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Sunday, October 9, 2016

MsIgnite BRK2081 - Plan your Cloud PBX deployment

Presented by Jamie Stark.

Four communication eras were defined, circuit switched PBX, IP-PBX, On-Prem Unified Communications and Cloud PBX.




Since we are reading from left to right it was interesting to see the order in this slide, compared to the same slide a couple years back. Cloud PBX is included in the Office 365 E5 license and can be added to the E3 or E1 licenses. Minutes in the calling plan are pooled by tenant.




Demo of assigning a number to a user in "Cloud PBX" for Skype for business Online.
This service is now available in the US, UK and Puerto Rico, Spain and France is on the way, unfortunately not available in Sweden just yet. Nothing can be said about in which countries this feature will be available next, or when, but the service will expand. (For France and Spain - sign up at www.skypepreview.com) In the UK about 1 million minutes of calling have been done so far.



Hosted voicemail is included in Cloud PBX, and even Exchange 2013 on-prem is supported. Voicemail transcription, busy-on-busy, Private line and Cloud Connected Appliance are features being looked at in the roadmap for Cloud PBX.



If you have an on-prem pool - go hybrid. If you do not have an on-prem pool - use the Cloud Connector Edition.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

MsIgnite GS02 - Move all your communications to Skype for Business Online


 Presented by Gurdeep Singh Pall

  • It is nice to work with a verb - "Skype" - anywhere you go in the world people have a story or experience about Skype.

  • So far some 3 trillion (that is 3000000000000) minutes of video calls have been consumed in Skype.

  • Among many customers Accenture is running Skype for business globally for 418000 active users via 4 data centers.



Delanda Coleman - Mac Client

The Mac client were demoed with a tabbed conversations view a black rather than blue border in the meetings view and without any distracting buttons or controls in the video view (other clients will probably follow.)



Calling from a Mac client to an iOS 10 device using the Call Kit integration in iOS 10 was demoed, e.g. answer the call from the lock screen. Support for Siri-assisted calling with Skype for business is coming in a future release, and it looks like the mobile phone is becoming the main phone for people even outside of Sweden.

Another key message in this part were: Skype for business loves Apple!


Ilya Bukshteyn - Project Rigel - Skype Room Systems

(note the name - Skype Room Systems - not Skype for business Room Systems)

One touch join experience were demoed on a Logitech smart dock device. These new devices from Logitech, Crestron and Polycom are all based on Surface 4 Pro with Windows 10 which means you can deploy these devices with the regular Windows 10 deployment tools you already have in place. The pricing of these devices will start from 2000 USD. If you walk into a meeting room, into an ongoing meeting, you can connect your computer to the device, project your screen, and the device will automatically share your screen into the meeting. Polycom announced the Real Connect Service (running in Azure) for Office 365 which allows Polycom devices to join video calls in Skype for business Online. A public preview will be available later this year.


The intelligent cloud



Natural language requires a lot of work and a lot of data to analyze to drive it forward. A demo of connecting to the simultaneous ongoing Office 365 keynote, transcribing it into English and then translating it into Spanish, Chinese and Klingon. A preview will be available in the Skype for business meeting broadcast feature next quarter, featuring some 50 languages, with more languages to be added later. So now you can consume your meeting on your favorite device, at any time and in your language.


Office 365 hyper-scale



  • 38% of all global international calling goes through the Skype network which is now part of Office 365.
  • PSTN conferencing in Office 365 is available in 90 countries and some 400+ cities.

  • PSTN calling is available in the US, UK and Puerto Rico, with France & Spain coming soon.

  • Regionally hosted meetings, the ability to decide in which datacenter you meeting is going to be hosted, is coming in the next few months.


