Office 365 To Get Skype Integration
Microsoft will tie Lync Online with the VoIP platform to make it easier for users of either service to communicate with each other.
By
Paul McDougall InformationWeek
June 29, 2011 05:11 PM
Microsoft plans to couple voice and video conferencing tools in Office 365 with Skype once its acquisition of the VoIP platform is complete, according to a company official. Microsoft Office division president Kurt DelBene spoke of the plan Tuesday at the official Office 365
launch event in New York City. Office 365 is a rebranded, upgraded version of the company's Business Productivity Online Standard suite that adds Office Web Apps and other cloud services to the mix.
In speaking about Skype-Office 365 integration, DelBene confirmed much of what he told
InformationWeek editors in an
exclusive interview earlier this month--that Office 365's Lync communications tools and Skype will continue to exist as separate services, but they'll be closely tied.
"If you're a Lync user in your organization, in many cases you have people that are Skype users, for the consumer-oriented service of Skype that you'd want to connect to," said DelBene, in his interview with
InformationWeek. "And you want to essentially have those Skype contacts be available from within Lync.
"For the Lync business in particular, it's a big opportunity to tap those large sets of consumers that use Skype," said DelBene.
