Yesterday’s rumor that Ayava’s planned to acquire Israeli videoconferencing developer RADVISION was proven correct when the two firms announced the purchase this morning.

We first showed an early beta of our Lync 2010 mobile clients at Enterprise Connect earlier this year, sharing our vision for how these clients would extend the capabilities of Lync beyond the desktop. I’m thrilled to announce that Lync 2010 for Windows Phone is now available for download via Windows Marketplace and that Lync 2010 clients...

Authors: Lync Team

Analysts play a key role in the tech industry. They look at how products are actually being used in the real world and advise their IT clients. Perhaps one of the most respected firms in the enterprise IT market is Gartner, with a dedicated team of analysts who closely watch the UC market.

Every year, Gartner publishes a series of...

REDMOND, Wash., and LUXEMBOURG — Oct. 13, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) has closed its acquisition of Skype Global S.à r.l. Negotiations of the definitive agreement under which Microsoft would acquire Skype, an Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion were led by investor group Silver Lake and the transaction was originally announced on May 10, 2011. Boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype previously approved the acquisition.

Microsoft and Skype will remain focused on their shared goal of connecting all people across all devices and accelerating both companies’ efforts to transform real-time communications for consumers and enterprise customers. The completion of the acquisition also marks the official introduction of Skype as a new business division within Microsoft.

“Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues — anytime, anywhere.”

Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Skype Division of Microsoft immediately, reporting directly to Ballmer. The Skype division will continue to offer its current products to millions of users globally. Longer term, Skype will also be integrated across an array of Microsoft products to broaden Skype’s reach and accelerate its growth as a fundamental way people communicate online. Skype employees will continue to be located around the world in offices including Estonia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States.

“By bringing together the best of Microsoft and the best of Skype, we are committed to empowering consumers and businesses around the globe to connect in new ways,” Bates said. “Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s goal to reach 1 billion users daily,” Bates said.

Founded in 2003, Skype was acquired by eBay in September 2005, and then acquired by an investment group led by Silver Lake in November 2009. Skype has made impressive progress, developing new products and revenue streams, strategic acquisitions, acquiring the intellectual property powering its peer-to-peer network, and recruiting an outstanding senior management team.

Other members of the selling investor group led by Silver Lake include eBay International AG, CPP Investment Board, Joltid Ltd. in partnership with Europlay Capital Advisors; and Andreessen Horowitz.

The acquisition remains under review in a few countries, and will be completed in those countries when such reviews are closed.

To learn more about Microsoft and Skype, click here.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website.

All information in this release is as of Oct. 14, 2011. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Authors: Lync Team

My role on the Lync team focuses on “gadgets for Lync”, I manage the relationship with our audio and video device partners, and one of the things I like about working on this team is our focus on improving the customer experience. One question we get asked on occasion is what devices have been qualified/certified to...

Authors: Lync Team

Today I wanted to bring your attention to an article the U.S. Army wrote about its Lync pilot. I was excited to learn how the Army believes Lync can benefit its personnel, and I think you’ll find it interesting as well. At the Command and Control Directorate for the U.S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Research,...

Today Microsoft officially unveiled its new unified communications platform, Lync. Microsoft has transformed the slightly boring OCS R2 into a platform that enables more collaboration like sharing slides (not just desktops) and embraces a bit of social media. Instead of simple status “jelly beans”, Lync provides photos of users and a mini-bio on their subject matter expertise from Sharepoint. Lync also federates with other instant message and voice platforms like Jabber and Google Talk so I can use one platform to talk with friends and colleagues online.

Earlier this week, I attended a launch event at Microsoft’s San Francisco office. One of the most compelling portions of the presentation was given by Microsoft’s internal IT department. They shared best practices from their internal Lync deployment, and, no surprise, it was completely focused on end users. Here are three tips that made their “dogfooding” successful:

• Find evangelists within the organization. They selected about 30 executives who they identified as early adopters and influencers within Microsoft. Setting up Lync for these executives helped generate demand and interest from employees. Tom Pacyk, a UC consultant, agrees with this approach and included it in his post, “6 Tips for Deploying UC to End Users”. I think this is a really good strategy – although IT departments may want to cast the net wider than just executives to generate interest. It’s as simple as finding early adopters who collaborate regularly with others in the organization. Let them also sing the praises of Lync to generate excitement from peers. Who hasn’t been a tiny bit jealous of the guy who brings the iPad to meetings instead of lugging a clunky laptop around?
• Flexible End User Training. Microsoft IT recommends flexible training sessions. Offer many different times and curriculum for training. Make it easier for people to find the time to attend – not a chore. Also, have sessions matched to users proficiency. A two-hour training in a giant conference room with 200 people is going to be ineffective. Think about creating modules – an in-depth training for first time users and a “refresher” for those who’ve used OCS and are just transition to Lync. Microsoft IT even recommended a simple “cheat sheet” for people who prefer to figure things out on their own and just need a little reference guide. I think they key is don’t overwhelm people. It may stretch resources within IT to offer flexible training but the payoff is there. Nothing is a bigger waste of IT’s time, than deploying a technology no one wants to use.
• Endpoints. Yes, I work for Plantronics so I may have a slight bias towards the importance of headsets, speakerphones and other audio devices. As part of their presentation, Microsoft IT stressed the importance of Lync certified endpoints to ensure a positive user-experience. I spoke with him after the presentation and he used the analogy, “it’s like buying a top-of-the line, hi-def TV and hooking it up with the red/white/yellow free cables” to describe a voice experience on Lync without a certified endpoint. Plantronics has taken it a step further by offering more than just headsets. Not all end users are the same and endpoints should reflect the work styles of the individual. Today, Plantronics announced its Lync optimized portfolio and previewed three new devices for 2011.

