Microsoft To Enforce Teams Rooms Device Licenses

After July 1, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will block meeting devices with a user license from signing in.

Microsoft will start enforcing Teams Rooms device licenses on July 1, according to the vendor.

Partners need to replace Microsoft 365 and Office 365 user licenses assigned to Teams Rooms meeting devices with a Teams Rooms license before that date. Rooms devices are also not supported by Microsoft Teams Shared Device licenses.

After July 1, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will block meeting devices with a user license from signing in.

[RELATED: Move Over Webex: Microsoft Teams To Be Available On Cisco Meeting Devices]

CRN has reached out to Microsoft for comment.

Kelly Yeh, president of Chantilly, Va.-based Microsoft partner Phalanx Technology Group, told CRN in an interview that Teams Rooms have been an opportunity for his customers exploring permanent hybrid work or a relaxed teleworking model.

“Let’s repurpose some of these offices into larger meeting spaces and then add a Teams Room to that,” Yeh said. “Then that way it becomes – these are breakout rooms. This is when you have to have your people together to have meetings. But they can also then invite external people into those meetings. Client-facing things. That’s how we also cost-justify certain operational efficiencies.”

Yeh said that if Microsoft is exploring how to adjust licensing for devices, he would like to see a model that makes licensing made simpler for MSPs used to pricing per seat.

“We have to create a list of service accounts and a list of actual users, charge out the per-user fees accordingly,” Yeh said. “And then, sometimes we’re still trying to figure out that differential pricing for the service accounts because – sometimes I have to reset the password. Sometimes I have to get permissions into those accounts for different users or remote users.”

Teams Room devices include Crestron soundbars, Yealink 4k MeetingBoard touch screens and Lenovo ThinkSmart cameras.

The following licenses support Teams Rooms:

*Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro

*Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic

*Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard (legacy)

*Microsoft Teams Rooms Premium (legacy)

Basic licenses include 25 maximum licenses, Teams, audio conferencing and Microsoft Whiteboard. Pro has unlimited licenses and adds in Teams Phone, Microsoft Intune, Azure Active Directory Premium Plan 1 and Skype for Business Plan 2. Pro is $40 a room a month.

Basic includes Teams Admin Center enrollment and inventory plus automatic software updates, while Pro adds in detailed system and configuration information, peripheral health management, device analytics and other device management features.

For meetings, Basic allows ad hoc meetings and direct guest join for Zoom and Webex meetings. Pro adds room check-in with Teams Panel.

Pro is available for partner-led new commerce experience (NCE) commitments, Enterprise Agreement (EA), Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) and other channels.

Pro adds in a shared whiteboard with Content Capture Camera capability, together mode, a gallery of up to 50 videos, dual screen support, a Microsoft 365 phone system, multi-camera support, noise suppression powered by artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent speaker live transcript support and Azure Active Directory (AD) conditional access policies, among other capabilities, according to Microsoft.