Stale Hanson has already provided some information on the headset which can be found as part of his LyncPro series here.

For any office worker who works in an open plan or open area this is an optimal headset.  I have three children whom I often have to work within earshot of and having the ability to use the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to eliminate the outside interference gives me the chance to concentrate on the task at hand and finish that Pomodoro timer. The brilliant ANC isolates from distractions whether at home or inside the office working from cubical or open area to turn anywhere into a ‘Concentration Zone’.

Rating headsets falls into three separate categories; sound quality, microphone, and comfort.  Because people often wear a headset inside the office for several hours in a stretch it’s imperative that the headset is able to meet all of the features simultaneously.

Sound Quality:

I’ve noticed that the sound quality from the headset from the PC Powered USB is really good, one of the best headsets I’ve used, and activating the ANC seems to push the amplification up a gear—although this does come with some sound bleeding, as you would expect.  Although the headset is closed cup, in that they isolate the nose around you and in doing so prevent others from hearing your music.  Whereas an open headphone will possibly provide better sound but with little to no isolation from music and outside world.

The headset is easily unplugged from the USB control unit and a 3.5mm connection can be plugged into a mobile phone or other device. The quality to a phone is, again, good, perhaps not as good as plugged direct to the PC but the ANC and volume are more than adequate.

Microphone:

The boom is located on the right side. This isn’t necessarily a problem unless you have a preference of having the boom on the left.  When not in use, the boom is simply placed in an upward position and it’s out of the way. The quality from the microphone was clear and, even in an open-plan office, I was always able to hold conversations at a normal level. The microphone can be muted using the USB controller during a Skype for Business call and traditional volume and call functionality can be adjusted.

Comfort:

Having worn the headset for several hours per day for several weeks, I have found it very comfortable.  It is slightly on the heavier side at 11.7oz or 331 grams but, as with most professional grade headsets, to drive the sound you require a decent sized magnet. The ear cushions are made of leather and even with almost daily use, and several international flights, the headset has held up perfectly.  The leather ear cushions can be replaced at a cost of $20 from Jabra.

About the controller:

The controller has a foam underneath to prevent it from moving around on the desk.  The controller enables you to turn up and down the volume, mute the headset and pick up an incoming call.  But, in addition to that, you can press the central Jabra button and it illuminates the busy circle on both sides of the headset as a visual indicator to others that you’re busy.  This is what provides the Optimized for Lync functionality.   The controller is also the main source of charging the headset. The 3.5mm outer rim isn’t exactly round, it has flat points on two edges, and this must connect to charging points within the controller and when the device is plugged into the USB it charges the headset.

About the headset:

The headset seems to last over 24 hours with ANC enabled.  I try my best to remember to flick the ANC switch which illuminates when on, however I have returned to the office the next day having left the device on overnight and continued to use it with the noise cancelling turned on.   The sound is fantastic from USB, which I tend to use most days and the comfort is good.  The headset also has a listen/mute button—if you are in ANC mode and listening to something you can press the right ear cup and this will mute things so you do not have to take off your headset to speak or listen to things outside your ‘Concentration Zone’

The Software:

The Jabra direct software is pretty impressive.  On the landing page you can see which applications are configured to use the headset, and you can also launch the firmware updater which is native to this application without visiting a web page or launching another application like some other headset providers require.

One really cool feature that the software has is Intelligent Call Transfer.

Intelligent call transfer understands that while a Skype for Business call is in process, whether it is a conference or a point to point call, when the 3.5mm connection is removed it will call your designated number. In my case, it is my mobile phone.  The call is made through your Skype for Business server’s gateway. This is brilliant in bridging some of the capability that Cisco Call manager have had for some time.  Having the ability to take my call and seamlessly transfer it to my mobile phone by unplugging my headset from my PC, connecting it to my mobile, then answering it is pretty impressive.

What I liked:

USB Sound was a thriller, I genuinely love the sound that comes out of these when they are plugged into my PC.   The intelligent call transfer is a super-smart advancement in the way Lync and Skype work.  The first time it happened it caught me out as I wasn’t expecting it to work as well as it did.  I can look like a cool hipster with oversized headset, right up until they see my microphone and realise I’m just a dorky business guy.

What I disliked:

The headset is bulky. I understand the competition in that Bose, Beats, Sony, and even some of the higher end Sennheiser headsets I have used are comparably bulky, but the size makes it a bit difficult to transport them from site to site and, as a road warrior, I would prefer the ability to take advantage of the ANC yet travel with the headset in my bag.

Outcome:

I recommend the headset for a person who is stationary and wants to have top of the line sound quality.  For a person who works in an open office and would like to keep focused, these headsets are perfect.  The Optimised for Lync features work flawlessly, and the integrated software with Skype for Business is a really useful feature on top of a really well built headset.  For me, someone who spends just as much time at home and office as well on the road I tend to leave them for the home office and I use a Bluetooth headset which is smaller and lighter while out and about.

This is certainly a brilliant headset for someone who would like a sanctuary within the workplace.

The post Jabra Evolve 80 review appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks!

As we proceed through the inevitable that all forms of Skype for Business will be moving towards Office 365 / Skype for Business Online. This may come in the form of a Hybrid or a fully Skype Online tenant.  More and more interest has been brewing around how Cloud PBX and PSTN calling is going to work.

To ready yourself for the provisioning of users with PSTN Calling from Office 365 I’ve created a guide on how to provision a user with a Direct Inward Dial, DID, or as we often use in Europe, DDI.

In this example I am going to enable a user to use a PSTN Calling plan and DID from Frisco, Texas – my old stomping ground in the US.  I have the licenses already applied to my tenant.  To be able to provide a user with PSTN Calling the tenant will require either a E3 with PSTN Calling add on or a E5 Licenses.  In addition the tenant will require the Dialling Plan either International, National, or both.

Provisioning

First things first, sign into your tenant using your global administrator account, access your Admin center.

Scroll to the bottom of the menu and select Admin then Skype for Business

You should see the dashboard which is the native splash screen.

Visit the Voice tab. This will be visible if you have voice licenses applied to your tenant.  As you can see from the image below I currently have 6 numbers assigned to the account.  3 from Dallas which are in the 469 area code and 3 from Atlanta in the 678 area code.

Before I can assign any numbers to any users we must have an emergency location attributed to the account. As you can see the one in my tenant was originally the Microsoft Bellevue location.

Because we would like to have users located anywhere within the United States, and soon to be rolling outside the US, we need to add a new location. To add a new location, under the Emergency Locations tab, press the plus sign.

A new side bar will open and location details including site name and address will be inputted. In this process, you will need to validate the address and then press save.

What is address validation?

When you are setting up PSTN calling, you will need to assign a phone number and emergency address to each of your users.

Validating an emergency address involves making sure that it is legitimate and correctly formatted for emergency authorities. Only U.S. addresses can be validated. Although it’s possible to create and save an emergency address that isn’t validated, only validated addresses can’t be associated to a user. Once an emergency address is validated and saved, it can be assigned to a user. If you need to change a saved validated emergency address, you will need to create a new one.

It is possible that a partially correct emergency address may still pass validation and will be seen in the Skype for Business admin center. For example, if you mistype the name of a city, it may still pass validation, because the combination of the misspelled name along with the other correct parts of the address are enough information to route the call to the appropriate emergency dispatch center.

Review the correct address has been added and validated.

