At a Lync Conference keynote, Skype president Tony Bates announced that Microsoft will bring its Skype and Lync business instant messaging service together by June. This linking together of the services will enable businesses to call and send messages to Skype users through Lync, with video features coming at a later time.
This integration of the two services is the latest step in Microsoft’s plans to link together its instant messaging and voice / video calling service with its products. Other steps are also underway; Microsoft recently launched a Skype Video Messages service, and plans to merge Windows Live Messenger users to Skype by April 8th. Skype support with Office 2013 debuted recently. The software maker also plans to integrate the service with Outlook.com and Xbox Live chat.
As the year goes on, it will be interesting to see what other innovations Microsoft plans to bring to its Skype service.