PBX

On July 18, 2017, Microsoft announced that it will no longer support the use of Session Border Controllers (SBCs) and SIP integration to connect third-party PBXs/Telephony systems to Exchange Online Unified Messaging (UM). This means that Office 365 customers will no longer be able to directly connect third-party PBX systems with Exchange Online UM and will have to implement an alternative approach in order to provide voicemail or unified messaging to their users.

Unified messaging (UM) had its heyday in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and many workers still rely on it today. Last week, Microsoft announced that starting in July 2018, they will no longer support the use of Session Border Controllers (SBC) to connect third-party PBX systems to Exchange Online Unified Messaging (UM). This means that many Microsoft customers will be seeking an alternative Unified Messaging solution.

Year-end seems to bring reflection on how we got here and where we're going. Here's this year's version.

Mitel is going through some changes, as the company launches a new corporate brand. Having seen tremendous growth in the past year and a half, as well as an increased market presence and scope of offerings, it's time for a change, and Mitel hopes its new brand will reflect its metamorphosis.

The vertically-integrated silo of the PBX is obsolete. A like-for-like replacement of any PBX - TDM or IP - should be challenged before making any investments. We saw this happen with mainframe computers several decades ago (See "Only the Paranoid Survive" by Andy Grove, Chairman Emeritus, Intel). Now it has happened with PBXs, the mainframes of voice communications. So, what would you buy instead?

Some PBX professionals familiar with Cisco or Avaya phone systems are under the impression that if you add Lync voice to the environment, the administrative complexities could outweigh the benefits. "You'd have to create and maintain two dial plans," they often say. Less is more, oftentimes, but before dismissing the notion, consider the benefits of adding Lync to an existing PBX environment.

Lync is connected to existing PBXs for two reasons:

For centuries, commerce happened on "Main Street," where the foot traffic and horse traffic passed the retail vendors' stalls, shops or storefronts. Then new forms of transportation and communication came along and reduced Main Streets to an ancillary status in commerce and society.

When I speak with enterprise customers and resellers about unified communications, two of the biggest issues and challenges mentioned are interoperability and security. Most organizations, especially those that have gone through mergers and acquisitions, have multiple PBXs and switches that need to be integrated together, and demand a safe and secure environment for their business communications. One solution to both of these issues is the use of Session Border Controllers (SBCs), which establish trusted connections at both ends of the IP session, as well as authenticated identity.