Identify the required area codes that are required. Currently all PSTN calling is only available from the United States, this will is road mapped to other geographies.

Currently select your State, and your nearest/preferred area code.

Once you select your State and City/Area Code, select how many DDI/DID numbers you require for that area. The number is limited by the amount of Calling CALs applied to the tenant.

Agree that you’re happy with the numbers, select the numbers you would like to be added to your tenant.

This would be followed by Aquire Numbers

Verify under your Voice tab that the numbers are now provisioned on your tenant.

Assign licenses: e5 and calling

From the Users, Active Users menu find your user which PSTN Calling is going to be deployed to.

Ensure that the users who require PSTN calling apply the appropriate licenses. In this scenario I have applied an E5 license and a PSTN Domestic and International Calling license.

From the Admin, Skype for Business menu

Ensure the correct User is selected, then click the Assign Number located on the right hand side.

A side bar will load

DDI/DID number range can be selected from the drop down menu.

The E 911 location will then be searched for, this is the City which the location is listed not the customer friendly name.

Once this is applied and confirmed, press the Save button

From the voice tab validate that the assigned number and the emergency location are as expected.

That’s it, the user has now been deployed with a new DID/DDI and has the correct licensing.

Some interesting findings. Although the DDI/DID originates from the United States it seems when I call an international, British, number the presented numbers can be from a large range of locations, sometimes Sweden, sometimes other EU countries.

Hope this helps! Good luck and let me know if you need more assistance.

The post Provision Telephone Numbers in Office 365 appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy all,

As we continue on from where I left off earlier with PSTN Telephone number provisioning from Office 365, http://bit.ly/O365TelephoneNumbers  we now have PSTN Dial-in conferencing.  Dial-in conferencing has historically been a solution that has been hosted on premises or hosted with an existing third party provider such as PGI or BT.  This can now be included in your E3 licenses or E5 licenses for a fee of around $2 per user per month that require this functionality.

Provisioning

If you visit your portal and scroll to Admin, then to Skype for Business you’ll see the dial in conferencing numbers that are currently attributed to your tenant.  Should you require a location that isn’t yet on your list, you can create a helpdesk ticket and then allocate these numbers.  As you can see that my default number for my US tenant is a 312, Chicago number.  This is the number that will be given to all users who are use Office 365 and have the United States as their default location.

There are some key functionality that we can turn on and turn off as part of our Skype Online solution. First being we can enable the announcement feature.  This will provide dial up users the users an announcement when someone joins the meeting.  In addition you can enable the ability for dial in users to provide their location or name upon joining the dial in conference.   You can adjust the PIN from 5, the lowest setting is 4 and that should be low enough without causing too much disruption.

I have applied the Dial in Conferencing license to my Jason Wynn user. In addition you can see my conference ID and my default dial in number.

If I select the user I can then adjust the provider should I have a mix of 3^rd party or Microsoft natively hosting dial in conference providers.  I can also adjust my conference number.  From this I can use the drop down menu and select one of the provided numbers that have been provisioned to my tenant. Also, that bottom check box is quite important.  It allows users to use your dial in bridge with you being online.  If you want to provide the ability to have people use your dial in conferencing bridge without you attending then you need to check this box.

as you can see this scenario I’m going to change it to the other Chicago area code 872.

As you can see from the menu the new telephone number has been applied.

Some key points worth noting. This works fine in the US, the numbers seem to be in the correct E164 format.  This is not the case when using numbers from the UK for example.  When I create a meeting from outlook and visit the number being presented from Skype client to my Outlook client it doesn’t seem to be presented as I would expect.

This isn’t a huge problem, however it could effect your click to dial if you’re using this within Skype for Business and you don’t have normalisation configured. In addition, if you are using Cloud PBX or PSTN calling this could be an issue for you as well as the number isn’t configured correctly and the number will not be dialled.  The obvious answer is that people will be joining a Skype Online meeting from a Skype for Business client.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or issues feel free to comment and I’ll get back to you.

The post Provision dial in conferencing in Office 365 appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks,

Back into October 2014 Steve Goodman, Andrew Price and I put a challenge to ourselves to create a dedicated Microsoft Unified Communications event run by the community for the community. In doing so it was such a massive success with over 300 attendees from around Europe. 24 different sponsors were in attendance and fantastic content from all our speakers. Building upon the success of UC Day 2015 we have announced UC Day 2016 and plan to continue running event and make it even bigger by adding an additional track to the event. Going forward, UC Day is no longer just a Unified Communications Conference but now a UC and Cloud Conference focusing on all the components that can affect customers through to Microsoft Partners.

On the 24th of October we will be running sessions in the following tracks with the very best speakers from across the globe.

• Skype for Business
• Exchange
• Office 365
• Azure

If you are interested in attending this year event, head over to the UC Day website and join our mailing list.  http://www.ucday.co.uk/mailing-list/

Our currently Sponsors List is as follows;

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Interested in Sponsoring Unified Communications Day?

If you are a vendor and want to get involved with Unified Communications Day head over to the following page to obtain information about sponsoring us.

Click Here

The post Unified Communications Day 2016 appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks,

As part of my on-going series on getting users configured with Enterprise Voice from Office 365 a Skype Online I have created a guide on porting existing numbers over to your Microsoft Office 365 tenant.

Get new Numbers or bring your own

New numbers acquisition designed for maximum simplicity

• Search by state/area code for the numbers you want.
• Add them to your organization’s inventory.
• You can acquire more numbers than licenses to have some head room for changes.
• Telephone numbers will be available for area codes across the 50 states.

Number porting to move existing numbers into Skype for Business

• Inside the US – FCC rules require that current carrier allows and provides a centralized body (NPAC) to transact moves.
• Losing carriers set different requirements to approve a move – the process can be complex
• Expect something similar to this outside the US  – UK has been announced at Enterprise Connect for End of Q1 (Circa April)

Porting – Basics

Preparing to port

• Do not disconnect service with current carrier.
• Make sure there are no freezes on your account.
• Turn off any special carrier side features for the numbers  (e.g. Distinctive ring, Centrex service, ISDN/DSL lines).

Creating a port request

• All numbers must be from a single carrier (not part of any pending port requests & not residential).
• Company name and address, matching exactly losing carrier file.
• Billing Telephone Number (BTN), Account Number & PIN/Passcode (if required).
• Letter of Authorization (LOA) signed by authorized party.
• Choose Full Port (No numbers left behind) or Partial Port (Leaving some numbers with losing carrier).

Creating a port request

• All numbers must be from a single carrier (not part of any pending port requests & not residential).
• Company name and address, matching exactly losing carrier file.
• Billing Telephone Number (BTN), Account Number & PIN/Passcode (if required).
• Letter of Authorization (LOA) signed by authorized party.
• Choose Full Port (No numbers left behind) or Partial Port (Leaving some numbers with losing carrier).

Types of Porting

For large moves: Do a standard port (e.g. 1 number) early in migration project to validate you have right information to get approval from losing carrier.

Standard Porting Example

In your normal Skype for Business Admin tool click Skype for Business and then select Voice tab.

Because this is a Stand port we are doing less than 999 users – Click the “I’m ready to create port order”

You will be given the splash screen to let you know more before you start. Read the information and click “Let’s get started” to proceed

Fill in the account information as known by your losing provider. Once all information is correct press Next

Validate that the numbers you would like to port numbers are added to the “Numbers to be transferred (max.999)“ Once correct, select Check number portability

Once the numbers have been validated you can then schedule the move. The Move must be at least 48 hours in advanced when using the scheduling tool built into Office 365.

