Microsoft, a company that never stop looking for new ways to break down the barriers between those working in the office and those working remotely. This week at Microsoft’s annual conference, Ignite, we’re excited to share some of those innovations that has been announced to the general public on the latest updates to Microsoft Teams Rooms – whether you’re an end user or IT admin.
The deployment of Teams Rooms is about to become swifter, marking just the initial phase of Microsoft’s efforts to simplify tasks for your IT department or deployment partners. Microsoft is introducing more AI-enhanced features that work with your existing devices and Teams Rooms are going to be more affordable than ever, making it an even easier upgrade to your traditional BYOD rooms.
Cackle is a New Zealand MSP who work closely with Microsoft on voice and video services. We serve as your consultants for meeting room and telephony technology. Reach out to us to explore how we can assist in enhancing your in-office and external meeting collaborations.
Let’s dive right in and explore the latest updates to Microsoft Teams rooms (Nov 2023) that has been announced so far!
New Features for Teams Rooms on Windows
Join meeting fast with ultrasonic proximity
For those in the office, Microsoft is improving the ways you can join a meeting from a companion device. You can join through ultrasonic proximity, an alternative to Bluetooth that limits range for the physical room, making it easier and faster to select the correct room from the pre-join screen. Also, meetings are more secure because only people in the room can join the meeting. This feature is available now.
Bring people together with Teams Live Events and Teams Town Hall
The newly announced Teams Town Hall is coming to Teams Rooms next year. Until then, Teams Rooms will enable participation in Teams Live Events. With companies being globally dispersed, virtual events have remained a critical way to connect and bring people together regardless of where they are located, so we’re pleased to offer this new way to connect in Teams Rooms. This feature is available now.
Surface Hub 3 now runs Teams Rooms on Windows
The first announcement made on Surface Hub changing to a MTRoW system was in September 2023. During Ignite, Microsoft has confirmed that Surface Hub 3 has joined the family as a touch board running Teams Rooms on Windows. This includes support for long-requested features like persistent chat and the Front Row layout, which looks beautiful on the 85-inch screen. And moving forward, all newly released Teams Rooms on Windows features will be available right away on Surface Hub. In-market Surface Hub 2S devices can upgrade to the full Surface Hub 3 experience with the Surface Hub 3 Pack.
4K device support
Surface Hub is the first device to support the 4K experience from Teams Room on Windows, and support for more 4K devices will be coming soon to OEM vendors. This is extremely exciting to see because going forward the 4K TVs that is installed in the meeting rooms will truly reflect the video quality captured by many of the certified 4K-AI camera.
New video feed and gallery configuration for Teams Rooms on Windows
Microsoft continue to optimize viewing configurations for in-person and remote users for Teams Room on Windows. Front Row got an update with in-person meeting attendees to enjoy an optimized experience – When there is no content being shared, the active speaker will be prominently be featured on the main window instead. This feature is available now.
New Features for Teams Rooms on Android
Enhanced console calendar
Reserve a space instantly with QR Code
Microsoft Teams Rooms is now the future of meeting rooms
Microsoft Teams Rooms is a powerful tool that brings together the best features of Microsoft 365 and state-of-the-art hardware to create a seamless and productive meeting environment. As the team in Redmond, Washington continue to strive to make improvements and implementing new features to the latest updates to Microsoft Teams Rooms, there are multitude of reasons that this can benefit your organization in the long run. If you haven’t equip your meeting space with a Microsoft Teams Rooms solution, it’s time to consider and elevate your collaboration experience to a new height.
Cackle is an end to end Microsoft Teams Rooms solutions specialist. From initial consultation, design and installation, we can do it all! We’re here to kickstart your journey to take your meeting experience to the next level, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us today!