Ben Canning - Cloud voice experience

A demo of the Office 365 admin center assigning French and Spanish numbers to users and creating an auto-attendant and call queues, and a powershell version of it as well.
Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName "Mattias Kressmark" -UsageLocation location


Skype for business advanced analytics

A single pane of glass monitoring for your Office 365 tenant. (again, interesting to see that both parties in the example (Ben and Gurdeep) was using an iPhone with iOS 9.3.5)


Skype Operations Framework

Partners can be certified according to this "best practice" framework on how to operate Skype for business. More than 1000 people have gone through training according to SOF already.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Microsoft Ignite 2016

I had a great time at Microsoft Ignite in Atlanta last week. I mainly followed the Skype for business sessions and checked out all related vendors in the expo.
 

Somewhere around 600 swedes were present during Ignite and you could spot them all over the Place.
 
Overall the three main topics of Skype for business at Ignite 2016 were
 
 
Also, a lot of other good news and updates big and small were announced, like how to actually use the new Video based Screen Sharing. That transcription and translation will be available in the Skype Meeting Broadcast feature by the end of 2016. PSTN Calling in Skype for business Online in Office 365 is expanding with France and Spain on the way. Keep an eye on this article for future Changes: Countries and regions that are supported for Skype for Business Online PSTN Services
 
For more info on the coming Skype for Business for Mac client take a look at John A Cook's excellent summary. Also, a new version 7.0.1168.1 of the Snooper tool is coming soon with the release of the Mac client and with this version it is possible to open Mac logs as well. We also saw some cool developer demos like a webpage with chat, audio and video in Edge with Skype for business, and without any plugins required.
 
It was nice to quickly shake hands with
Corporate Vice President, Gurdeep Singh Pall
 
In the expo area some really cool "robots" or video-enabled-vaccumcleaner-devices were constantly roaming around. They are actually named Beams and run by the company EventPresence.
 
My friend Fredrik Nilsson from Tyresö in Sweden who could not physically come to Ignite could still mingle with all the attendees and exhibitors on the expo floor. He could also use the various photo booths and even attend a few sessions by simply steering the Beam remotely. I need to get me one of these and I will never have to fly again, so cool!
 
Fredrik roaming the floors of Ignite 2016.

I also purchased the great book Skype for Business Unleashed and got it signed by many of the authors and contributors like Jamie Stark, Pat Richard, Rui Maximo, Phil Sharp, Ståle Hansen and Tom Arbuthnot.

 
I still like physical heavy books you can hold in your hands...
 
It was fun to catch up with Callahan, all MCTs working the Hands-on-Labs, Adnan Hendricks, Johan Dahlbom, Johan Delimon, Sami Laiho, Knowledge Factory (hey! Thanks for the Svenskfest!), the VM-data crew, Pexip, PointSharp and The Krewe of course!
 
Also, Matt Landis, Josh Blalock and Mark Vale, who all have written great summaries of Ignite:


Last but not least Tom Arbuthnot created a fantastic summary of all Skype for business sessions at Ignite, which I used daily at the Conference. The list is quite long but I will make another try to go through and summarize all of the sessions on my blog, hopefully I'm done before Ignite 2017, here it is:
 