Pressing Next will schedule in the event and that’s it you have started the provisioning process and scheduled in the numbers to be brought into Office 365 / Skype for Business online

This will complete the schedule of the number into Office 365 – As highlighted above, always do this once as a test to validate that all your configuration is correct prior to doing any go live, mass migration of numbers.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to post them here and I’ll be happy to help.

The post Number Porting with Office 365 Cloud PBX appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Configure busy on busy

With the release of Skype for Business CU3 – we now have the ability to enable “Busy on Busy”

So what is Busy on Busy? Busy options are a new voice policy attribute in Microsoft Skype for Business Server 2015 CU3. Busy on Busy makes it possible to reject and send a busy signal to new incoming calls or to send the call to voice mail if the person who is being called is already in a call or conference, or has a call on hold.

Busy Options allow the voice policy to be enabled for the organization, the following options can be set for all users within the organization:

• Busy on Busy: New incoming calls are rejected and sent a busy signal when the user is busy.
• Voicemail on Busy: New incoming calls are forwarded to voice mail when the user is busy.

To deploy ensure that Skype for Business CU3 has been deployed to your environment.   As part of your normal patching service you will want to Stop-CSWindows service and start them again as per normal.

Enable the service on the voice policy:

Find out which voice policies are in use by doing a:

Get-csvoicepolicy

Within this will outline what voice polices are inputted into Skype for Business. This doesn’t mean they are in use.

Configure the voice policies required to enable busy options, this can be completed by site, by tag, or globally.

In this scenario I have only updated the Lichfield Site

set-CsVoicePolicy -Identity site:Lichfield -enablebusyoptions $true

to do all at once:

Set-CsVoicePolicy -EnableBusyOptions $True

Configure the user actions:

The next step is to configure what actions are taken when a user voice policy is enabled.  You have the choice to send to voice mail or to send direct to a busy tone.

In this example I have enabled the user as a busy tone.

Set-CsBusyOptions -Identity gina.wynn@wynnware.com -ActionType BusyOnBusy

To enable all users::

To bulk enable all users run the following:

$enterprise = get-csuser -Filter {HostingProvider -ne “sipfed.online.lync.com”}

$enterprise | Set-CsBusyOptions –ActionType BusyOnBusy

Note: the users who are configured as Hybrid/ Office 365 will not have a registrar pool attached to them and will cause an error to occur.

The post Configure Busy on Busy in Skype for Business appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks, business focused video is going mainstream. The range of providers is growing, the price of the hardware is falling and as consumer systems such as Skype and FaceTime grow in popularity, users are getting more comfortable sitting in front of a camera.

Our working patterns are also changing. Increasingly, employees are working remotely, sometimes across time zones. Meanwhile, our customers travel budgets are being cut: even governments are weighing in to reduce commute related pollution. For example, California is mulling proposals that businesses over a certain size should encourage remote working wherever possible.

In such an environment, video conferencing is the perfect way for a distributed workforce to keep in touch with the office – and clients. The cost savings and the opportunities for more agile working practices make it worth serious contemplation, whatever size our customer organisation.

Unseen advantage –
What’s the biggest advantage of video conferencing? People look at the money they save on travel costs. But the bigger benefits come from productivity and the fact that our customers can have meetings that simply wouldn’t happen otherwise because people are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because of the way video works these days it means you can bring in specialists whose advice you need with very little notice, even if they can only spare 15 minutes.

Such ad-hoc consultations simply wouldn’t be possible without video conferencing: those spare 15 minutes wouldn’t be enough to make a physical visit viable. It is important to point out that it’s actually in the implied proximity of the speakers that video conferencing’s value lies. Companies like mine can provide multi-stream systems for segregated colleges, where male and female students attend the same lectures, but in separate rooms. Logitech, meanwhile, has established a niche in worship: its cameras are popular among churches that broadcast across the web.

Go Big! –
With such varied use scenarios, it’s no surprise that there isn’t a one-size fits all solution. How, therefore, do you choose the right hardware, software and online service for your business? The more you communicate externally, the more interoperability matters. The more external users you need to meet, the more you’ll have to consider what works for them. We’ve seen many of our customers solve this by saying they’ll just use whatever their customers use Skype for Business, WebEx, or Google Hangouts, for example. Ultimately, though, that breaks, because you have so many different tools, each department chooses what it wants to use, and you can’t possibly support all of them.

The key, then, is interoperability, and thankfully that’s something that companies like mine understands. The big players all sit on standards bodies, and they support rival services wherever possible –including Skype for Business and Lync, such is the power of Office 365. In most cases, you can purchase your first camera, mic or whole-room system without having to worry about locking yourself out of any of the major video platforms, and you can generally move from one supplier to another, taking your hardware with you.

It’s a principle that’s helped Swiss video conferencing giant Logitech grow to a dominant market position in just four years. Rather than trying to tie customers into a conferencing service of its own, the company provides hardware that serves as an “on-ramp” to whichever providers you might want to use. Logitech was the first company to come to the market with that philosophy, of not making the software or the service, so their hardware works equally well with every platform.

Strong and stable –
What about security? If you’re using third-party hardware, rather than getting your hardware and services from a single supplier, are you increasing the risk of hacker attacks or data leaks? Not at all, the encryption applied to your active call is handled by the provider from which you’re buying the service. Most business-grade services have a failsafe, too: if encryption is turned on at one end point, you won’t be able to make the call unless the other endpoint is turned on as well.

Consequently, it’s no surprise that video conferencing providers take security so seriously. It’s crucial that our customer’s managers and decision-makers can discuss business-sensitive issues without worrying about leaks. When choosing a vendor, ask specifically how they handle encryption: they shouldn’t be afraid to discuss it.

User Buy in –
The practical and financial benefits of video conferencing are clear enough that getting buy-in from our customers IT and management is rarely a problem. However, what about the users who are being asked to embrace a new mode of communication? When people have used a certain tool in a certain way for the majority of their career, getting them to change is exceedingly difficult. Getting someone to give up their BT number is tough, which is why we spend a lot of time on interoperability and ease-of-use. It is possible to tear down barriers that the incumbent vendor doesn’t have to overcome because no matter how bad the experience is, it’s familiar. Even if you make things infinitely better and easier, it’s still changed and people have a hard time with that.

At the opposite end of the age scale, younger employees are often much more open to using new technologies. This means that some of our larger customers are even using their video-centric approach to communications as a selling point. Our customers recognised the need to provide video as part of their communication processes, particularly for people under 30 who are used to doing it in their private lives and want to do it in business as well. In high-skill industries how do they attract and retain staff [other than by making the office environment fit their way of working]? While it’s not possible that video is the answer to all our customers’ problems but it is part of the toolset that goes with the modern working environment. Moreover, video conferencing can even help keep your workforce happier and healthier. People who work from home, or travel a lot, are the ones who hunger for something better, because they’re isolated, culturally and physically. If video helps them to do their job better or saves them a trip to the office just to be present that makes them more effective.

Business grade –
There are plenty of free, consumer-grade video conferencing systems, and for a small business, it’s very tempting to just make do with Skype, Hangouts or FaceTime. This is particularly true when the move to incorporate video is driven by the users, rather than management.

