After seven months from the release date of Skype for Business, it is a good moment for an assessment. We will see what is new, what is available as a preview and what has not changed from Lync Server 2013. The session will be a high-level overview of the innovations in the product. We will talk about topics Video Interop Server role, improvements in server management and voice and meetings capabilities in Office 365 that are now in preview (Skype Meeting Broadcast, PSTN Conferencing and Cloud PBX).

2. • I am Fabrizio Volpe – Microsoft MVP on Skype for Business
• I work for the Iccrea Banking Group
• I am the author five IT books including Microsoft Lync Server
2013: Basic Administration and the Lync Server Cookbook
• I tweet from @fabriziovlp
• I blog at http://www.absoluteuc.org/

3. True life is lived when tiny changes occur.
Leo Tolstoy
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
Winston Churchill

5. SfB is not Skype

6. SfB is not a “Cloud First” solution

7. SfB is not a brand new product

8. What's new in Skype for Business Server 2015
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933785.aspx

9. New
• Video Interop Server (VIS)
• Call via Work
• Client Interface
• SQL Server AlwaysOn support for on-premises servers

10. Update
• Better data collection and analysis tools
• Some enhancements on the mobile clients
• Improved patching
• Some new options for multi-factor authentication

11. • PSTN Conferencing
• Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling
• Broadcast Meetings

12. ORTC API is now available in Microsoft Edge

13. • New server role
• Legacy video interoperability (VIS),
deployed on-premise
• VIS allows interoperability for customers
using their existing Cisco VTC’s (Video
TeleConferencing) devices

14. VIS functions like a Mediation Server but
for audio and video
VIS is deployed in a standalone pool (No
co-location)

15. • Cannot Dial Out To Vtc
• Cannot Drag And Drop Vtc Into A Conference/Meeting
• Vtc Are Not Direct Registered With Skype For Business
• No Presence
• Not see them as a Contact

16. Call via Work
Call via Work (CvW) is the next generation and replacement for
Remote Call Control (RCC)
RCC was one of the three ways to integrate with Cisco
deployments

17. Call via Work Steps
1. The user selects a user in their Skype for Business client
2. The PBX phone starts to ring
3. The user who placed the call picks up their PBX phone
4. Skype for Business then initiates the voice call to the callee
5. When the callee answers, the voice call begins

18. Client Interface

19. The new clients for IOS and Android should be available
soon, while some documentation is already available

20. High availability in SQL Server
• Clustering
• Mirroring
• Log shipping
• AlwaysOn

21. Platform Standalone Clustering Mirroring Availability
Groups
Lync Server
2010
SQL 2008 R2
SP2
SQL 2008 R2
SP2
Not Supported Not Supported
Lync Server
2013
SQL 2008 R2
SP2
SQL 2012
SP1
SQL 2008 R2
SP2
SQL 2012 SP1
SQL 2008 R2 SP2
SQL 2012 SP1
Not Supported
Skype for
Business
Server
SQL 2008 R2
SP2
SQL 2012
SP1
SQL 2014
SQL 2008 R2
SP2
SQL 2012 SP1
SQL 2014
SQL 2008 R2 SP2
SQL 2012 SP1
SQL 2014
SQL 2012 SP1
SQL 2014

22. AlwaysOn in SQL Server

23. Skype for Business supports AlwaysOn for Back End
server
1. Failover Cluster configuration
2. Install Database Engine Services
3. Enable AlwaysOn Availability Groups

24. 4. In the Skype for Business Server 2015 Topology
Builder, we add a new SQL Server Store
5. Enable replica for SfB databases

25. Skype for Business Preview
• Features in Preview are not yet final.
• Registration required
• Some features are released first in the United States

26. Update
• Cloud UC features are part of the new E5 plan in Office 365
• PSTN calling is an “add-on” to the aforementioned plan

27. • Holding a meeting with a large number of users, with SfB or
Lync 2013 on-premises is complex and costly
• You can schedule a Skype Meeting Broadcast for up to 10,000
attendees
• You use the Skype Meeting Broadcast scheduling and
management portal to schedule a meeting
• You use the familiar meeting experience within Skype for
Business to produce a professional, engaging event for their
audience
• Attendees can join from anywhere on any device, and engage
in the meeting

28. Skype Meeting Meeting Broadcast
Maximum audience size 250 10,000
Presenter Camera A/V  
Present a PowerPoint  
Desktop & App Sharing  
Attendee Camera A/V 
Collaborative Apps (Whiteboard, Poll,
Q&A)

Engagement Apps (Pulse, Yammer, Q&A) 
PSTN Access  
Cloud based meeting recording 
Client DVR controls (ex: pause, rewind) 
Branded meeting experience 
Meeting Producer role 

29. Component Requirement
Browser
(attendees)
Internet Explorer 11, Chrome, Firefox, OSX Safari, iOS8,
Android (KitKat)
Client Skype for Business client for Windows
Users On-premises and online
License Cloud Meetings Enhancement license. Policy checked at
Outlook sign-in time.
Authentication On-premises customers must have established an online
tenant, and configured directory sync to make user
accounts and DL memberships available to the Skype for
Business Azure Active Directory to enable user
authentication and meeting authorization using group
membership.

