Microsoft have recently made the announcement that support will be withdrawn, as of July 2018, for third-party PBX systems (Cisco, Avaya, Siemens etc.) to leverage Exchange Online Unified Messaging (UM) via a Session Border Controller (SBC).

Today, as shown below, many organisations provide voicemail functionality via Exchange Online UM to the end users mailbox or telephone device whilst continuing to use their third-party PBX for call control functionality.

Removal of Microsoft SBCs

Based upon the announced change, customers have under a calendar year to complete the migration to one of the following supported topologies:

  • Migration from a third-party PBX to Office 365 Cloud PBX
  • Migration from a third-party PBX to Skype for Business Server (On Premise or Hosted)
  • Implementation of Cloud Connector Edition
  • Implementation of a software based connector, connecting the PBX to Skype for Business Server (On Premise or Hosted)
  • The final option is to implement a third-party voicemail system, removing the dependency upon Exchange Online

The following topology will continue to be supported:

  • Skype for Business Server leveraging Exchange Online UM
  • Third-party PBX systems connecting to Exchange Online UM via an API and NOT an SBC
  • All forms of Exchange Server UM (on-premise)

Unsure of what to do next? Feel free to get in touch and we would be happy to talk through the available options in more detail with you!

 

 

 

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