Be warned, though – free services could be a false economy. I have seen a lot of younger workers coming into the workforce as college grads, who use Hangouts and FaceTime a lot in their consumer lives, and they’re bringing those tools to the workplace. Many customers – particularly small ones – start with these consumer grade tools, but get frustrated because they don’t support multiple people on the call, or flexibility of screen layout, or simply because the quality of the video isn’t that good. That’s when they start to look at business-grade tools. Ultimately, if you pay less you get less – from a support standpoint, quality, service level…define it however you may. Many customers have decided that free isn’t good enough anymore, as they have no SLA, insufficient interoperability, no revenue producing functions, and so on. The key, is not to think about cost, but instead about the culture: What is the culture of the organisation we are selling to? What are the expectations? And if our customer is in a larger environment or a multinational, how does that affect how they communicate? However we get our customers how to choose to implement video conferencing, it’s important to remember that it’s a supplement to other means of sharing and communicating, rather than a wholesale replacement. It’s doubtful that any organisation that tried to entirely abandon physical travel and rely entirely on video would achieve the results it hoped for. It’s similar, perhaps, to the fax, which provided a useful alternative to physical mail but certainly didn’t supplant it.

Video conferencing is complementary to services like Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and Cisco Spark. It is unlikely that video replaces face-to-face meetings. The obvious thing is you can now have more frequent meetings, or the meetings you’re going to have can be one-third over video and two-thirds in person.

The good news is that this is very much a field in which you can experiment before you commit. Short contracts, broad hardware interoperability and seat or time-based options from many of our vendor’s mean our customer initial investment needn’t be large and can be built up over time.

What our customers really can’t afford to do, therefore, is ignore the potential of video conferencing. In today’s lightning-fast market, only the agilest organisations thrive. The key question isn’t how much it will cost to make the leap, but how.

Hope you all have been keeping well, feel free to comment and share!

The post Video is going mainstream appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks, today within many of my customers, elements of the UC solution are provided by a number of vendors. Cisco delivers the voice solution, Microsoft delivers Instant Messaging and presence.

A large volume of my customers are heavy users of many of the Microsoft technologies and several are core to the business for example Office, Outlook and SharePoint.

The key strategic goal for my customers are to select either Cisco or Microsoft to deliver the core UC services. In the first instance these will be delivered from a private cloud solution, but with the ability to shift into the public cloud in the future.

The solution must unify the communication and collaboration experience across voice, IM, presence, conferencing (audio, video & web) and broadcasting, whilst delivering the best possible user experience globally. As both Cisco and Microsoft are existing strategic vendors to many customers and represent the two most mature UC platforms, there is a need to determine which should be selected as the strategic vendor of choice for Unified Communications.

Cisco

Overview

Cisco has a rich, mature set of capabilities that can fully address most organisations’ enterprise telephony, voice/unified messaging, audio conferencing, video conferencing, web conferencing, presence and instant messaging requirements. Cisco has also invested significantly in enabling mobility through supporting access to UC functionality through mobile clients for Jabber, WebEx and Cisco Spark. In addition, Cisco supports unique mobile integration capabilities such as Intelligent Proximity, which allows users to control Cisco-based video systems, interact with shared content, and share content wirelessly using a smartphone or tablet.

Cisco technologies

Cisco solution is based off of several key technologies.

• Cisco Meeting Server – This solution brings premises-based video, audio, and web communication together to meet the collaboration needs of the modern workplace
• Cisco Spark – This is an app-centric, cloud-based service that provides a complete collaboration suite to create, meet, message, call, whiteboard, and share, regardless geographic location
• Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (TMS) – This Solution provides the scheduling and management of Cisco telepresence end points.
• Cisco Unified Collaborations Manager (CUCM) – As part of the Cisco Voice heritage, this is an IP-based communications system integrating voice, video, data, and mobility products and applications
• Cisco WebEx Meeting Server (CWMS) – This offers the customer a conferencing solution that combines audio, video, and web conferencing in a single solution

Cisco Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• The existing telephone infrastructure can be utilised in doing so the same technology can be used which will lessen the user training, and no change means that there will be no disruption.
• Future state solutions can integrate seamlessly with the existing telephone service.
• Cisco has a distinct advantage with its hybrid UC offering, by connecting Unified Call Manager and HCS with Cisco Spark in the public cloud. Cisco Spark has also integration into WebEx with CMR Cloud, Collaboration acquisitions by Cisco also provide another layer of native integration to dispersed video conferencing end points.
• Cisco provides unified management for voice and video networks including automated, accelerated employment and provisioning. Real-time monitoring, proactive troubleshooting and an easy to understand license management solution.
• Cisco has a strong financial foundation. Revenue growth in its collaboration business has been good and earns a positive rating with Gartner.

Drawbacks

• Spark is primarily a workplace collaboration solution rather than a unified communication solution. Real-time presence is not included. However this is a road mapped item and will be available in the future.
• Cisco is continuously improving and simplifying its licensing. However, Cisco licensing is complex.  Not all software applications appear in the licenses management portal which can make central license management an issue.
• A common source of concern has been the user experience. For example, using Unified Communications Manager, WebEx and Cisco Spark can result in multiple user experiences creating confusion, increasing complexity, decreasing adoption, and expanding management and administration costs. In an effort to address this challenge, Cisco continues to invest in platform and service integrations, such as moving WebEx into Cisco Spark. With the implementation of Cisco Spark, Cisco’s customers can gain from the integration of all of these best-of-breed products to deliver a unified user interface. It is expected that in the future Spark will provide a single interface for separate systems into a single interface.
• Private certificates are not currently allowed within Cisco Spark however this is a road mapped item with no defined expected or anticipated timeline attributed.

Microsoft

Overview

Microsoft offers a broad UC solution set under the umbrella brand of Skype for Business. The on-premises UC solution is Skype for Business Server formerly known as Microsoft Lync Server. The cloud UC solution is Skype for Business Online, which is licensed as part of the Office 365 portfolio. The Server deployment has significantly more PBX and telephony capabilities than the online configuration, so it is critical to distinguish between these two offers. Microsoft also has some additional UC configurations, most notably Skype for Business Hybrid.

Microsoft Technologies

• Skype for Business Online – Microsoft unified communications platform located within Microsoft Data Centres located throughout the Office 365 infrastructure.
• Skype for Business Server (On-premises) – allows for connectivity to regional SIP trunks and Voice gateways and through a hybrid configuration to Skype for Business Online can utilise CloudPBX features with on premises PSTN calling.
• Office 365 – Microsoft cloud based solution providing Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, and Yammer services.

Microsoft Benefits and Drawbacks.

Benefits

• Microsoft solution would allow seamless native integration into Office 365 in the future without the requirements of plugins or third-party integration tools.
• Skype for Business has a broad range of well-established business, collaboration and office products, allowing it to leverage its dominance in enterprise IT and office solutions.
• Microsoft’s financial position is strong. It earns a positive rating according to the Gartner’s financial statement scorecard.

