Skype for Business Server 2019 on Roadmap

• Skype for Business Server 2019 will be primarily for on-premises customers who need more time to migrate to Teams.
• Improvements focus on hybrid scenarios, with no improvements slated for solely on-premises scenarios.
• Customers migrating to Teams in the near future will probably skip this version.

Skype for Business Server 2019 was announced in Sept. 2017, with a preview made available in July 2018 alongside previews of Exchange Server and SharePoint Server. The few new features are limited to hybrid deployments, where customers combine an on-premises Skype for Business Server installation with Teams or other Microsoft-hosted services. Most organizations should consider upgrading to Skype for Business Server 2019 only if they must run Skype for Business Server on-premises longer than their current version will be supported.

Skype for Business 2019 Preview

Teams, Microsoft’s hosted service for chat, voice and video meetings, telephony, and workplace collaboration, is slated to replace Skype for Business Online and is the main focus of Microsoft’s communication and collaboration strategy. That leaves Skype for Business Server 2019 with a limited set of goals: