Skype for Business (formerly Microsoft Lync and Office Communicator) is an

enterprise software Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, ...

application for

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

and

videotelephony Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...

developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

as part of the

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketi ...

suite. It is designed for use with the on-premises

Skype for Business Server Skype for Business Server (formerly Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Lync Server) is real-time communications server software that provides the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, VoIP, ad hoc and st ...

software, and a

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is con ...

version offered as part of

Office 365 Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name ...

. It supports text, audio, and video chat, and integrates with Microsoft Office components such as

Exchange Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

and

SharePoint SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates natively with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and its usage v ...

. In 2015, the software was rebranded from Lync to Skype for Business, co-branding it with the Microsoft-owned consumer messaging platform

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

(which had begun to integrate with Lync in 2013). In September 2017, Microsoft announced that it would phase out Skype for Business Online in favor of

Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams is a proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. Teams primarily competes with the similar service Slack, offering workspace chat and videoconferencin ...

, a new cloud-based collaboration platform. Support for Skype for Businesses Online ended in July 2021, although a new version of Skype for Business Server will be available with a subscription license.

History

Microsoft released Office Communicator 2007 to production on July 28, 2007, and launched it on October 27, 2007. It was followed by ''Office Communicator 2007 R2'', released on March 19, 2009. Microsoft released the successor to Office Communicator, Lync 2010, on January 25, 2011. In November 2010, the platform was renamed Lync. In May 2013, Microsoft announced that it would allow Lync users to communicate with

, a consumer IM platform it had acquired in 2011. This initially included support for text and voice communications. On November 11, 2014, Microsoft announced that Lync would be renamed Skype for Business in 2015, also adding support for video calls with Skype users. On September 22, 2015, Skype for Business 2016 was released alongside

Office 2016 Microsoft Office 2016 (First perpetual release of Office 16) is a version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, succeeding both Office 2013 and Office for Mac 2011 and preceding Office 2019, which in turn was succeeded by Office 2021 f ...

. On October 27, 2016, the Skype for Business for Mac client was released. On September 25, 2017, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business Online would be discontinued in the future in favor of

, a cloud-based collaboration platform for corporate groups (comparable to Slack) integrating persistent messaging, video conferencing, file storage, and application integration. Microsoft released a final on-premises version of Skype for Business Server as part of Office 2019 in late 2018, and announced in July 2019 that the hosted Skype for Business Online will cease functioning on July 31, 2021. Since September 2019, Skype for Business Online is no longer offered to new

subscribers, and are being directed to Microsoft Teams instead. The next version of Skype for Business Server will be available with a subscription license.

Versions

* Exchange 2000 Conferencing * Windows Messenger 5.0 ( Live Communications Server 2003) * Windows Messenger 5.1 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 ( Live Communications Server 2005) * Office Communicator 2007 * Office Communicator 2007 R2 * Lync 2010 * Lync 2013 * Skype for Businesses 2015 * Skype for Businesses 2016 * Skype for Businesses 2019

Features

The Basic features of Skype for Business include: *

Instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

(IM) * Audio calls * Video calls * Desktop sharing Advanced features relate to integration with other

software: * Availability of contacts based on Microsoft Outlook contacts stored in a

Microsoft Exchange Server Microsoft Exchange Server is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. It runs exclusively on Windows Server operating systems. The first version was called Exchange Server 4.0, to position it as the successor to the related ...

* Users can retrieve contact lists from a local directory service such as Microsoft Exchange Server *

can show if other people are working on the same document * All communication between the clients takes place through a

. This makes communications more secure, as messages do not need to leave the corporate intranet, unlike with the Internet-based

Windows Live Messenger MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger service and, in later versio ...

. The server can be set to relay messages to other instant messaging networks, avoiding installation of extra software at the client side. * A number of client types are available for Microsoft Skype for Business, including mobile clients. * Uses SIP as the basis for its client communication protocol * Offers support for TLS and SRTP to encrypt and secure signaling and media traffic * Allows sharing files Note: With the release of Lync Server 2013 in October 2012, a new collaboration feature "Persistent Group Chat" which allows multi-party chat with preservation of content between chat sessions was introduced. However, only the native Windows OS client and no other platform supports this feature at this time. The main new features of this version are the addition of real-time multi-client

collaborative software Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them". As re ...

capabilities, (which allow teams of people to see and simultaneously work on the same documents and communications session). Lync and Skype for Business implement these features as follows: * Collaboration through Whiteboard documents, where the participants have freedom to share text, drawing and graphical annotations. * Collaboration through

PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPo ...

documents, where the participants can control and see presentations, as well as allow everybody to add text, drawing and graphical annotations. * Polling lists, where Presenters can organize polls and all participants can vote and see results. * Desktop sharing, usually by allowing participants to see and collaborate on a Windows screen * Windows applications sharing, by allowing participants to see and collaborate on a specific application. All collaboration sessions get automatically defined as conferences, where clients can invite more contacts. Conference initiators (usually called "organizers") can either promote participants to act as presenters or demote them to act as attendees. They can also define some basic policies about what presenters and attendees can see and do. Deeper details of policy permissions are defined at server level. Following Microsoft's acquisition of Skype in May 2011, the Lync and Skype platforms could be connected, but sometimes only after lengthy provisioning time.

Extensions

Skype for Business uses a number of extensions to the SIP/

SIMPLE Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by Johnn ...

instant-messaging protocol for some features. As with most instant-messaging platforms, non-Microsoft instant-messaging clients that have not implemented these publicly available extensions may not work correctly or have complete functionality. Skype for Business supports federated presence and IM to other popular instant message services such as AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and any service using the

XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP, originally named Jabber) is an open communication protocol designed for instant messaging (IM), presence information, and contact list maintenance. Based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), i ...

protocol, although support for XMPP has been deprecated in Skype for Business 2019. Text instant-messaging in a web browser is available via Skype for Business integration within Exchange Outlook Web App. Although other IM protocols such as AIM and

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...

do have wider support by third-party clients, these protocols have been largely reverse-engineered by outside developers. Microsoft does offer details of its extensions on

MSDN Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) was the division of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers, such as hardware developers interested in the operating system (OS), and software developers developing ...

and provides an

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

kit to help developers build platforms that can interoperate with Skype for Business Server and clients.

Clients

As of May 2018, the following Skype for Business clients are available: * Windows (Pro and Enterprise only, can download free Skype for Business Basic client) and macOS (included with Office 365) *Linux (provided by TEL.RED) *iOS (Microsoft app in iTunes app store; alternative client provided by TEL.RED) * Android (Microsoft app in Google Play; alternative client provided by TEL.RED)

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...

and

Windows 10 Mobile Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10. Wind ...

apps were discontinued by Microsoft in May 2018.

References

External links

*
Download Skype for Business Apps Across All Your Devices

Download Microsoft Skype for Business Basic from Official Microsoft Download Center

Install Skype for Business - Office Support

Skype for Business Online to Be Retired in 2021
{{Microsoft Office Skype Innovative Communications Alliance products Microsoft Office Windows instant messaging clients Videotelephony IOS software Android (operating system) software Business chat software 2015 software Microsoft articles needing attention