What do you think? Does IT have the bandwidth to do proper training? Should they make the time? Do endpoints matter? How important are internal evangelists? I’d love to hear tips and tricks to help create excitement for UC within an organization. Or even better, missteps that should be avoided.

At the Microsoft World Partner Conference last week I noticed a shift in the importance of UC. At my first WPC in 2008, Office Communicator (now referred to as Communications Server) was the shiny new toy and Microsoft was taking on the telephony industry in a big way. While they have lived up to that, market experience over the last three years has led them to integrate their UC story with the Microsoft Business Productivity Suite – Communications Server is now one of the many powerful things you can do on the Microsoft platform. The competitive pressure is no longer focused on “voice” but ensuring the best business platform for the inevitable march toward the cloud.

As Microsoft tries to connect the dots of communications and collaboration via the PC, mobile phone or cloud, Wave 14 of Communications Server is simply one more arrow in their quill. To date, focus has certainly been on the PC and the mobile phone – currently, there are Office Communicator clients for the iPhone, BlackBerry and, of course, Windows Mobile.

WPC is clear evidence that UC will continue to play out over multiple devices, usage patterns, legacy equipment and now a migration toward the cloud. Despite Microsoft’s best efforts, end user confusion will likely prevail for the foreseeable future.

While on vacation with my wife and our three year old twin boys I’m once again trying to appease their grandparents need to stay connected without being fleeced by hotel telephone rates. Once upon a time this was a pipe dream to most and only achievable by nerdy dads (yup, that’d be me).

Today, people of all ages are sitting in this hotel on a video conference with their family/friends/colleagues back home. Surely the end-user needs are the same and hotel telephone rates have probably improved, so why do people feel more comfortable turning to technology? It’s a combination of access and awareness. Access is no longer an issue now that portable devices ranging from netbooks to wireless PC headsets are abundant and most hotels offer Wi-Fi. Thanks to Apple’s new video chat service, FaceTime and validation from Oprah with her ”Where the Skype Are You?” video chat segments, consumers are enthusiastic about utilising new technology to stay connected.

As usual, businesses are being forced to play catch-up. The shrewd CFO questions his IT department and wants to reduce costs on outbound calling. At the same time, tech-savvy “millennials” are entering the workplace and expect the same user experience they have at home.

At my workplace, I have experienced this first hand. The IT department deployed a business-strength software-powered VoIP solution – Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 – with business-equivalent USB headsets, telephones and video conferencing equipment. With this deployment comes new ways of working, including hot desks capable of providing fixed phone functionality, and home workers who utilise home broadband and remote VPN for inter-office and PSTN based telephony.

In the UK, office premises are becoming a luxury that can scarcely be afforded. Hot desks and home offices are seen as a way to make significant savings, and test business continuity plans in case another snow storm closes London.

VoIP has definitely become a hot technology trend, already making major in-roads into the UK market; this is hardly surprising given the benefits. Businesses seeking to utilise VoIP should take advantage of immediate easy-to-reach returns. For example, Skype offers a number of small to medium sized business solutions such as Skype for SIP and Skype for Asterisk, a leading open source soft PBX, and Skype Manager for business software clients.

Have you already taken baby steps into the world of Internet powered voice and found it fell flat on its face? Both the end user experience and the network can sink a VoIP deployment. I have found the right hardware really makes the difference for end users. Recently, a senior executive rejected Office Communicator until IT provided an endpoint device with a familiar interface that features an integrated hard keypad and LCD screen – one small change made all the difference.

The only real way to ensure the right amount of bandwidth is available is by using “Quality of Service” (QoS). QoS can be found in some of the more sophisticated home routers and is extremely common on enterprise level routers .Some VoIP solutions are smarter at handling poor networks; Microsoft has developed an “adaptive codec”, which goes a long way to mitigate these problems. Finally Wi-Fi is notoriously known for bad voice performance, where possible, try a cabled connection.

I’ll conclude by predicting that VoIP is here to stay, for those who are thinking about taking the plunge, you should – I am certain you won’t regret it – personally it has allowed me to stay in touch while saving my workplace in excess of £50,000 per annum. (Here is a case study with more information on the deployment) For those who have tried and failed, if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again – identify your issues, however minor or major and develop a roadmap to address the “lower hanging fruit”.

Adam Jacobs is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) based in the UK and has worked in the IT industry for over 15 years, specializing in large IT infrastructure systems and VoIP deployments. Currently, Jacobs works for a UK/Irish based financial services organization, working with key technology partners including Microsoft, BT & RIM on early technology adoption programs and technical case studies.

You can read more on his blog, I’m a UC Blog, he is also a contributor to Microsoft’s Unified Communications Portal, Next Hop and can be found on Twitter.

It’s opening day for Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, D.C. and we have something to celebrate! In 2009, Plantronics won Partner of the Year for our innovative USB handset, and today we announced our Partner of the Year honors for 2010! This year we were awarded for strides in Mobile Unified Communications with the introduction of two devices designed for mobile UC, the Voyager PRO UC and Blackwire 420.

A mobile UC strategy is critical for any enterprise exploring the benefits of UC collaboration. Melanie Turek, principle analyst at Frost & Sullivan, noted recently in No Jitter, “Mobility is a critical issue for many enterprises, as employees increasingly need to communicate and collaborate with one another – as well as partners and customers – from anywhere.” We couldn’t agree more.

If you can’t be in Washington, D.C in person, you can follow the action on Twitter and Facebook.