Drawbacks

• Microsoft solution would require a complete removal and replacement of the incumbent telephone solution currently in situ should a single vendor strategy be adopted.
• Conversations are not persistent. Chat history can be found in Outlook however not part of the continuation of the conversation as seen in Cisco. Persistent chat is managed through three possible solutions. Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Groups and Yammer.
• Enterprises regularly report some dissatisfaction with the quality and capabilities with the Skype for Business audio and video conferencing functionalities and often maintain a separate conferencing service for business critical use cases. As with any VoIP solution that is implemented poorly will deliver a poor user experience.
• Microsoft now offers several PSTN and telephone through the Skype for Business Online and Office 365. In doing so it is encouraging customers to migrate to an online deployment. Skype for Business online telephony functionality is new to the market is limited with references. Microsoft have had PSTN Calling from Office 365 since June 2015 and have been available in the UK since December 2015 and is a major commitment by Microsoft.  However, this is currently limited to United States, United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, and Porto Rico.  The roadmap of this is not clear and not explicitly expressed, but we know that Belgium and Germany are quickly arriving.
• Skype for Business deployments requires multiple partner solutions for implementation, design, and managed services. Microsoft has more than 900 partners in the Skype for Business certification and this number is likely to grow.  Microsoft is improving its partner program, determining which partner select remains a challenge. Historically this has been seen as a benefit within the Gartner review however in 2016 this has been seen as a drawback.  To deliver an entire hosted voice solution there is a requirement to utilise SIP trunks or session boarder controllers (SBC) from a third party providers.  IN addition if voice/ call recording, switchboards and Contact Centre solutions are required a 3^rd party solution is required.

Required Capabilities

This section details capabilities required by many of my customers solutions, but not necessarily in use today. Details of how those capabilities are met by each solution are captured below.

Cisco

Required Capability:

Ability to appear seamlessly in the office. This is the ability to have a single number that follows the user (phone mobility) and can be answered on the device the user currently has, i.e. Mobile, Desktop, and Desk Phone.

This capability can be met using Cisco UCM. The phone mobility feature allows users to answer incoming calls to their extension on either their desktop IP phone or at a remote destination, such as a mobile phone. Users can pick up active calls on the desktop phone or the remote phone without losing the connection.

Using Cisco CUCM and Jabber, a device using the Jabber client can become the phone extension. Calls can be made from the mobile device using Jabber, or by using Dial via Office (DVO) to retain the illusion of a user calling from their office number. Using the Cisco phone mobility capability, the mobile phone and the Jabber client if connected will receive the call. This allows people to dial a single number, but reach the user wherever they might be. This improves productivity and removes the time wasted trying to contact a person across multiple numbers or mediums.

Reduce the cost of international travel. This is the ability to use technologies to reduce the amount of travel needed, whilst still having productive meetings and sessions.

This capability can be met using Cisco WebEx. Cisco WebEx can perform the Video, Desktop Sharing and voice conferencing elements necessary to bring staff together regardless of the geography and device used to connect. Individuals on a mobile phone can connect to room or desk based video systems to provide face-to-face video meetings with access to voice, video, content etc. as required for the session. Depending the licenses purchased for Spark Flex WebEx is available to consume – further information on Spark Flex can be found in the appendix.

Moderated interactive large events; employee engagement

WebEx provides the ability to have 3,000 users engaged at the same time.

Unification of UC leading to reduced cost. This is the ability to use a single Unified Communications product to reduce cost through support, simplification and training.

Using a single vendor for unified communication allows cost reduction in a number of areas. Support for products will be reduced as users learn and utilise a reduced product set. In addition, training costs will be reduced by a number of products a user must learn and remember is smaller, which should, in turn, reduce the number of calls to the helpdesk or peers for support.

A further benefit is seen by the reduced testing and interoperability of a single vendor solution as opposed to a larger number when enabling or trialling new features.

Users have the ability from Jabber to be able to utilise the mobile client to make and receive phone calls natively within the iOS application.  In addition to this, Spark has the ability to rest natively within the Apple Call Kit API so calls can be made and received without having to launch the Spark Application.

Use of mobile device as a replacement to the desk phone; Move to a softphone where appropriate to aid more flexible working by ensuring users remain contactable

Using Cisco CUCM, Jabber and integration into Spark, a device using the Jabber client can become the phone extension. Calls can be made to and from the mobile device using Jabber, or by using Dial via Office (DVO) to retain the illusion of a user calling from their office number. Using the Cisco phone mobility capability, the mobile phone and the Jabber client if connected, will receive the call. This allows people to dial a single number, but reach the user wherever they might be. This improves productivity and removes the time wasted trying to contact a person across multiple numbers or mediums.  Likewise, in the future, the users will be able to use Spark as a means as a desk phone replacement.   In order to meet all local legal requirements dependent upon local geographies a hybrid configuration would be required between Jabber and Spark.  Spark is not allowed in all geographies at this moment in time.

Use of SIP trunks to allow the removal of secondary ISDN lines thereby reducing the costs; improve resilience where diverse ISDN lines are not available; and increase speed to market for new offices

Where applicable SIP trunks can be used.  For areas where only geographical presentation is mandatory the solution will require a locally hosted telephone presence.

Ensure voice traffic is routed the most effective way; capitalise on “best cost” routing to reduce telephony costs

Utilising the least cost routeing within Call Manager would ensure that where applicable the lowest cost calling would be used.  There are regulatory requirements which must be met, the vendor solution where applicable will fulfil these.

Move to a managed/ hosted service for telephony and UC to reduce the amount of time and effort involved in maintenance and align with cloud strategy

All core telephone and server infrastructure can be hosted in a service provider’s data center.  There may be a requirement for some local PSTN breakouts that may require a telephone presence in some locations but these would be managed and supported by the managed service provider. In addition, cost reduction could be realised with the reuse of hardware in local geographies where applicable to do so.  This will be understood in more detail upon the due diligence phase of the project.

Deliver moderated Q&A capability for broadcasting large events (town halls & Open forums)

Meetings can be recorded and Q&A sessions held, this is currently limited to 3,000 users

Skype for Business

Required Capability:

Ability to appear seamlessly in the office. This is the ability to have a single number that follows the user (phone mobility) and can be answered on the device the user currently has, i.e. Mobile, Desktop, and Desk Phone.

Softphone, mobile clients, and desk phones that users authenticate with will fully meet this requirement.  Users have the ability to make and receive phone calls from either their soft client or their mobile device.  In addition, people are planning on allowing users to have the ability to access their Office 365 email and cloud-based content while using the native integration either the full client or webRTC.

Reduce the cost of international travel. This is the ability to use technologies to reduce the amount of travel needed, whilst still having productive meetings and sessions.

Teams can work collaboratively on projects through the use of Skype for Business and Office 365 collaboration tools.  The use of a privately hosted Skype for Business which is connected to a hybrid Office 365 allows the content of all Unified Communications platforms to be centrally managed and secure while allowing the information within Office 365 to be accessed from Skype for Business.  Remote working and multi-user collaboration while working on documentation, spreadsheets, and presentations is also possible.

Moderated interactive large events; employee engagement. This is the ability to host larger than 20 people meetings and control the content and the attendants within the larger events.

Skype for Business allows for meetings up to 250 users in an interactive session.  For users on Office 365, the ability to use Skype for Business meeting broadcasts are available.  This is a One to many – town hall style event.  This has the capacity to provide 10,000 users access to the media via a standard HTML 5 browser.

Unification of UC leading to reduced cost. This is the ability to use a single Unified Communications product to reduce cost.

Use of the mobile device as a replacement to the desk phone; Move to a softphone where appropriate to aid more flexible working by ensuring users remain contactable – This is the ability to use a mobile device as a native UC and telephone endpoint to ensure that the user is contactable.

