Revelations about Microsoft Teams rooms and devices from the InfoComm 2024 conference

At InfoComm 2024, Microsoft introduced various updates and improvements to the Teams Room app and devices.

Teams rooms and devices will receive new meeting analytics, artificial intelligence technology for remote workers, and improved workplace solutions.

The tech giant also paid tribute to its partners and software developers, including a new partnership with Barco, which plans to use the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) in all future devices.

InfoComm is North America’s largest AV trade show offering products, talks, educational sessions and networking opportunities for people working in audio, video conferencing and collaboration, educational technology, events, streaming, digital signage and enterprise IT.

Kelly Johnson, senior product marketing manager at Microsoft Teamsintroduced the latest wave of changes via the Microsoft Blog, as well as commenting on Microsoft’s plans to further modernize the “Connected Workplace.”

“As the connected workplace evolves, our goal is to lead innovation.

“From coordinating and connecting with colleagues in the office with Microsoft Places, to speaker recognition that gives everyone a voice in Teams rooms, to immersive, virtual Mesh meeting spaces in Teams, we are breaking new ground in finding ways for people to connect at work .

“Thanks to IT, we provide valuable information about space planning, its use and organizational needs.

“We are excited about the future and committed to seamlessly integrating AI into our solutions, helping our customers become more efficient, creative, productive and connected.”

A meeting with the intelligentsia

According to a related Microsoft blog post by Johnson, 48 percent of knowledge workers now work from home at least one day a week, yet effectively capturing insights from hybrid meetings can still be a challenge.

Microsoft has revealed that it plans to combat this with a rollout intelligent meeting summary and Copilot to Teams Rooms, with the goal of eventually incorporating it into any space.

Meeting Summary and Copilot can offer users detailed information, summaries, and action items based on call transcripts.

Microsoft recommends “registering your vote” to ensure your entries are captured.

It will also improve Microsoft solutions background noise removal technology that will be available in every Teams room and is now in public preview.

The team’s co-pilot is also on its way to Teams Rooms to take notes during meetings, even if they are not scheduled or are taking place offline. Simply enter your Teams room, scan the QR code, and Team Copilot will automatically join the meeting.

Artificial intelligence for remote workers

Coming soon will be IntelliFrame, a technology that individually shapes participants to strengthen their collaboration with remote workers automatic camera switching.

This feature allows for a better view by taking advantage of multiple cameras in the room and on the laptop.

Remote participants will also be able to manually switch between multi-camera views, increasing engagement and flexibility.

Improved workplace solutions

Microsoft uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to increase workplace productivity and collaboration from anywhere.

BYOD rooms will benefit from features such as co-viewing mode for improved content sharing and privacy, as well as speaker recognition with devices such as smart speakers.

Microsoft believes that demand for them is growing desks that can be bookedmoving away from the trend of assigned desks and offices.

Teams is also adding new smart solutions to these spaces, where users can reserve desks and connect their PCs to a monitor or other peripherals.

Digital signage allows your Teams rooms on Windows to become spaces where you can share content and information, integrating business communications with meeting spaces when Teams Room devices are not in use.

Currently in private preview, digital signage will be added to Teams Rooms. Appspace and XOGO integrations, which will be generally available in Q3 2024, and support for Teams Rooms on Android will launch in 2025.

Windows Autopilot and Autologin make it faster and It’s easier for administrators to configure Teams roomsreducing the time it takes to run it from hours or days to less than one hour.

IT administrators can now also enjoy this functionality simplified Teams rooms and Surface Hubs management from anywhere, which saves time and money.

By Join SIPcollaboration can still resemble the native Teams Room experience, regardless of the meeting platform you use.

SIP-based conferencing providers including Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, Amazon Chime and RingCentral will be included in Teams Rooms on Windows later this year and on Android in 2025.

Partners and developers

In addition to the new partnership with Barco, Microsoft also offered a sneak peek at future MDEP updates, which it said would be related to zero trust security, higher-level deployment, and premium device management.