We first caught wind of Lync’s rebranding to Skype for Business back in November 2014, and now that vision has been realized with the release of a technical preview for the new Skype.
Today at Convergence, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared his vision for business transformation, including the role of tools that enable people to connect with each other for work, and announced the new Skype software.Says Skype on its blog:
“As we shared in November, with Skype for Business, we want to bring together the well-loved, familiar experience of Skype, with the enterprise security, compliance and control that businesses expect from Microsoft. Since then, we have seen tremendous interest in Skype for Business and we’re incredibly excited to give our current Lync users the opportunity to trial Skype for Business. In the coming weeks, Skype for Business will become generally available to business customers with a new client, new server, and updated service within Office 365.
Skype for Business will transform the way people communicate by giving you the opportunity to connect with your colleagues and anyone who has a Skype ID. You can read more about Skype for Business over on the Office blog, and follow our social channels for updates.”
The consumer version of Skype will remain, of course, with the business edition functioning alongside it and bringing the Skype experience to professionals.