Even with Microsoft's Aussie data centres, hybrid UC is best

Skype for Business Online is the latest version of what was formerly Lync Online, Microsoft’s first-party cloud service to for its unified communications platform.

Lync online has been around for several years, offering Australian customers a subset of the full on-premise feature set of the Lync platform from Microsoft’s South East Asian data centres.

During that time we have worked with several customers who have used the service, mostly for instant messaging and presence. Some of the customers that used the audio/video features in the past experienced poor quality, particularly with multi-party conferencing. This was largely due to network performance issues when media needed to be routed via the Microsoft data centres in South East Asia.

Because of this we have had to migrate some customers back to an on-premise solution to achieve the outcome they wanted.

I am a big believer in cloud services and I encourage all of our customers to consider moving as many workloads as possible to the cloud. Historically, moving IT services from on-premise to cloud often meant a compromise on features, but today I see the opposite in many cases.

There are many features in Office 365 that are not available in the on-premise equivalents, and may never be. While there are several features of Skype for Business that are not available yet in the cloud service, we are now seeing some unique features that only the cloud service (or at least a hybrid) can offer, such Skype Broadcast Meetings (currently in preview).

As part of the Skype for Business announcements and public roadmap, Microsoft has described its intent to provide more of the on-premise features to be made available in the online version of the product, including Enterprise Voice (Microsoft’s term for modern PBX-like functionality). It is worth noting that this is not Microsoft’s first attempt to provide “Cloud PBX” features, there were a couple of seemingly unsuccessful programs in Lync 2013 dubbed “Hybrid Voice” and “Lync to Phone”.

It seems there has been some confusion in the market about the timing of these new features. This is probably because some of them will initially be available in the USA only, also there are two distinct models for “Cloud PBX” and both models will still not have many of the features available in the on-premise version. Skype meetings with PSTN conferencing (without requiring a third-party provider) is another really valuable service that is coming to the Microsoft cloud service.

Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling

This is where Microsoft will provide phone numbers, phone lines and telephony features from Office 365. While this currently offers only a subset of on-premises Enterprise Voice features, and only in limited regions, both features and regions will expand over time. This feature is currently in preview for US customers only.

It is important to understand that in order to deliver this service Microsoft needs to become a licensed carrier/telco in each market that it operates. This is not a trivial task, and involves significant regulatory and even tax compliance challenges, all of which differ from country to country.

Currently we expect Western Europe to be the next region after to USA to get this service, with other regions to follow. I don’t expect this service to be available in Australia until 2017.

Cloud PBX with on-premises PSTN connectivity

This service allows users in Skype for Business online to utilise PSTN connectivity via on-premises PBX, SIP Trunk, or qualified gateway to E1 (ISDN) lines. Since this model does not require Microsoft to be a licensed carrier/telco, it will be available in Australian and other regions earlier than Cloud PBX with PSTN Calling.

Currently I expect this service to be available in Australia late 2015 or early 2016. This model will required some on-premise Skype for Business infrastructure, but not a full deployment. It is worth noting that although this model uses some on-premise infrastructure, it will still be limited in PBX features compared to an on-premise or hybrid deployment. For example, Response Groups will not be available initially in either Cloud PBX model. Features will be added over time though.

PSTN Conferencing

With “PSTN conferencing,” Microsoft will provide PSTN numbers to dial in to and out from Skype for Business meetings. PSTN users will directly connect to the Skype Meeting. Only users hosted in Skype for Business online can use this feature.  PSTN conferencing is currently in Preview for US only.

Key steps to cloud communication

I see a few critical steps on Microsoft’s journey to providing enterprise-ready, cloud UC services to Australia.

1. Local data centres to minimise latency between users and the cloud services. This is particularly important for real-time communications. This has been achieved with the availability of Australian data centres. Although some Office 365 workloads could still be operating from data centres in other regions, so organisations should be sure to confirm if and when the Skype for Business workload of their Office 365 tenancy is actually running in Australian data centre.

2. Providing customers with a reliable way to connect to the cloud UC services and delivering a consistent user experience. This is what Microsoft is providing with ExpressRoute for Office 365

3. Gaining the appropriate regulatory approval to operate as a licensed carrier. This will probably take some time yet.

4. Providing appropriate services and features that customers require.

My advice and approach to most organisations deploying or upgrading to Skype for Business today is to establish a hybrid with a full on-premise (on-premise could also be a dedicated instance in a partner or carriers data centre) deployment plus integration with the online service.

This will provide a no-compromise solution with the ability to leverage new, cloud-only features such as Skype Broadcast Meetings and allow a seamless transition to the online services as the appropriate features become available in our region.

Nathan Chapman is CTO of Generation-e, one of Australia's leading Microsoft communications partners. Nathan is one of only a handful of Microsoft Certified Masters, Communications, in Australia.