BT (the company formerly known as British Telecom), in collaboration with Microsoft, has launched its enterprise-class hosted Microsoft Lync UC platform pilot for U.S. customers out of its Irvine, Texas, data center.

BT already supported managed Microsoft Lync services by way of its BT One portfolio; this just adds a cloud component to its services. Each pilot instance supports 250 users, and includes the full range of Lync capabilities, from IM to web conferencing to VoIP.

According to the press release, the pilots are designed for 90-day Lync trial periods, during which BT staff will consult with the customer and get a better sense of customer needs as the customer tries out the product. A specialized team will provide professional services that include picking out Lync-compatible endpoints, working through the planning stages and helping customers choose whether they should go with a long-term hosted Lync deployment or an on-premises systems integration.

Jason Cook, chief architect and CTO, CPG and U.S. and Canada, BT Global Services (and another candidate for having the world’s longest business title), explained the value proposition of this pilot in that same press release:

In other words, the overall idea is to let prospective Lync customers try before they buy, while simultaneously upselling them on the real deal. Probably a smart move.

Notably absent from BT’s press release is any mention of Office 365, Microsoft’s SaaS cornerstone that includes a cloud version of Lync as a major component, and which BT resells. I suspect this program, and the pursuant services, are intended mostly for customers with more stringent requirements than Office 365 can provide.