Microsoft’s unified communication product Lync is all set for rebranding and in 2015 it will be known as ‘Skype for Business’, the company has said.
The news was confirmed by Giovanni Mezgec, the general manager of product marketing for Skype, who said that in early 2015 Microsoft is set to release a new version of its unified communication product and with that it will lay to rest the ‘Lync’ name and rebrand it as ‘Skype for Business’. Mezgec also revealed that ‘Skype for Business’ will have a new server option as well.
This means that early 2015 will see release of new version of Skype for Business client, Skype for Business on-premises server and Skype for Business online service.
Rebranding isn’t the only thing that Microsoft is doing in Skype for Business. Microsoft will also change the user interface so that it looks a lot more like Skype and to do this it will use Skype icons for calling, adding video and enabling a call.
There will be a ‘call monitor’ window as well allowing users to keep an active call visible inside a small window while they are focusing on something else.
Users have been long wondering why Microsoft was keeping two similar products alive since the functionality of both of these overlapped a great deal. Mezgec said that they are taking all the usability of Lync and combining it with Skype.
“We have learned tons [with Lync],” Mezgec said. “We’re taking that and putting it all that into Skype for Business.”
