Microsoft Discontinue SBC Support for PBX

Microsoft to discontinue session boarder controller (SBC) support for PBX systems accessing Office 365.

18:45 30 July 2017

Microsoft has announced that starting July 2018, it will no longer provide session border controller (SBC) support for PBX systems accessing Office 365. This means that users of Exchange Online Unified Messaging (UM) will require an alternative method to connect voicemail with outlook.

 

In its announcement, Microsoft said that only “a small number of customers are affected by this change.” It also offers four alternative options for affected organisations.

 

Commenting on the announcement, Paul Cunningham, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, said: "I see this simply as part of Microsoft's grand strategy to jettison legacy platforms and solutions that are complex and not highly profitable, and focus on services like Cloud PBX that they can deliver more efficiently,"

 

Jeff Guillet, a Microsoft certified solutions master and Microsoft MVP, added that Microsoft’s move will mean that it will no longer have to rely on “a third-party system” that’s difficult to manage. He added that providing affected companies just one year to move is “asking a lot” since the switchover will likely to affect large companies.

 

Meanwhile, AVST, a Microsoft Gold partner on Skype for Business and Exchange, and a voicemail pioneer, offers organisations quick and efficient transition solution.

 

Denny Michael, senior vice president of sales and marketing at AVST, said: "The company goes back over 30 years and we were one of the folks that brought voicemail to the marketplace. We've been around for a long time, and we primarily service the enterprise space. We're very strong in healthcare, state and local government, regulated industries, higher education and other horizontal industries as well."