BRK2068 Turn your users into raving fans of Skype
BRK3061 Ready your network for Skype for Business Online
BRK3271 Dive into Project Rigel and the Skype for Business Meeting Device Portfolio
BRK2072 Hear our Skype story: deploying at Accenture
BRK2076 Migrate to the cloud – Skype for Business Online
BRK3300 Get to know Skype for Business Meetings: your complete meeting solution
THR2027 Plan your future with Skype for Business
BRK2077 Get to know the Skype Operations Framework 
BRK2087 Build native cloud apps for Skype for Business: Skype Developer platform overview 
BRK3049 Manage Skype for Business with a single pane of glass – IT Pro Tools
BRK3058 Dig into the Skype Operations Framework 
BRK4004 Troubleshoot new Skype for Business offerings 
BRK3048 Get under the hood of Skype for Business PSTN conferencing 
BRK3050 Troubleshoot operations with Skype Call Quality Management 
THR2026 Get engaged with Skype for Business preview 
BRK2080 Understanding devices certified for Skype for Business: what’s in it for you? 
BRK4012 Dive deep on Skype Web SDK & Skype for Business App SDK: Build apps across Web, IOS & Android
BRK2073 Cushman and Wakefield with Skype for Business: A customer’s story 
BRK3051 Manage policy in Skype for Business Online 
BRK3056 Plan for call management with Skype for Business Cloud PBX 
BRK2081 Plan your Cloud PBX deployment 
BRK3053 Understand the mysteries of Dial Plans and Voice Routes in Skype for Business 
BRK2070 Meet Skype for Business for Mac 
BRK2071 Deploy and operate Skype for Business for Windows
BRK2086 Plan for Skype for Business Mobile Clients 
BRK4013 Dive deep on the new Trusted Application API for Skype for Business Online
BRK4005 Configure Skype for Business for Skype Room Systems, Project Rigel and Surface Hub 
BRK2069 Revolutionize adoption for Skype for Business Online 
BRK3055 Plan and deploy Skype for Business Voice Devices 
BRK3054 Plan for Skype for Business cloud connectivity with Microsoft Office 365
BRK3301 Understand the Skype for Business meeting room interop 
BRK2074 Kelly Services & Skype for Business: A customer’s story 
BRK3059 Deploy Cloud Connector Edition with Microsoft Office 365 
BRK3060 Manage Skype for Business Server 2015 
BRK3057 Manage mobility with MDM and Skype for Business 
BRK3270 Plan to deploy Skype Meeting Broadcast 
BRK2088 Drive real-world success with Skype for Business platform solutions 
BRK2089 Deliver compliance with Skype for Business Online 
BRK4011 Deploy ExpressRoute for Skype in Microsoft Office 365 
BRK2075 Meet the communications needs of your users with Skype for Business 
THR2026 Get engaged with Skype for Business preview 
BRK3079 Configure Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition with your SBC 
BRK4007 Troubleshoot media flows in Skype for Business across online, server and hybrid  
 
Tom also posted a script to Download all these Skype for Business Ignite Conference Videos from a YouTube Playlist.
 
If there is something negative to say about Ignite this year it is really the lunches, so on Friday we went out for some real meat!

Hey is that the famous 34 ounce / 964 grams Ribeye steak? You bet!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

MS Ignite BRK4129 - Hybrid Configuration Deep-Dive of Skype for Business

As promised in my Microsoft Ignite 2015 - Sessions, Venue, Expo post, here comes another summary / review of one of the Ignite Skype for business sessions.

Presented by Cezar Ungureanasu, Ramesh Narayanan and Vivek Bhatnagar.

A session to understand Skype for Business Hybrid scenarios & features and how Skype for Business On-Prem interacts with Skype for Business Online.

Hybrid = a combination of components on premises and online.

Development in cloud is iterating faser than the on premises versions (and Skype for business have already evolved since this presentation were held. Maybe most notably by the addition of the Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition.This presentaiton ended with som early thinking aronud this new feature and some questions around it.)

Requirements to start up a hybrid
  • Skype for business on premises with Edge and federation with Office 365
  • Office 365 tenant (Skype for business online licenses) with
    federation and shared SIP address space configured
  • Directory Synchronization
  • User authentication (ADFS, AD Sync)

Even Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 would work, in Skype for business some administrative GUIs for configuring and moving users have been added.

Also the Allowed /  Blocked domains list in the on-premises deployment must exactly match the Allowed domains list for your online tenant.

The "Hosting Provider" is an important active directory attribute, it tells the system where the user is homed.

For an On-premises user
RegistrarPool : pool01.kressmark.com
HostingProvider : SRV:

SRV: means - use DNS to find this users pool.

For an Online user
RegistrarPool : <empty> (but in the "Office 365 version / side" of the AD, this attribute will hold the name of the online "pool".)
HostingProvider : sipfed.online.lync.com

The "Hosting Provider" attribute will also be used when routing incoming Instant Messages and / or presence.

The presentation also included a demo of a user being moved, and the meeting invite link in his Outlook calender were uppdated.


For more info on Hybrid scenarios:

Friday, April 22, 2016

Skype for business for Mac

Geeking away another Friday night (9:00 A.M. Pacific = 18:00 in Sweden) this time about the Mac Client - Preview and demo.

