Skype for Business and Office 365 Cloud PBX support on VVX phones with UC Software 5.4.0 Rev A

[Peter Huboi (poly_peterh)]

It’s here—UC Software 5.4.0 Rev A (UCS 5.4.0A)—the Polycom software many Microsoft voice customers have been waiting for.  In March 2015, Microsoft and Polycom announced that “Polycom’s VVX business media phones will be the first phones to support PSTN calling in Office 365”.  As the Office 365 Cloud PBX “preview” currently underway expands to include phones, the Polycom VVX phones being deployed will be running UCS 5.4.0A. While some might refer to 5.4.0A unofficially as Polycom’s “Office 365 software release”, 5.4.0A is also the first “Polycom supported” software release for VVX phones deployed on Skype for Business Server 2015 (on premises).

Polycom introduces features in 5.4.0A that improve the user experience and make phones easier to provision and manage with Office 365 Cloud PBX deployments running Skype for Business Online. Better Together over Ethernet (BToE) is now easier to install. Administrators can install the BToE application to the user’s computer with a single download package. Administrators can also directly manage phone configuration settings in the Web Configuration utility through BToE.  Another enhancement allows existing VVX phone features like access to calendars, message waiting indicators, and synchronized call logs to work with Exchange Web Services for Office 365. When it comes time to migrate users, the new Office 365 User Migration feature allows administrators to migrate user information from a Lync on-premises solution to an Office 365 on-line solution (or vice versa). Other enhancements in this software release support the ability to use and manage VVX phones in Office 365 environments. For a complete list of the feature enhancements in UCS 5.4.0A, download the latest Polycom UC Software Feature Summary. To download the 5.4.0A software, go to the Polycom support page for Polycom® UC Software for Microsoft Deployments.