Microsoft buys Skype for Business management technology from Event Zero

Microsoft is acquiring some assets from Australia-based Event Zero, a vendor of management software for Skype for Business, for an undisclosed amount.

Currently, Event Zero provides management and reporting software for Skype for Business Online, the cloud version of Skype for Business. But in the future, Event Zero's UC Commander technology will be integrated directly into Skype for Business to supplement its built-in management tools, Microsoft officials said.

Microsoft execs announced the acquisition of Event Zero's assets on January 13, citing it as another example of the company's "ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes."

"Our goal is to make the Skype for Business management tools as powerful and easy-to-use for IT professionals as Skype is for end users," said Corporate Vice President of Skype for Business Engineering Zig Serafin, in a blog post.

"In the future, using the technology acquired today, we will be able to add strong diagnostics and troubleshooting capabilities with even more extensive reporting and analytics for online audio, video conferencing and media streams -- all within a unified management and admin system," Serafin added.

Event Zero offers several free and paid tools Paid tools include its Operations product family (which is where UC Commander fits in); its Provisioning line, including a Polycom management suite; and its Dossier analytics offerings. Free tools include Twync, a Twitter to Lync IM bridge; Federation Tester, a remote testing tool for Lync Federation; and an Outlook Contact Federation Finder tool.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson clarified, when asked that it's the UC Commander assets that Microsoft acquired. "UC Commander includes provisioning functions, including support for numbers and desk phones; operations functions, including reporting and alerting; and usage and quality analytics and visualization," the spokesperson said.