As in the case with Zoom, users have developed proficiency using Teams on their personal devices. Likewise they are finding that the experience in a room setting is not as good or easy to manage. – especially with larger and more complex rooms. Like Zoom, there are Microsoft solutions for Teams in a room setting. The first being Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) and the second being Collaboration Bars. The biggest difference between them is that the MTRs are Windows 10 computer based and the Collaboration Bars are Android appliances running a Teams application. In both cases, the app and environment are wrtten/controlled by Microsoft and running on Microsoft approved partner hardware. For Small and Medium Business; especially without in-house IT familiar with MS management platforms:We recommend the Collaboration Bar solution.
Collaboration Bars
- Easy to deploy, manage, use and maintain
- Provide on-touch join and basic meeting control from a table-top touch panel
- Work very well in rooms up to 30′ long (support for larger rooms on near-term road-map)
- Available as an all-in-one portable cart solution
- Support one or two displays
- Newer platform with feature enhancements being added regularly
Microsoft Teams Rooms
For Enterprise and SMB with more demanding needs:We recommend deploying both MTRs and Collaboration BarsHuddle spaces, personal offices, small and medium conference rooms, = Collaboration BarsLarge conference rooms and training rooms = MTR Microsoft Teams Rooms offer:
- Most feature rich Teams experience
- Advanced meeting control from table-top touch panel
- Support advanced modular camera, microphone, and speaker systems
- HDMI content input
- Device mode allowing camera/mic/speakers to be used on any platform with user PC connected via USB
Both Collaboration Bars and MTRs provide the same great user experience for everyday calls with audio, video, and content. How does it work? For Collaboration Bars, We use a Poly conferencing appliance that is running a Teams application. It can also run other platforms’ applications – think investment protection, if you elect to change your conferencing platform . This app is written by and directly supported by Microsoft. For MTRs we use systems from Crestron and Poly to deliver the ultimate Teams room experience. This is the third…The next will address BYOM – Bring Your Own Meeting solutions.