The Basic features of Skype for Business include: •
Instant messaging (IM) • Audio calls • Video calls • Desktop sharing Advanced features relate to integration with other
Microsoft software: • Availability of contacts based on
Microsoft Outlook contacts stored in a
Microsoft Exchange Server • Users can retrieve contact lists from a local directory service such as Microsoft Exchange Server •
Microsoft Office can show if other people are working on the same document • All communication between the clients takes place through a
Skype for Business Server. This makes communications more secure, as messages do not need to leave the corporate intranet, unlike with the Internet-based
Windows Live Messenger. The server can be set to relay messages to other instant messaging networks, avoiding installation of extra software at the client side. • A number of client types are available for Microsoft Skype for Business, including mobile clients. • Uses
SIP as the basis for its client communication protocol • Offers support for
TLS and
SRTP to encrypt and secure signaling and media traffic • Allows sharing files Note: With the release of Lync Server 2013 in October 2012, a new collaboration feature "Persistent Group Chat" which allows multi-party chat with preservation of content between chat sessions was introduced. However, only the native Windows OS client and no other platform supports this feature at this time. The main new features of this version are the addition of real-time multi-client
collaborative software capabilities, (which allow teams of people to see and simultaneously work on the same documents and communications session). Lync and Skype for Business implement these features as follows: • Collaboration through Whiteboard documents, where the participants have freedom to share text, drawing and graphical annotations. • Collaboration through
PowerPoint documents, where the participants can control and see presentations, as well as allow everybody to add text, drawing and graphical annotations. • Polling lists, where Presenters can organize polls and all participants can vote and see results. • Desktop sharing, usually by allowing participants to see and collaborate on a Windows screen • Windows applications sharing, by allowing participants to see and collaborate on a specific application. All collaboration sessions get automatically defined as conferences, where clients can invite more contacts. Conference initiators (usually called "organizers") can either promote participants to act as presenters or demote them to act as attendees. They can also define some basic policies about what presenters and attendees can see and do. Deeper details of policy permissions are defined at server level. Following Microsoft's acquisition of Skype in May 2011, the Lync and Skype platforms could be connected, but sometimes only after lengthy provisioning time.
Extensions Skype for Business uses a number of extensions to the SIP/
SIMPLE instant-messaging protocol for some features. As with most instant-messaging platforms, non-Microsoft instant-messaging clients that have not implemented these publicly available extensions Text instant-messaging in a web browser is available via Skype for Business integration within Exchange Outlook Web App. Although other IM protocols such as
AIM and
Yahoo! do have wider support by third-party clients, these protocols have been largely reverse-engineered by outside developers. Microsoft does offer details of its extensions on
MSDN and provides an
API kit to help developers build platforms that can interoperate with Skype for Business Server and clients. ==Clients==