Archives March 2015

Skype Rooms

Last week Microsoft rebranded Lync into Skype for Business. It was announced that Video Conferencing Solutions – Skype Rooms – will be provided by Polycom. The new series of video collaboration solutions is called Polycom RoundTable®; an affordable and easy-to-use video solution for small and midsized businesses and teams, including voice, video and content collaboration.

Skype and Office 365

Skype for Business will be fully functional in the Cloud. Microsoft is partnering with big telecommunications companies in order to make this possible. Their plan is to integrate Enterprise Voice into Office 365, so that Customers will be able to call people on any phone.

Skype for Business is coming in April and it will be available to Office 365 customers, as well as for on-premises deployments. You’ll be able to connect with your colleagues and with anyone who has a Skype account.

The exact date has not been specified yet, but it was officially announced that Windows 10 will be out this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages and it will be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users for one year after the operating system launches.

So, it will be launched sooner than expected.

Windows 10 will also be available for smartphones and the Xbox One. It will include Windows Hello biometric authentication – providing instant access to your devices. You’ll be able to unlock your devices with your face, fingerprint and iris scan, instead of a password.

For now, you can download the Windows 10 Technical Preview build 10041 here.

Read more about Windows 10 features on our previous blog post ‘Windows 10 – One OS to Rule Them All’.

Next year on April 12th, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 will reach its end of extended support. This means that Microsoft will stop providing updates and all types of support. We recommend that you upgrade to one of the supported Microsoft SQL Server versions – SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2012 or SQL Server 2014.

If you don’t upgrade on time, you may become a target for cybercriminals. Unsupported software can present a potential security issue and business risk. Completely supported versions of SQL Server help to improve the performance of your application platform and also save you money.

Currently there are discounts for licensing. Contact us for more questions about upgrading and migrating to a newer version.

Lync will become Skype for Business officially on March 18^th. Rebranding will bring a new modern UI with elements from Lync and Skype and it will include well known Skype icons for calling and call monitor, possibility of calling any Skype user on any device, etc.

“A new client experience, new server release, and updates to the service in Office 365.”

Users with on-premises Lync servers will have to upgrade Skype for Business manually. For Office 365 for business customers, it will be done automatically.

The seminar was divided into two parts: Introduction to the Cloud and Power BI – Business Analytics; it was presented by Hrvoje Kusulja, the 3 PRO Chief Operating Officer.

Introduction to the Cloud

There was talk about Cloud Services – Azure & Office 365 and their components, with details about installation, licensing, settings, support, upgrades and the advantages of Cloud Services. It was a summary of many of the possibilities that Cloud Services bring to Customers.

Power BI – Business Analytics

Microsoft’s Power BI provides a powerful way of visualizing information, analyzing data from various sources, discovering and exploring millions of data records, reporting and 3D geolocation analysis/correlation.
New Power BI features were also mentioned: interactive dashboards and reports, as well as visualizations and connections to popular SaaS solutions. Mobile PowerBI applications for iPad, iPhone, and Windows Devices were also shown, which enable quick access to corporate data while on the go.

How can we help you?

• Office 365 implementation, migration from the existing system and/or Hybrid co-existence
• Office 365 education
• PowerBI integration with on-premises data sets (SQL Server, Oracle, DB2…)
• Support and maintenance
• SharePoint, CRM and .Net application development for your specific needs
Don’t hesitate to contact us for an individual meeting about Power BI!
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