Presented by Sean Wilson, Paul Cannon and Kaushal Mehta.

The new client is built with a new codebase; it is not an upgrade or refresh of Lync for Mac 2011. Meeting joins and sharing have been problems with the old client. The new client can run side-by-side with the old client and it will use SILK as the default codec.

There will be 3 previews before RTM with preview 1 coming RSN - "Real Soon Now". These previews will be cumulative meaning: Preview 1 will contain meeting functionality, preview 2 will add on contact lists and instant messaging to the functionality in preview 1. Preview 3 will add on calling and voice functionality to the client.

This was nicely demonstrated in the webcast with 3 big Lego Duplo bricks :-)

The first preview will be available RSN at the Skype for Business Preview website.

Sign up as soon as you see the Mac client preview - participation will be granted on a first-come first-served basis.

The Meeting view with a connection to the Exchange calendar and a join button.


Preview 1 will (probably) include the following features
  • Full screen video
    (with black edges which apparently makes people think about movies)
  • Desktop sharing - two way, even between PCs and Macs.
  • People pane and instant massages in meetings.
  • Meet now button

Questions answered

Remote control from Mac is a feature that will not be included in the RTM version (but is planned for in a drop after RTM), also the Unified Contact Store will not be there.
Persistent chat is in maintenance mode even in the Windows client this means that enhancements are limited to security and stability fixes only, Persistent chat will not be in the Mac client.

Quality of Service - might be in the RTM version, or will be added in a later update.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

ITARC 2016

Post in Swedish about an IT-architect book project I am involved in, much like the previous book about IT-architecture.

Idag var jag med på ITARC 2016, en årlig konferens för it-arkitekter, denna gång på fina Elite Hotel Marina Tower strax utanför stan.

På förmiddagen var jag med på en workshop om

 

Den leddes av Per-Erik Padron, konsult på Perago och Joakim Jerbrant, chefsarkitekt på Nordea.

Runt 17 personer deltog och presenterade sig med titlar som, Enterprise Arkitekt, Chefsarkitekt, Verksamhetsarkitekt och var mestadels verksamma inom större organisationer. (Det var roligt att se deltagare från 2 större organisationer där jag installerat Lync och kanske bidragit till kommunikationen på ett hörn.)

Kommentarer och diskussioner startade direkt under presentationerna i stil med:

  • Vi diskuterar ofta begreppen inom arkitektur och vad ansvaret för arkitekten är.
  • Hos oss är det mycket "tyckande", var är vi? vad är vi bra på?
    hur förbättrar vi det vi inte är bra på?
  • "I en stor organisation finns både guldklimpar och surdegar."
  • Hur kan vi mäta om vi blir bättre inom arkitektur?

Nedan följer mina spridda anteckningar från dagen, som kanske kan användas som stöd för minnet i arbetet med nästa bok.

Swenglish är ett generellt problem inom arkitektur området då mycket av litteraturen och influenserna kommer på engelska.

Vad är arkitekturell förmåga?

Många definitioner finns, och sammantagna kan de kanske kokas ner till:

"De förutsättningar och skickligheter en organisation har att utforma delarna i den sociotekniska strukturen (människor, relationer, IT-stöd, etc) och få dem att samverka för att organisationen ska kunna uppnå sitt mål."

Arkitektur i en organisation är inte en soloaktivitet utan ett lagarbete.

Var ska ansvaret ligga? 

Tidigare var detta ofta personberoende, seniora personer med "guru-status" som kanske inte kommunicerade så bra, kom inte med lösningar utan talade mest om vad som var fel.
Det pendlar ofta mellan centralt / lokalt, och inbegriper ofta internpolitik.

Arkitekten behöver vara insatt i var organisationen är på väg.

Tycker inte personen om mig så lyssnar hon inte.

Att mäta förmågan, hur gör man?

Resultat kanske inte är så viktigt, det är viktigare att få igång diskussionerna kring arkitekturarbetet.

Hur mäter man att ett projekt lyckas? Resultatet av projektet eller att projektet levererade på tid och inom / under budget?

