On September 25, 2017, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business would be discontinued in the future in favor of Microsoft Teams, a cloud-based collaboration platform for corporate groups (comparable to Slack) integrating persistent messaging, video conferencing, file storage, and application integration. Microsoft released a final on-premises version of Skype for Business Server as part of Office 2019 in late 2018, and announced in July 2019 that the hosted Skype for Business Online will cease functioning on July 31, 2021. Since September 2019, Skype for Business Online is no longer offered to new Office 365 subscribers, and are being directed to Microsoft Teams instead. Skype for Business Server 2019 is supported through October 14, 2025.