Skype for Business has the ability to utilise a softphone and mobile client to aid in flexible working.  The quality of calls will be impacted by the quality of the network provided.  Skype for Business and Apple devices have the ability to take priority over a software defined network.  Where this is not possible such as a shared public internet connection.  When network connectivity is an issue the ability to have the calls direct to your native telephone number is possible.  This will be seamless from the inbound caller perspective.   However, this call configuration must be managed by the end user and is not dynamically configured by the software on the mobile device.

Use of SIP trunks to allow; the removal of secondary ISDN lines thereby reducing the costs; improve resilience where diverse ISDN lines are not available; and increase speed to market for new offices – This is the ability the ability to reduce the overall number of ISDN lines by implementing SIP trunks where applicable and possible to do so.

SIP trunks can be used.  For areas where only geographical presentation is mandatory the solution will require a locally hosted telephone presence such as an enhanced session boarder controller which would allow for the local registration of clients and the break out of telephony.

Ensure voice traffic is routed the most effective way; capitalise on “best cost” routeing to reduce telephony costs

Tail end drop off or least cost routeing can be used in locations that allow. There are regulatory requirements which must be met, however where applicable this is possible.

Move to a managed/ hosted service for telephony and UC to reduce the amount of time and effort involved in maintenance and align with cloud strategy

All telephone and server infrastructure will live within a hosted data centre where possible.   Some local breakouts may maintain a telephone presence managed and supported by the managed service provider.

Deliver moderated Q&A capability for broadcasting large events (town halls & Open forums)

Meetings can be recorded and Q&A sessions held, this is currently limited to 10,000 endpoints from Skype for Business online town hall meeting 1 to many is limited to a maximum of 250 for an interactive user meeting.

Vendor Roadmap

Cisco

The publicly announced items which are currently in development and are road mapped for Cisco and Spark for Business are listed below.  Due to the nature of a hosted solution, the roadmap continuously changes and the future solution is continuously improved upon addition more features and functionality as the hosted solution matures.  This is the current announced roadmap at the writing of the document.

• Spark Call is currently only available in the United States, however this is likely to be rolled to other geographies in the future. There is no set roadmap to identify when this will be available. This can be overcome through integration with CUCM onsite.
• Hybrid Architecture with Cloud providing full required feature set to my customers. This would involve utilising existing infrastructure onsite at my customers and consuming additional cloud services to provide full feature functionality
• Cisco Spark integration to on premise
  • Cisco Hybrid Media Service:
  • Optimises media for dial-in to a meeting from on-net endpoints and clients:
    • SIP based endpoints/clients (Cisco endpoints, Jabber, 3rd party SIP).
    • Cisco Spark clients that join a meeting.
    • Cisco Spark room devices that join a meeting, including Spark Board.
  • Provides WebEx clients with an optimized call back to on-net SIP based endpoints and clients-applied to the call my video system option in WebEx.
  • Provides optimized interactive voice response (IVR) to on-net SIP based endpoints and clients-an audio prompt plays when the host hasn’t joined.
  • Improves quality and reduces latency by allowing you to keep your calls on premises.
  • Extends your calls transparently to the cloud when on-premises resources have reached their limit.
  • Allows you to manage your Hybrid Media Nodes from the cloud.
  • Allows you to optimize resources and scale capacity, as needed.
  • Combines the features of cloud and on-premises conferencing in one seamless user experience.
  • Eliminates capacity concerns, because the cloud is always available when more resources are needed.

• Jabber iOS notification for voice and instant messaging

Apple is expected to release iOS 11 in the autumn 2017.  A major change is coming in the way that push notifications work for apps that are in the background in iOS 11.  Apple will deprecate the existing background API architecture (keep-alive socket) and require notifications to be pushed via the cloud-based Apple Push Notification service (APNs).  The primary reason for this is to save battery by stopping IM and VoIP apps from continually doing a keep-alive to their backend service.  When the app is put into the background it will be completely terminated, this requiring APNs to wake up the app to receive IM/VoIP calls.  All APNs notifications are encrypted all the way to the device.  This work allows us to support APNs on the infrastructure.

This change in iOS 11 will affect ALL Vendor’s IM and VoIP solutions, not just Cisco Jabber. This will effect all platform developers, not just Cisco

• Security – increasing TLS v1.2 support across the products to fix inherent issues in TLS1.1 and 1.0. this provides ongoing security patching for by customers. Multiple customers want to depreciate support for older TLS protocols across the infrastructure and applications
• IPv6 support

Support for ipv6 across more components in the infrastructure.

• Presence via Spark

Ability to see presence status colours within the Spark application however this is still on the roadmap with no date being provided at this stage.

Microsoft

The publicly announced items which are currently in development and are road mapped for Office 365 and Skype for Business are listed below.  Due to the nature of a hosted solution, the roadmap continuously changes and the future solution is continuously improved upon addition more features and functionality as the hosted solution matures.  This is the current announced roadmap at the writing of the document.

Road mapped items which are in development within Skype for Business Server and Office 365 currently are:

• Auto Attendant in Cloud PBX

The Auto Attendant in Cloud PBX provides call treatment and routing to end-users in Office 365.  Includes support for multiple languages, voice commands and menu options for all size businesses. Hunt Groups provide a simple call queuing and routing capability suitable for help desk and other internal functions.

• Automatic transcription and Translation in Skype Meeting Broadcast

Automatic transcription and translation of audio in a Skype Meeting Broadcast.  This was publicly demonstrated in the Enterprise Connect keynote — see playback around minute 36 at http://aka.ms/eclive . The preview will include English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and German.

• Call Queues in Cloud PBX

Call Queues in Skype for Business Cloud PBX provide the ability to queue and route calls using a service operating in Office 365.  Callers hear custom greetings and music on hold and multiple routing options are available for flexible configuration.

• Cloud Connector Edition 1.4 and 2.0

This update to the Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition provides for an automated update mechanism going forward, where any new updates to the software are automatically pushed from Office 365 and made available to the appliance, greatly simplifying administrative overhead of the software.

• Cloud PBX Support for Exchange Server

Provides the ability for customers with Cloud PBX in Office 365 to have their Exchange Server 2013 or 2016 on-premises act as a repository of their voicemails.

• Search & Acquire Service Numbers in PSTN Calling

An enhancement to the PSTN Calling service from Microsoft, customers will be able to search for, acquire and use in their tenant service numbers including both Toll and Toll-Free.  This will allow for auto attendants and call queues to be directly dialled using numbers designed for high volume.

• Regionally Hosted Meetings

Support for a Multi-National Corporation tenant to have users be distributed across multiple data centres for Skype for Business Online in the Multi-Tenant environment to provide better media quality by reduced latency.

• Skype Meetings

Free online meetings from Skype for Business that is easy to set up with a personalised meeting URL, helps team collaborate with screen share and is built for business with reliability and encryption.

Market View

Some key information from market analytics.

Forrester review

According to the Forrester Total Economic Impact study:

• Cost reductions have been known to hit up to £2,500,000 per 1000 employees in six months.

