Microsoft have announced several new updates for telephony within Microsoft Teams. These include services such as Operator Connect and Managed SBC from Metaswitch as well as updates on calling features and hardware.

Operator Connect

Operator Connect will become generally available this week, allowing organizations to enable PSTN services in Teams with participating operators. If you already have an existing agreement with one of the listed providers then you can keep that agreement. But if you are looking for a new operator simply select from a list of partners within the “Operators” tab in the Teams admin center.

In addition to the operator partners that were announced earlier this year, Microsoft have announced that AT&T, Colt, Gamma, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Optus, Singtel, Telefonica Global Solutions, Telia, and Telstra International are available as Operator Connect partners.

Managed SBC by Metaswitch

The Microsoft company Metaswitch recently announced Managed SBC for Operator Connect, a service built on the Microsoft-certified Perimeta SBC that fulfills the multi-tenant, operator-hosted SBC requirement for operators participating in Operator Connect. This service addresses configuration, provisioning, scaling and operations functions; supported by a dedicated virtual Network Operations Center (vNOC) providing 24/7 support, and deployed in the operator’s Azure tenant.

Microsoft Teams Calling Plans market expansion

Microsoft Teams Calling Plans are a simple way to make Microsoft your operator and provide phone numbers and PSTN service to your users – right from the Teams Admin Center, without any hardware requirements. Microsoft have announced that they are expanding Microsoft Teams Calling Plans into 5 new countries – Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia – bringing the total coverage to 33 countries.

Enhanced and innovative calling capabilities

Microsoft have improved their calling capabilities within Microsoft Teams with the addition of features that identify potential spam callers and improvements to the seamless transition of calls between your devices. Also confirmed are 1:1 transcoding and call recording as well as Teams support for Apple CarPlay.

Device Updates

Microsoft have also confirmed the addition of hardware such as the Logi Dock from Logitech. An all in one docking solution designed to improve your home working setup. With calendar integration that can track your teams meetings ( It lights up when a meeting is about to start ). It also allows you to join meetings with a single press of a button.

There are far more Microsoft Teams features to look at and I encourage you to head over to the Teams blog HERE to see the full announcement.

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