Lync Migration Featured Article

AppRiver Makes Unlimited Dial-in Conferencing to Skype for Business Available

By Frank Griffin Contributing Writer

The communication solutions available for businesses now let's them collaborate with their customers, partners and vendors no matter where they are. Skype (News - Alert) for Business is one of the applications that is making this possible for enterprises large and small with personal computers and smart mobile devices that are readily available to virtually everyone. AppRiver, a company that specializes in cyber security and productive services, has just announced it is going to allow its partners to offer a dial-in conferencing option for its Skype for Business service.

Delivering comprehensive IT solutions has now become the norm for many industry players; this includes AppRiver, which originally launched in 2002 as a spam and virus filtering company. Since that time it has continued to evolve by delivering more security services including Web malware protection, email encryption, secure archiving and email continuity.

This next phase of its evolution started by providing Office 365 and Secure Hosted Exchange, which has made it the first large-scale email hosting provider to offer dial-in conferencing as an affordable, optional feature of its Skype for Business service.

In addressing the current state of flux that is taking place in IT, Scott Paul, senior director of AppRiver’s Microsoft Alliance, told Mark Cox (News - Alert) on channelbuzz.ca, “What powered the first ten years of our growth was where we built our own IP, and created our own cloud. We then morphed it a bit to buy IP from Microsoft (News - Alert) in the form of Exchange, and run it in our cloud. At this stage in the lifecycle of the CSP program and Microsoft’s transition to being a services company, it impacts the fundamental nature of how we bring new products to market as AppRiver.”

With this new Dial-in Conferencing service, customers can initiate conference calls on their computers, cell phones or land lines for small and large audiences at prices that are much lower than premium services. And as part of the Microsoft ecosystem, they'll be able to manage these conversations from tools they are familiar with, such as Outlook desktop and Web clients. This is on top of the secure instant messaging, screen, file and application sharing capabilities Skype for Business already provides.

Companies that are not able to think differently by incorporating technologies from other vendors with the solutions they provide will experience rough times ahead. Paul added, “When we built a new security product, everyone knew it was a fit because we were a security company. Now we are confronted with a choice. Do we want to sell things like dial tone and voice services?”

Edited by Alicia Young