This can be achieved by:

• Replacing the ongoing and costly maintenance and management of a traditional PBX telephone system. This is because Skype for Business does not require an on-site telephone PBX hardware, software, or annual maintenance contract.
• Delivers in-built conferencing which can save up to £1,000,000 over 3 years as business are not required to use expensive, third party conferencing solutions such as BT Meet me.
• Reduction of IT and telephone support and labour costs
• The increase of user productivity, which has been conservatively assessed at more than £8,000,000 over 3 years.
• Travel savings due to meetings can now be hosted online via any device regardless of physical location.
• Skype for Business customers can also save on average 43% on monthly telephone line rental as well as 57-94% on telephone call costs.
• Skype for Business customers have a further achieved >60% reduction in costs compared to traditional ways of working.
• Free end to end user calls (Skype for Business to Skype for Business calls)
• Using a single communication system across PC, Mobile, and Tablet saves time and makes it easier for end users to communicate.

Forrester have also stated in the 2014 review that both Cisco and Microsoft had better programs for developers and that their platforms meet a broad swath of business needs to deliver real business value like increased revenues, reduce cycle times, and improved customer satisfaction.

Figure 1 – Forrester Wave

Cisco – After entering the communications market with the acquisition of Selsius Systems in 1998, Cisco has built share and added capabilities, consistently innovating and expanding its offering both organically and via acquisition. Cisco’s focus on collaboration tools enables workers to easily connect between different media — including voice, video, and web conferencing — to deliver a more unified user experience. Cisco’s strategy to optimize and standardize Jabber experiences across all users will drive more rapid adoption by end users, while its Cisco UC Prime management capabilities lead the market in satisfying IT system owners’ need to manage and monitor their UC deployments.

Microsoft –The Microsoft Lync client can access the range of communication and collaboration capabilities from tablets, smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers running a wide variety of operating systems. Microsoft’s single familiar user interface drives rapid adoption and utilization of its solution by information workers. The single integrated package of communications and conferencing capabilities delivered by the Lync client/server infrastructure in a web/XML paradigm makes it easy for developers to customize and build applications to complement Microsoft’s UC&C capabilities with industry- and role-specific capabilities from contact centre to enterprise resource planning.

Table 1 – Forrester Weighting

Gartner Review

Both Microsoft and Cisco have maintained their strong leads within the market.  Cisco continues to execute well in both the market and within its strategy for evolving the next generation of Unified Communication services. Microsoft solutions continue to attract significant on-premises growth while continuing to advance its Office 365 offering.  Gartner feels however that the uncertainty around Microsoft’s on-premises versus cloud focus resulted in lower ratings for its on-premises Skype for Business solutions.

Figure 2 –Gartner Magic Quadrant

Gartner Cisco review – The on-premises solution is based on the well-established Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM); bringing together voice, video, telepresence, messaging, presence and several forms of conferencing. It also leverages WebEx for web conferencing; Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Cloud for cloud-based videoconferencing; and its merging portfolio of TelePresence and Acano video solutions for on-premises-based videoconferencing. For on-premises deployment, Cisco offers Unified CM Session Management Edition for large enterprises, and has packaged offers for easier configuration — Cisco Business Edition 7000 (BE7000) series for large enterprises, and Cisco Business Edition 6000 (BE6000) series for SMBs of fewer than 1,000 users. Cisco also offers Unified CM as part of a cloud-based service — Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) — hosted and offered by its partners. Cisco also provides a full range of endpoints, including phones, desktop video endpoints, room video systems and immersive video solutions, plus its Cisco Jabber mobile and desktop client.

Key recent additions to the portfolio include: Cisco Spark, a cloud UCaaS service that offers business messaging, meeting and call capabilities; integration of its CMR Cloud hosted video bridging service with WebEx; and the acquisition of Acano for video scale and interoperability. Cisco has also introduced a cPaaS solution with a developer community of 200,000 that will speed development of communications integrated with targeted vertical and mobile applications.

Cisco’s UC solution is an attractive prospect for midsize, large and multinational corporations requiring strong voice, video or conferencing capabilities. Cisco UC is available on-premises, in the cloud and as a hybrid option through a network of global partners.

Gartner Microsoft Review: Microsoft offers a broad UC solution set under the umbrella brand of Skype for Business (SfB; formerly Lync). The on-premises UC solution is Skype for Business Server (SfBS; formerly Lync Server). The cloud UC solution is Skype for Business Online (SfBO), which is licensed as part of the Office 365 portfolio. The Server deployment has significantly more PBX and telephony capabilities than the Online configuration, so it is critical that planners distinguish between these two offers. Microsoft also has some additional UC configurations, most notably Skype for Business Hybrid.

Microsoft made some year-over-year improvements to SfBS 2015; notably, an improved client for mobile devices and improvements to its video and meeting capabilities (including the release of Surface Hub), with plans for an improved Mac client to be released in September 2016. However, the bulk of Microsoft’s SfB development and marketing improvements during the past year were targeted at the Office 365 portfolio, including SfBO. Most notably, it added a range of telephony capabilities to SfBO that, while new to market and not proven, represent significant emerging capabilities for that platform.

Microsoft has partners capable of hosting and operating SfB Server for enterprises, both stand-alone or as part of an Office 365 configuration. Although this approach does overcome many of the telephony limitations of SfB Online, it also introduces complexity and cost.

The SfBS solution will be useful to a broad range of enterprises. Enterprises with advanced telephony and video feature requirements should ensure that the necessary functions are supported and, as is true for any VoIP deployment, should undertake a thorough network readiness assessment. Often, working with a Microsoft Skype partner helps to ensure the deployment is as successful as possible.

My observations

I have observed an exponential increase in use of cloud technology rather than on-premises technology.  This has been observed through both vendors as a Hybrid First stance.  A major shift from on-premises to Spark or Office 365 has been observed over the course of the last year.  I expect this trend to continue as the functional parity between an on-premises solution becomes surpassed by cloud offerings.  Both Cisco and Microsoft have already started offering the new technology first from the cloud.

The post Cisco vs Microsoft Unified Communications appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy Folks,

I’ve recently had a customer enable Multi Factor Authentication for all admin roles within the Microsoft Office 365 Tenant.  This causes problems when you need to do any PowerShell activities, such as submitting customized number normalization which need to be completed in the Skype for Business Online PowerShell.

To connect up, you will need the latest Skype for Business Online management shell.  At the time of writing this was released in 19th of April 2017 – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=39366   – version 7.0.1045.0 or later.

Once this is installed you will need to launch the Windows PowerShell

The Shell we will use is as follows:

$acctName=”user@domain.com”

#Create a Skype for Business Online session
$sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName

#Import the Skype for Business session
Import-PSSession $sfboSession

You will then be prompted for your password:

You will need to authenticate with your Multi Factor Method.

Once you import the PS Session you will then have the Skype for Business Online PowerShell commandlets which you are a custom to.

I hope this helps with your Multi Factor Authentication Customers.

Be sure to share, like, and ask any questions you may have.

The post Skype for Business Online PowerShell with Multi Factor Authentication appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Howdy folks,

One that I’ve just found while working on other aspects of my Office 365 tenant is the control and management of Advanced Threat Protection.  Advanced Threat Protection is obtained when you purchase a Microsoft E5 license or can be purchased separate Add On and for Britain, where I live, it’s £1.50 per user currently.

What is it?

What is Advanced threat Protection?  It’s a solution from Microsoft that protects against unknown and sophisticated attacks which ultimately adds a better zero-day protection.

How to enable it?

So, how do we enable it for Microsoft Teams?!  Exchange Admin Center of course.

1) Log onto your Microsoft Portal using your an Exchange Admin or Global Admin privileges.  Go to Admin Centers and select Exchange.

