MsIgnite BRK3079 - Configure Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition with your SBC

Presented by Lasse Nordvik Wedø (@lawedo)

 

Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition (CCE) is a set of 4 virtual machines delivered as an appliance.

 

• Active directory domain controller
  Holds Service pointers, Internal DNS used by CCE, Internal Certificates. This active directory do not share schema with your internal domains, it is separate and used by CCE only.
• Skype for Business Edge Server
  The Edge server is a multihomed virtual machine that talks to the Internet on "the outside" and it must be able to use external public DNS from the Internet.
• Skype for Business Mediation Server
  Terminates SIP trunks to/from the outside world (the SBC) and transcodes media.
• Skype for Business Central Management Store
  Holds information on the Topology used by Mediation and Edge.

 

CCE can be seen as a gateway between Office 365 and your own PSTN connection. Please note that CCE does not contain a Skype for Business Registrar, i.e. it is not possible to home users in CCE.


The presentation continued with PowerShell demos on how to configure Office 365 for CCE, how to configure a user for PSTN access, how to configure a Sonus SBC with integrated CCE, number manipulation and mulitsite configuration.

 

Key commands:

• Set-CsTenantFederationConfiguration
• Set-CsTenantHybridConfiguration
• Set-MsolUserLicense
• Set-CsUser
• Set-CsUserPstnSettings

 

Why should we use an Session Border Controller (SBC) together with CCE?

 

With a SBC we can connect multiple trunks to a single instance of CCE and we can also handle analog devices such as fax machines. We can do additional transcoding, SIP message manipulation, TLS connections, DTMF, reduce latency and DDoS protection just to name a few advantages. An SBC will also allow us to use an existing infrastructure (trunks) so that we can migrate smoothly and retain a carrier contract.


It takes about 75 minutes to get up and running with CCE on a Sonus appliance, compared to several hours if you chose to download the CCE software and install it manually.

Resources
Plan for Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition

Prepare your environment for Cloud Connector 1.4.1

Cloud Connector Edition - Hybrid Voice Guide - Version 2.0

MsIgnite BRK2087 - Build native cloud apps for Skype for Business: Skype Developer platform overview

Presented by Andrew Bybee

The bots are coming...

The presentation started with a demo of the Smartsheet integration with presence, conversations and meetings.

Next was Skype for Salesforce where Skype is built into the Salesforce GUI / Webpage featuring videocalling in Edge without a plugin with the call and editing in Salesfore happening in the same window.

Embedded video calling in Google Chrome using the WebRTC implementation in Chrome were demoed, using a "media provider" built into the Chrome browser, just as in Edge.

Web and Chat is cool, but voice still accounts for more than 60% of the traffic for most customer service organizations. Hence, "Trusted applications" in the cloud will be supported by a coming "Trusted applications API", which was demoed together with the WebSDK in the session. A demo featured an anonymous user in a web chat session with an agent who could bring in a second agent / expert and a consumer Skype healthcare bot via the Bot Framework. The demo also featured a PSTN call into a trusted application via Office 365 PSTN calling with DTMF signalling, basic IVR and agent routing.   

UCMA will probably not be ported to the cloud, but WebRTC is on the roadmap for Skype for business (starting with Online)

Lots of opportunities if you like to code!

Resources

Skype Developer Platform
Skype for Business Apps

Welcome Microsoft Teams!

At an event in New York and online Microsoft announced Microsoft teams today. Microsoft Teams Builds on Office 365 and adds a chat-based workspace to Office 365.

Microsoft Teams - a part of the Office 365 ecosystem

Microsoft Teams is threaded persistant chats or conversations where the Activity view can be seen as the "inbox" in Teams. A Team "channel" can be seen as the digital equivalent of an ad-hoc meeting in a normal Office environment. Moving images, emojis, stickers, or GIFs, can easily be pasted into team conversations. Microsoft Teams builds on Office 365 groups, and has built-in access to PowerBI, Graph, SharePoint, OneNote, and Skype for Business. A "team" is simply a group of people organized around a common goal, and a sharepoint site is automatically created for each new Team that is created in Microsoft Teams.

Bots are included in Microsoft Teams from start. T-bot can answer questions about the MicorosftTeams product, like: How do I create a channel? Who-bot can answer questions about people.  Polly is a poll / voting bot can be used in conversations. Currently some 85 bots are available. 

In general, a web browser is all you need to access Microsoft Teams and mobile clients are available as well.

Preview now, General Availability next year.

Resources

• Introducing Microsoft Teams: The new chat-based workspace in Office 365
• Microsoft Unveils Teams, Its Slack Competitor
• End-user Resources for Teams
• First Sighting: Microsoft Teams

MsIgnite BRK3059 - Deploy Cloud Connector Edition with Microsoft Office 365

Presented by Korneel Bullens   

Options for voice in Office 365

• Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling service
  Available in United States, United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Preview starting for France and Spain
• Cloud PBX with on-premises PSTN connectivity
  Hosts users online, connects via on premises
• Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition (CCE)
  Hybrid offering that contains a set of virtualized machines

Cloud Connector Overview

CCE was first released in April of 2016 and there have been 3 minor updates or versions so far. The next major version (2.0) is probably coming early next year.

CCE should be seen as a "black box", i.e. do not change the topology, scripts, software or anything really. CCE deploys in approximately 7 hours (or 45 min if you get it as an appliance.)

CCE is scaled for 70 percent internal traffic, that is media not going through edge component of CCE, and 30 percent external traffic. It is not designed to be used in hosting scenarios.

CCE do not support media bypass, custom dialplans or co-existence with on-prem S4B Pools.

The presentation continued with technical details around the installation of CCE.

Interesting to see new "cc-commands" like Install-CcAppliance, rather than the good old "cs-commands".

Questions and Answers

Is it possible to use VLAN tagging for the two different networks CCE is connected to?
Yes.

Is it possible to use a public certificate on the inside?
No, import the internal CA root certificate.

Is it possible to let CCE share hardware with something else?
No, the cloud connector is an appliance.


Resources

• Plan for Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition
• Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition (the .msi)
• Skype for Business CCE – CloudConnector.ini settings