​In the era of hybrid work, Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) have become essential for seamless collaboration in conference spaces. Copilot AI enhances these experiences by providing intelligent insights, improved audio-visual quality, and automated productivity tools. This technical blog post dives into the complete set of AI features available for Microsoft Teams Rooms, including prerequisites, step-by-step enabling instructions, and platform-specific considerations. Whether you're an IT admin or a systems integrator, this guide will help you unlock the full potential of AI in your Teams Rooms setup.

In today’s identity-first security landscape, organizations must continuously evaluate and tighten their authentication methods. One such method under scrutiny is device code flow (DCF), a legacy authentication flow that, while useful in certain scenarios, can pose security risks if left unchecked. At the same time, disabling DCF tenant wide can be inconvenient for organizations who have deployed Teams Room on Android devices (MTRA) as DCF presents a convenient method of signing in to Teams on these devices, while also allowing for remote provisioning. Fortunately, Microsoft Entra provides a powerful way to manage and restrict this flow using Conditional Access policies while excluding MTRA devices from this restriction. In this blogpost, we walk through the steps on how to secure legacy login methods while allowing MTRA devices to continue to enjoy the capabilities of DCF.

As hybrid work becomes the norm, organizations are increasingly adopting BYOM (Bring Your Own Meeting) setups to allow users to launch meetings from their personal devices while leveraging in-room AV infrastructure. This guide walks through the integration of HP Poly Gen-2 Android Teams Rooms devices and HP Poly G9Plus Windows MTR PC with the following BYOM solutions:​

• Barco ClickShare CX-30
• Extron SW2 USB Pro (USB switcher)
• Acroname USB Hub (programmable USB switching)
• Inogeni Toggle Rooms

​Microsoft Teams Android devices are transitioning to Intune Android Open Source Project (AOSP) device management. This migration aims to enhance reliability, improve deployment experiences for admins, and pave the way for future innovations in managing Teams devices. Additionally, there are important updates regarding device code flow (DCF) authentication policies to further secure your tenants. Read this blog post to get up to speed on all the latest updates and changes within the last two months. 

Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) devices are the heart of modern meeting spaces, bringing seamless collaboration to your organization. However, managing a fleet of these devices across various locations can be a significant challenge for IT administrators. This is where robust remote access capabilities become indispensable, enabling efficient troubleshooting, configuration, and maintenance without requiring physical presence. This blogpost will explore the insatiable need for remote access on both MTR Windows and MTR Android devices, detailing the primary methods, step-by-step instructions and crucial security considerations.

Microsoft Teams devices running Android are required to be certified under one of the active Certification Programs. These programs cover various device categories, including Teams Phones,
Teams Rooms on Android (including touch consoles), and Teams Panels.The certification process and lifecycle of devices are managed by their respective Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Microsoft supports only those devices certified under these programs. In this post we cover the details of the certification lifecycle for the HP Poly family of Android based video collaboration bars and modular room systems as well as for IP Phones

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) rooms are meeting spaces without native Microsoft Teams Rooms devices and rely on the users' personal laptop or PC for running the meeting. It's a cost-effective way to quickly enable a meeting room for hybrid work. Microsoft now allows BYOD rooms to be managed via the Teams Pro Management Portal (PMP) for inventory, association with peripherals, and usage reporting. in this post we walk through the steps required to enable BYOD management via the PMP.

Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) provides a powerful meeting experience, but many organizations still rely on SIP and H.323-based video conferencing systems (eg.Cisco, Poly). To bridge the gap between Teams and traditional video conferencing, Microsoft offers several interoperability options including Direct Guest Join and partner Cloud Video Interop (CVI) Solutions. In this post, we’ll break down the different methods for connecting SIP/H.323 devices to Teams meetings and how to configure the newest option for Teams Room SIP/H.323 calling using HP CloudConnect powered by Pexip.

Since the early days of Teams Room solutions on both Windows and Android, peripherals devices such as cameras, microphones and speakers have been connected using USB2.0/3.0 standards. The future of AI-assisted work is in creating scalable and manageable room systems by connecting spaces equipped with multiple smart cameras and diverse audio devices using IP connectivity for efficient integration. With the release of PolyOS 4.4, this is now possible with Modular Room (MR), which is HP Poly’s strategy to meeting customer demands for rapid scalability and ease of management for Teams Rooms. This blog post will provide a comprehensive guide to setting up and configuring the Netgear ProAV line of switches for modular room deployments for Teams Rooms.

Microsoft Ignite 2024 just ended with massive feature releases and updates to M365, Azure and AI. It was a tremendous event jam packed the latest innovations geared to take modern work new levels of productivity. For those of us too busy to watch all the live and recorded sessions, here's a quick TL;DR version of 5 important highlights announced at Microsoft Ignite 2024, focused on Teams and Devices. For those who prefer to read the complete version from Microsoft, the link is: ​https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoftteamsblog/what%E2%80%99s-new-in-microsoft-teams--microsoft-ignite-2024/428753 

In August this year Microsoft posted an important announcement in the M365 admin portal Message Center as MC665936 entitled "Device Management Changes for Microsoft Teams Android Devices". Microsoft is introducing a new method for managing Teams Android Devices, transitioning from the legacy Android Device Administrator to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) Device Management. This migration is essential for leveraging new features and functionalities that enhance device management and security, and also because Google has deprecated the Device Administrator API since 2020. The migration will come in the form of a new firmware update to Microsoft Teams Android devices from ODM partners in 2024. The firmware update will move devices from Android device administrator to Android AOSP management. In this blogpost we provide a step-by-step guide on how to prepare the Intune environment for this upcoming migration.

One of the key features that customers have consistently asked for in Teams Room on Android devices is the support for Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP). This protocol simplifies the process of certificate management, making it easier for devices to obtain and manage digital certificates. With PolyOS version 4.3 released in this month of Aug 2024, Poly's range of Teams Room on Android devices comprising of the Studio X family of collaboration bars as well as the G series modular room codecs, SCEP is supported for both the codec and the TC8/10 touch controllers. In this post, we'll dive into the configuration and usage of these SCEP features 

In today’s hybrid work environment, clear communication and effective collaboration are more important than ever. Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows devices now feature AI-powered speaker recognition technology, expanding its capabilities to all microphones, not just intelligent speaker equipment. This is a huge step in bringing Copilot AI functionality into Teams Rooms. In the past, Microsoft required specific Intelligent Speaker hardware to enable this functionality, but this is no longer necessary as any MTR will be able to provide this capability. In this blogpost, we take a first look at this newly released feature for Teams Rooms on Windows and experience how the new cloud-powered AI speaker recognition makes a difference in an actual meeting.

In this blog post, we go over the procedure on how to analyze call and meeting quality for Microsoft Teams Room Android or Windows devices. The Microsoft Teams Admin Center (TAC) has the ability to allow administrators to perform Call Analytics that provides detailed information about calls and meetings for Teams Room devices. It includes data on devices, networks, connectivity, and call quality. This is especially useful for troubleshooting poor call quality for specific devices, isolate problem areas (e.g., network issues, firewall blockage, proxy delays and other latency problems). Sometimes during a particular meeting, users may experience inaudible or broken audio as well as video freezing or no video at all. Call analytics is one of the best tools available to determine the root causes.