2) Once you’re inside your Exchange Admin Center select Advanced threats sub menu and you should have an option for Protect files in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams.

3) Tick the Turn on ATP for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams to enable the service.

Easy as 1,2,3

Why should I do it?

As more and more information is shared with our teams on OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams we need to ensure that we are able to provide the levels of protection we would expect of the confidential and secure information required.  For such a small cost, or one that is included in the E5 suite, for me it makes sense to enable the service.

For a bit more information check out the TechNet article here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/wbaer/2017/12/05/office-365-advanced-threat-protection-for-sharepoint-onedrive-and-microsoft-teams-now-available/

The post Advance Threat Protection for Microsoft Teams appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Hello Folks,

I work with larger organizations who want to understand how they can operate more effectively and what aspects of collaboration and communications can help be improved upon.  Video conferencing is an essential component of the virtual workplace.  Video conferencing can improve our productivity, improve customer services, accelerate the decision making processes and help ensure that with remote workers who are isolated stay connected to their wider teams.  What makes selling video conferencing easier is that it often pays for itself.  ROI is observed through travel costs and improving upon wasted time traveling.  With less time spent on the motorways and on the train heading to the next big city we can help lower the overall impact to our environment.

There are free and lower cost video conferencing solutions available, however, I can’t in good faith recommend those as they don’t supply the right level of support or quality of experience.  Thankfully, the cost of Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams certified systems are dropping in price.  For example, the Logitech ConferenceCam Connect has dropped from £450 to just £223 with Amazon Prime delivery.

Many video conferencing systems are designed in a way to be permanent or semi-permanent solutions.   Because of the size and the weight of the audio and camera it is difficult to move around.  Some, like the Logitech ConferenceCam Connect, are portable, allowing people like me to take the devices to my customers to show them how easy it is to configure a huddle space.

Turn it up

One item that is often overlooked is the quality of the audio.  This includes both the incoming and outgoing audio.  Laptop speakers are never a good idea, not for one on one meetings and definitely won’t work when you’re trying to have a meeting with others in the same room sat around a conference table.

Professionally created video conference equipment often allow for multiple satellite microphone pickups, multiple base stations, and multiple display outputs.  Another consideration is the background noise, such as doors slamming, wooden heeled shoes, or meeting rooms that are noisier than yours.  Polycom have a solution called NoiseBlock which allow for the identification of the speech that is closest to the device but blocks the noise that isn’t nearby.

Never enough bandwidth

Whenever I’m investigating a new Skype for Business video deployment I always recommend a network assessment be done.  This includes the bandwidth between the video conferencing solutions but also the location of the Skype for Business users, either on-premises or cloud back end.  The last thing you want is for the experience to bee unacceptable for the end users.  If the experience is poor the equipment won’t be utilized and ultimately the investment on the video conferencing equipment will be lost.

For a modest recommendation aim for 1Mbits/sec, but it would be wise to aim for somewhere closer to 6Mbits/sec to ensure that the quality is maintained and consistent.  Again, the network should be maintained for jitter, packet loss, and overall utilization.  Microsoft state that unified communications traffic should not exceed 70% of the overall network.  Do your company a favour, keep the video conferencing solution wired.  Wireless has come a long way but Ethernet is still how it should be deployed.

Room assessment

Make sure that you complete a meeting room assessment.  Just because you have a 55 inch TV in the corner doesn’t mean that’s how it should be used.  If the room is simply a round table with a Microsoft Surface Hub it might not make for the best use for a free collaboration experience for both near and far conferencing users. Assess how the room can best be served and used for the end users in mind. Understand that exciting layouts and configuration of office furniture can be adjusted or exchanged for better collaboration.

Think about how the solutions will be booked.  Surface Hubs, Skype room systems, and some native Skype systems can be booked through Exchange natively but other meeting rooms may benefit from something like a Condeco solution.  This will help ensure that there are no interruptions or double bookings.

Hope this helps!

Jason

The post Video Conferencing for Business appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

I’ve started a new podcast with my fellow Office 365 MVP Steve Goodman for a regular coffee and chat about All Things 365!

Every couple of weeks, we’re getting together for a brew and chat about hot topics in the world of Microsoft 365, in particular, Office 365, EM&S and getting under the hood of the practicalities of deploying and managing Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Exchange Online, Azure AD and much more.

For All About 365 with Jay and Steve we have the benefit that Steve has years of experience through his UC Architects we live a total of 20 miles away from each other, so when we say we’re getting together for a coffee, we’re not kidding. Of course, we’ll be joined from time to time by friends from Microsoft and fellow MVPs – we’ll both be in Seattle this time next month – where better to get a caffeine fix and chat about tech? We tried Techspresso but the name was taken already!

In Episode One – Talking Teams, Steve and I about Teams Video conferencing. In particular, what we are interested in getting to the bottom of is – how ready is Teams to replace your room conferencing systems? What should you consider when picking Teams or Skype for Business Online for a new deployment? What are the weaknesses, and how to overcome them? You’ll find answers to these questions and more in the podcast!

You’ll find Episode One below, at our podcast site, on iTunes, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher and you can subscribe with your favourite podcast app using the feed

The post Episode 1 – Talking Teams appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Our second episode of the All About 365 podcast with my fellow Office 365 MVP Steve Goodman for a regular coffee and chat about All Things 365!

In Episode Two – Office 365 Network Performance, Steve and I talk All About Office 365 network performance. We talk where to identify problems, how to gather information, best practices for deployment and what we see in real life deployments.

You’ll find Episode Two at our podcast site, on iTunes, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher and you can subscribe with your favourite podcast app using the feed.

Every couple of weeks, we’re getting together for a brew and chat about hot topics in the world of Microsoft 365, in particular, Office 365, EM&S and getting under the hood of the practicalities of deploying and managing Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Exchange Online, Azure AD and much more.

For All About 365 with Jay and Steve we have the benefit that Steve has years of experience through his UC Architects we live a total of 20 miles away from each other, so when we say we’re getting together for a coffee, we’re not kidding. Of course, we’ll be joined from time to time by friends from Microsoft and fellow MVPs.

The post Episode 2 – Office 365 Network Performance appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....

Our third episode of the All About 365 podcast with my fellow Office 365 MVP Steve Goodman for a regular coffee and chat about All Things 365!

In  Episode three – How Windows 10 affects your Office 365 deployment, Steve and I talk All About understanding how Windows 10 will impact your Office 365 deployment. We talk about Microsoft 365 and the various versions available, what trends are being seen out in the wild, the impact of the Windows 7 deployment lifecycle, future proofing for the upcoming version of Office, where management and security is affected and of course Windows 10 autopilot.

You’ll find Episode Three at our podcast site, on iTunes, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher and you can subscribe with your favourite podcast app using the feed.

Every couple of weeks, we’re getting together for a brew and chat about hot topics in the world of Microsoft 365, in particular, Office 365, EM&S and getting under the hood of the practicalities of deploying and managing Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Exchange Online, Azure AD and much more.

For All About 365 with Jay and Steve we have the benefit that Steve has years of experience through his UC Architects we live a total of 20 miles away from each other, so when we say we’re getting together for a coffee, we’re not kidding. Of course, we’ll be joined from time to time by friends from Microsoft and fellow MVPs.

The post Episode 3 – How Windows 10 affects your Office 365 deployment appeared first on Oh, Say Can UC....