Microsoft is unlocking the "Full Potential" of Private Channels in Microsoft Teams: What You Need to Know

It has been a while since I posted something just about a Microsoft Teams update, as a lot have been Copilot in Teams to be honest. But here is a real Microsoft Teams update I think is worth knowing about, and it involves Security and Compliance as well. Microsoft is rolling out a "major" update to private channels in Teams, starting in late September 2025 and continuing through mid-December. This biggest change in this update is a shift in how private channel data is stored from individual user mailboxes to a dedicated channel mailbox. Not only will this simplifie compliance management, it will also and align private channels with shared channels, making governance and experience more consistent across Teams. This update promises to increase the support up to 1000 channels per team and 5000 members per channel, removing previous limitations. Teams will also allow meetings to be scheduled directly within private channels, enhancing collaboration.  For organizations using Micr...

Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition in now available

Back in December 2015, Microsoft announced the availability of (among other things) Cloud-PBX. This was in effect only available for US customers, where O365 has native support for dial-in and dial-out. Or for customers which already have a Skype for Business on premises in hybrid mode.

To speed up the process of offering Cloud-PBX to countries where O365 does not yet have native dialing capabilities, and/or do not have their own on premises Skype for Business deployment, Microsoft have developed the Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition.

The Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition (CCE) is a collection of VM's through which you may connect O365 to your local PBX or SIP trunk, and thus have users in O365 have Enterprise Voice capability.

The CCE has been released for general availability as of today (Monday April 11 - 9A,M,)


If you already have a Local Skype for Business deployment in hybrid mode (or are about to turn on the hybrid feature), you do not need to deploy the CCE as you may use the hybrid deployment in the same way. In fact, you can't have both a hybrid deployment and a CCE running of the same tenant.