Starting today, Microsoft Phone System Direct Routing is now generally available. Direct Routing allows customers to choose their telecom provider to enable their users to make and receive calls in Teams. If your country is supported by Teams and Phone System you can start planning and deploying Direct Routing in your organization today. Direct Routing and Calling Plans are now your 2 choices for dial tone in Microsoft Teams.
There are two primary approaches to deploying Direct Routing for you to consider.
CUSTOMER DEPLOYED SCENARIO. If you read our May blog on Direct Routing, you are already familiar with our initial approach to deployment. This scenario has 3 key elements: (1) Office 365 with Phone System enabled, (2) Session Border Controllers (SBC) from our certified partners such as AudioCodes or Ribbon, and (3) trunks from your voice provider. Customers have been previewing this scenario since May. For customers who want to manage the infrastructure on-premises this will be their optimal choice.
PARTNER HOSTED SCENARIOS. Back in May 2018, we also began working with providers around the world on a second scenario to ensure that customers who wanted a hosted architecture would have options. This can mean hosted SBCs, additional management capabilities, and other services. We encourage you to reach out to this first set of providers who tested Direct Routing in their environments – BezeQ International, BT, Cellip, Nuwave Communications, Orange Business Services, Swisscom, TATA, Telekom Deutschland, Telenor, Thinktel, and West to learn more about their offerings. As we go forward, we expect more companies to offer solutions and services with Direct Routing to our joint customers.
We will continue to enhance Direct Routing including plans to deliver improved support for escalating calls, media bypass, and enhanced trunk support to help our partners scale their solutions.
GETTING STARTED. If you are new to Teams, please review our quick start guides. It helps to be comfortable with Teams before proceeding to Calling. Next - review these articles: Plan Direct Routing, Configure Direct Routing, and Migrating to Direct Routing. We have also recorded a deeper dive on Direct Routing to further aid in your understanding.
Regardless of your requirements for calling in Teams, Microsoft has you covered with options from Direct Routing and Calling Plans.
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