Microsoft Australia partners welcome Skype for Business PSTN Conferencing

Microsoft announced that Skype for Business PSTN Conferencing will be available in Australia from 1 September.

According to a blog post on Microsoft's website, the combination of PSTN conferencing and Office 365 will deliver a comprehensive solutions for meetings, large or small.

"Participants can use a dial-in number to join Skype for Business meetings from any device. They can also dial-out to bring other participants into the meeting," said Fiona Sims, Microsoft Australia applications and services lead.

Nathan Chapman, chief technology officer of Melbourne-based Generation-e, told CRN that there would be a rapid return in investment with the solution.

"We are excited we've had a lot of conversations with customers about deploying Skype for Business and there is a lot of interest. With Skype for Business PSTN Conferencing, they can provide one cloud-based solution that allows for customers and partners to dial in, all in one solution," said Chapman.

Generation-e is an UC consulting firm that was established in 2003. A Microsoft gold partner, Generation-e claims to have more Microsoft certified masters than any other company in Asia- Pacific behind Microsoft

Chapman mention some add-ons available with the solution, including: the ability to dial in using local Australian numbers; meeting organisers can dial out to bring domestic participants into a meeting; and the consumption billing that allows to dial international calls or provide meeting participants with a toll free number.

Users will have less need for expensive on-premises hardware with a per user fee on a monthly billing.

Justin Morris, Australian country manager for Skype partner Modality Systems, said the company had been anticipating the local launch since it went live in the US in December 2015.

"This is going to deliver a lot of value for Office 365 customers. Users will be able to invite participants to meeting from their phones wherever they are."

Morris said there would be a great advantage for business as they try to manage different meeting services and hardware across their business. "The opportunity for Modality Systems is that we can share with our customers our global expertise in cloud meeting and voice. We can now experience what other countries have been experiencing for the past six months or so.

"This is the last piece in the puzzle for customers to get value out of meeting in Office 365. It allows them to be fully collaborating in the cloud," said Morris.

Modality Systems is the Microsoft 2016 Partner of the Year for Communications and is a finalist on the 2016 Microsoft Australia Partner Awards (MAPA).