30. • Organizer
• Producer
• Manages the meeting sources (audio, video, and
PowerPoint decks), records the event, and posts
the recording to Office 365 Video
• Event team member
• Participates in the meeting as a presenter or
speaker
• Contribute audio & video
• Manage and navigate PowerPoint content
• Attendee

31. • Organizers schedule a meeting broadcast
• Web scheduling page at https://sched.services.skype.net/
• Select to create a new meeting
• Default setting are: single user running an anonymous
meeting (anyone can join)

32. • Event Title
• Scheduled for Start Date, Time and Duration
• Event Team Members
• Attendees: Anonymous, Secure and Open
• Customize Event
• Right Panel App (Bing Pulse or Yammer)
• Lower Panel App (Bing Pulse or Yammer)
• Custom Link for Attendees

34. • Anonymous
• Anyone with the join link can attend, even if they are
external to your company
• Secure
• Only those users who have been invited by the broadcast
service can attend
• Open
• Anyone from your company can attend by clicking the join
link. They'll use their company user name and password to
attend.

35. Producers
• On the Skype for Business client for Windows
• Start and Stop the live broadcast
• Promote video or content using layouts to manage attendees’
attention
• Preview and activate video sources
• Select audio sources to mix
Presenters
• Present in room, or remotely
• Contribute audio & video
• Manage and navigate PowerPoint content

38. Basic Building Blocks
Content Delivery Network
Azure Media Services

39. • Flexible live voting options
• Immediate results and insights
• Annotations
• Custom demographics
• Messaging

40. • Like the dial-in conferencing on-premises, dial-in
conferencing in Office 365 allows meeting attendees
to join to a Skype for Business Online meeting by
dialing in using a phone
• It is an audio only solution

41. Microsoft and Office 365 as the dial-in conferencing provider.
Third-party dial-in conferencing or audio conferencing provider

42. Microsoft (Office 365) Third-party
Provider set up Easy to setup. Most settings are
automatic.
Hard to set up. Requires
manual steps.
Licensing Additional license. No license but you still
pay per user.
Management Integrated into the Office 365 admin
center.
Manual management with
third-party.
User set up Easy Hard.
Billing Through Office 365. Additional through the
third-party ACP.
Dial-in conferencing bridge
assignment
Automatic Requires a manual entry
of conference bridge for
each user.
Conference ID management Automatic Manual
Reset meeting conference ID Yes Yes but you have to input
it manually.
Toll free telephone numbers Available in a future release. Yes
Toll domestic telephone numbers Yes Yes
International toll telephone numbers Yes Yes
International toll-free telephone
numbers
Available in a future release. Yes
Port over existing phone numbers Yes No
Dial-out / Call-me – Domestic Yes Yes

43. • PSTN calling gives Office 365 customers the option to give
their users the ability to receive and make calls to traditional
phone numbers from their Skype for Business clients
• PSTN calling allows you to search, acquire and assign
telephone numbers to users in your organization

44. 1. Assign the correct Office 365 licenses to a
user
2. Assign a Skype for Business Domestic and
International calling license to your users
3. Add emergency addresses and locations for
you organization
4. Search for and reserve phone numbers for
your users
5. Assign a phone number to a user

48. • After you have assigned a user a Skype for Business
Domestic and International calling license and
assigned a phone number to a user, the user will get
voicemail
• When they get a voicemail, it will be delivered as an
attachment ( *.mp3, *.wav) with an email message to
their Office 365 mailbox.

49. • The ORTC APIs enable the development of real-time
audio and video communications applications
directly on top of the Microsoft Edge browser without
the need to install any plug-ins
• Using components provided directly by the browser,
the ORTC APIs provide granular control over audio
and video streams on the client machine as well as
the transport layer that carries those streams over the
network

51. • Few tools have been updated from Lync
Server 2013 to Skype for Business
• Usually the old version works fine also in
SfB
• An exception is the SEFAutil
• Debugging Tools have been updated too

52. • The Centralized Logging Service is the
preferred logging environment for Skype for
Business Server 2015
• There are no new features this release, but
reliability and performance have been
improved for both the service and the
Centralized Logging Service Agent
(ClsAgent.exe)
• The Snooper debugging tool has also been
updated.

53. • Microsoft boast that this cuts the time for
patching a 12 node pool down from 8 – 12
hours to 2 – 3 hours
• More reliable Checks for readiness across the
pool within the cmdlet before failover.
Leverages windows fabric v2
deactivate/activate node APIs ensuring more
dependable operation