Många ramverk och standardmetoder finns (ITIL, TOGAF, RUP, SAFe, Zachman) som kan användas "som inspiration", d.v.s. de måste alltid anpassas till "vår" organisation. Passar ramverket oss, kan vi plocka bitar av det? Först när man utvärderar så ser man allt som är bra med metoden, sedan när man sätter igång och implementerar ser man problemen med metoden. Med ett ramverk som grund kan det bli lättare att sälja in en förändring mot ledningen, i stil med - om företaget / konkurrenten x använder detta ramverk - då måste det väl vara bra och fungera för oss?

Sedan följde en lång diskussion i mindre och större grupper angående förutsättningar och skickligheter för den arkitekturella förmågan.


Efter lunch följde en något större workshop med temat

Att kommunicera arkitektur – handboken

och det är alltså den bok vi håller på att skiva nu.

Per-Erik Padron och Stefan Asanin, IT-arkitekt på Vattenfall, ledde denna workshop med 38 deltagare.

Vi fick bra feedback kring de roller vi tänkt behandla och även kring vissa beskrivningar som troligen behöver "moderniseras" något. Vi behandlar förstås ett område som utvecklas mycket snabbt.

Boken kommer handla om kommunikation eftersom:
  • Kommunikation är en kritisk framgångsfaktor för arkitekturarbetet.
  • Kommunikation mellan arkitekter och mellan arkitekten och personer som inte direkt arbetar med arkitektur skiljer sig åt och måste fungera.
  • Arkitekten ska inte bygga eller utföra själva arbetet - därför måste arkitekten kunna kommunicera väl vad resultatet ska bli.

Diskussionen flöt på bra trots att vi vår så många som 40 personer i rummet, och jag tog med mig ett par bra tankar som jag hoppas utveckla i text i boken vi skriver.

Tack IASA Sverige för en bra konferens, ett bra tillfälle att träffa medförfattare och samla feedback.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition

This Friday night (9:00 A.M. Pacific = 18:00 in Sweden) I listened in to the live video broadcast about the Skype Cloud Connector Edition.


A nice 45-minute conversation about what Skype CCE is, how to deploy it and feedback from early customer testing.

During development Skype CCE had the nickname "minimal Topology", so the on-prem component can be seen as a very minimal Skype for business system. It consists of a domain controller, edge and mediation server and Central Management Store.


The mediation server is the same "bits" - the same software - as the mediation server in a normal on-prem S4B system. The installation is configured using a "ini file", CloudConnector.ini. The installer will read this file and can restart a stopped installation in case prerequisites are not met or other issues occur. Skype CCE can also be installed in a High Availability configuration.

Both Sonus and Audiocodes have already announced packages with CCE included in a hardware appliance box.


Some questions and answers from the webcast:

Can we use Express Route with CCE and get QoS on the calls?
Yes, Express Route does work with CCE.

On the CCE "no existing S4B" requirement - can the AD be prepped for, but have OCS/Lync/S4B servers decommissioned, or is a green field AD required?
Yes, AD can be prepped for S4B/Lync. You just cannot have S4B/Lync running on-premises.

Are there any plans to support VMware hypervisors for CCE in the future?
No plans currently.

If we would like to move certain group of users to cloud and use telephony on-prem. Can we do that?
Correct. CCE is for folks in the cloud who do not have S4B on-premises.

How would using Skype in the cloud use E911 and meet the mandates of 911?
It really is no different to on-premises configuration. When you give an Office 365 user a PSTN Calling license, you must configure their E911 information before we allow you to complete the configuration and give them a number.

If a customer has existing investment in S4B On-prem but want to move subset of users to S4B online and keep PSTN on-prem, does Cloud Connector fit in this scenario?
Your on-premises deployment currently supports being connected to the cloud. CCE is currently targeted to those who do not have S4B deployed on-prem.
Microsoft hope to enhance CCE over the next few months to support more complex topologies.

If you want to find out more about Skype CCE:

The next live video broadcast will be about S4B and MACs!