Microsoft Teams Rooms and Teams Panels

• Direct Guest Join for BlueJeans and GoToMeeting, expected to roll out in the first half of 2022.
• New ability to “check-in” to a room from a Teams panel is coming
• Room occupancy sensors will soon be able to integrate with Teams panels,
• Check-in and room occupancy sensors will  allow unused rooms to be “released” back to being available
• Microsoft is now positioning Teams Room on the Surface hub as being a “proper” Teams Room experience
• Hotdesking on Teams Display is coming on the Lenovo Thinksmart view by the end of the year

Native Bluetooth support coming for select certified headsets, meaning no need for a dongle

Limited information on this so far, but it will be a specific subset of devices.

Microsoft Teams device management in Teams Admin Center

• Scoped Admin roles for device admins are coming, allowing the New York team to only manage New York Teams Devices
• Improvements in device health monitoring – change the severity of an issue
• “Workspace” view will let you manage all the devices in a logical workspace, coming soon.
• Device Analytics – single pane tenant overview of multiple device metrics complete with alerting, coming soon.

Teams device management through Graph APIs

ISVs and device vendors with management platforms have been asking for this, Graph APIs for device management, allowing device configuration, the current health, and the current activity, restart, software update, and downloading logs

Teams survivable branch appliance (SBA) support on Teams phones

support for Teams Phones with survivable branch appliances is due this month. Feature ID: 68944

SIP Gateway

SIP Gateway will become generally available this month for compatible SIP phone models, enabling core Teams calling functionality on legacy phones from Cisco, Poly, Yealink, and AudioCodes. Capabilities include inbound & outbound calls, call transfer, audio conference, dial into meetings, device-based Do Not Disturb, and voicemail with message waiting indicators. Below are the compatible devices.

These devices will be managed in the Teams Admin Center, expected December 2021.

The following are supported initially:

• Cisco IP Phones with MPP firmware (6821, 7800 series, 8800 series)
• Polycom SIP phones (VVX series 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 etc.)
• Yealink (T20 series, T30 series, T40 series, T50 series)
• AudioCodes 400 HD series

Bose partner with Lenovo

Bose has partnered up with Lenovo. All Bose Work products can be coupled with Lenovo™ ThinkSmart™ Core + Controller solutions in Microsoft Teams Rooms, to simplify meetings and seamlessly connect with one-touch control.

More details here

Crestron

The M70 and MX70 solutions will soon ship with the Huddly L1 camera.

EPOS

EPOS and AudioCodes have partnered to enable the management of EPOS devices directly in the AudioCodes One Voice Operations Center (OVOC) solution. The integration includes remote deployments of firmware and configurations, as well as data insights to track EPOS device adoption

HP

HP recently announced a new suite of bundles designed for meeting spaces of any size – from huddle rooms to large meeting spaces. The HP Presence Meeting Space Solution kits will work with Microsoft Teams Rooms, pending certification, and includes an HP Presence Mini PC and an HP Presence Control Center. For audio and video, customers can select from a 4K AI camera, an Audio Video Bar with audio custom-tuned by Bang & Olufsen, and HP Presence Talk Satellite Microphones for larger room deployments.

Jabra

Launched their Evolve2 75 “The new standard for hybrid working”. Interestingly they have both the beamforming mics and a neat fold away boom for when you really need it. 25% more noise cancelling than the Evolve 75, dedicated teams button and inbuilt busy light. These also achieve the “Premium Microphone for Open Office” certification, this means they are particularly suitable for nosier open office environments and will not transmit the sound of your office neighbours.  To see which devices have been certified for the open office standard, filter the Microsoft devices page by “Open Office” in the space category.

Jabra is also partnering with Lenovo, bundling the Jabra PanaCast 50 and Lenovo ThinkSmart Core solution, more here

They also recently released their Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working 2021 Global Report

Logitech

Logitech announced their Logitech Tap Scheduler Teams panel, still pending certification. More here

Poly

Hi Tom – Today, Poly unveiled its updated Poly Room Solutions for Microsoft Teams Rooms. This new line-up is formed of Studio kits, with a Studio Focus Room Kit, Studio Small-Medium Room Kit, and Studio Large Room Kit. These are available with both Dell and Lenovo compute options

• Poly Studio Focus Room Kit for Microsoft Teams on Windows – Includes Poly Studio P15 and Poly Room PC for Microsoft Teams Room with Dell, or Lenovo
• Poly Studio Small/Medium Room Kit for Microsoft Teams on Windows – Includes Poly Studio USB and Poly Room PC for Microsoft Teams Room with Dell, or Lenovo
• Poly Studio Large Room Kit for Microsoft Teams on Windows – Includes Poly Studio E70, Poly Room PC for Microsoft Teams Room with Dell, or Lenovo

Sennheiser

In early 2022, Sennheiser will join EPOS and Yealink in the intelligent speaker category with an AI-enabled speaker optimized for mid-size Teams Rooms (up to 10 people) and able to provide smart, focused, and inclusive meeting environments through attributed live transcription capabilities.

Yealink

At Ignite the Yealink deskVision AIO24 was announced. a large 24-inch display can be used as a standalone device for Teams collaboration or connected to your PC as a second screen. This device is expected to be available in early 2022.

Check out the Ignite session: Enabling inclusive hybrid meetings with Microsoft Teams and Teams devices