Skype for Business Rolls Out Today, Leaving Lync in its Wake

Announced during last month’s Convergence Conference, Skype for Business is now generally available to Office 365 customers. Organizations currently using Lync 2013 will be updated with Skype for Business and the Lync Online service will automatically be updated to Skype for Business Online.

The change is being delivered as part of the Office 2013 monthly update today. As Microsoft delivers its usual Patch Tuesday updates today, the changes will be included.

Microsoft is expecting the rollout to complete sometime at the end of May. Office 365 users can expect Lync Online to transform into Skype for Business in the coming weeks. For customers that need additional time to prepare for Skype for Business, Microsoft has prepared PowerShell cmdlets to help pause the rollout for testing.

Resources:

Switching between the Skype for Business and the Lync client user interfaces

Configure the client experience with Skype for Business

Microsoft Offers PowerShell Cmdlets to Pause the Skype for Business/Lync Switchover Scheduled for April 14th

Skype for Business change management and adoption

Skype for Business Protocol Workloads Posters Available for Download

Lync Basic to Get Skype for Business Update on April 14, Too