Manage meeting space availability with Microsoft Teams Panels
Published Feb 26 2021 08:00 AM 100K Views

In the new Hybrid Workplace, providing the right digital tools to connect and support employees wherever they are is essential. It supports productivity, engagement, safety, and collaboration. As companies begin to reopen their offices, and conference rooms and meeting spaces become busy again, optimizing how they are utilized will be key to everyone’s success.


Microsoft Teams Panels were announced last October at Ignite 2020 as a new category of devices. They provide a space and time management solution powered by a native Teams experience, running on a compact digital display that can be mounted virtually anywhere. Today, we’re pleased to announce that they’re now generally available.

 

Supporting the Hybrid Workplace with the right devices in the right places
With Teams Panels, employees can book an available room on the spot or find another time slot and reserve it right from the panel. With vibrant, color-coded LED indicators, it's easy to determine space availability from a distance. And, the intuitive and easy-to-read UI presents space and meeting information, so you can confirm you’re in the right place at the right time.


A popular feature available now is the ad hoc meeting scheduler. Let’s say you and a colleague need to jump on a quick client call. Simply go to the Teams Panel outside a meeting space. If the time slot is not booked, it will appear green. Just tap the screen to instantly book it and the room is yours for the time selected. Teams Panels use the Exchange calendar for the booking of the room, so users can have insight in the meeting space free or busy status at any time.

 

Teams Panels work with a range of devices
When paired with Microsoft Teams Rooms or Surface Hub devices, users can take advantage of connected device experiences, like booking an ad-hoc Teams meeting on the Panel and joining the same ad-hoc meeting on a Teams Rooms or Surface Hub device.


And while the best end-to-end experience is pairing a Teams panel with another Teams device or Teams Room configuration, you can add a panel outside of any meeting space, allowing users to schedule any room through Outlook or right from the panel itself. All Teams Panels can be centrally provisioned, updated, and monitored from Microsoft Teams Admin Center.

 

In the coming months, four powerful new features will roll out:

Room Capacity Warning leverages select in-room cameras to detect when the maximum people allowed per room is reached.


Nearby Rooms lets employees view the building floor plan and book another room when a space is unavailable.


Room Check-in Notification sends a message to the in-room display that people in the next meeting are waiting outside.


Remove Unused Scheduled Room identifies and allows for the removal of ‘ghost’ meetings to free up unused meeting space time slots.


Teams Panels are currently available from our partner Crestron and Yealink will release theirs in April, with additional partners to be announced later in the year. Our certified hardware partners deliver optimized touch screen experiences with LED indicators and multiple mounting options, as well as additional sensors that integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Teams.


There are two ways to license Teams Panels:

113 Comments
Bronze Contributor

Gee... that's the device I wish we had in my office along with ThinkSmart Hub 500! It was so cool!

Copper Contributor

So, when will this functionality be made available via an iPad running an app?   I have plenty of clients who are interested in something like this, but aren't at all interested in the pricing for the "special hardware" you've implemented (1,600-2,400 per device is a bit steep when compared to the cost of an iPad Mini and mounting hardware.)

Copper Contributor

I have my first one running in my test-lab. We are currently deploying 250 of these Crestron 7" roombookingpanels. Currently in the default Crestron roombooking mode. 

My first disappointment is that it seems you have to create a password for every resource mailbox and logon to every individual panel, where other "traditional" roombooking systems use 1 service account to connect the roombooking management platform to O365, and through that service account every resource mailbox can simply added and deployed to the screen.

I had also the hope that MS would foresee a special cheaper SKU license for the roombooking panel. Not every meetingroom with a roombooking screen is automatically an MTR. So a cheaper license than the MTR Standard or Premium license would be nice.

So hopefully, MS will soon deploy enhancements for this new part of the Teams eco-system.

 

@dalycitymike IMHO roombookingsystems that use tablets as roombooking are "sh*t". These devices aren't made to be on 16h/24h a day. There is a battery in it that can be a hazard, especially when constantly connected to power. They are vulnerable to OS updates. No LED indicator lights. And the touchsceen is not so durable as real roombooking devices. I'm also pretty sure that an Ipad or Android tablet will not stand 5 years without problems. No central management (only on app level). To not even be speaking about security issues that will come up after 2 years.

So, TCO over 5 years will be equal or better imho. + higher uptime guarantee + 3yr default warranty + proper central management is worth the added cost.

Just my 2 cents... :smile:

 

MicrosoftTeams-image (3).jpg

 

I have only 1 question - the reason why I came here - I don't see the panel showing up in the Teams Admin center under "Teams-Displays". It should be showing up there, no? I made a config profile I want to deploy on the connected screen. 

Microsoft

@PeterDevalez Thank you for your comments and feedback.  We've recently added the "Teams Panels" category to Teams Admin Center where you will be able to find the inventory of Teams Panels on your tenant. 

Copper Contributor
@PeterDevalez, Do you still not see the Temas Panels option under devices? The new menu option appeared a couple of days ago. The link should be https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/devices/teamspanels
Copper Contributor

@PatrikLindahlSE@kspiess 

 

Thank you for your feedback. Indeed, the new category appeared last Friday in our TAC.

The only thing that didn't work, was pushing a configuration profile to the device. It seems not picking up the new config. I will test again on wednesday the 17th, to see if there are improvements on that.

 

Curious to see what further development will bring to these devices. 

 

Copper Contributor

I am currently testing the Crestron Teams panels and have the following issues/improvements.

 

1. the administration should be possible only through one tool, either the Crestron XIO Cloud or the TEAMS Admin Center.
2. if the room is currently reserved you can not book a free slot in the future. You have to wait until the room is free again and then you can only book from that moment.
3. There is no possibility to release the booked room early.
4. the screensaver does not work.
5. pairing with a Crestron Occupancy Sensor does not work.
6. many settings like the lightbar colors,... can only be changed on the panel.
7. no check-in function available.

8. no custom background images
9. no videos as screensaver
etc, etc, etc,

Despite all the problems, the panel looks great.

I would say - in 6 months everything is GOOD. I keep my fingers crossed for the development team.

 

Brass Contributor

@dalycitymike   In our company we've been using iPad Mini's as meeting room doorway panels as you propose (500+ such rooms).   Most of the iPads have needed to be replaced due to the 'battery ballooning' issue - which is the issue of the battery in the device expanding to the extent that the casing starts to split.  Expect to replace the majority of your iPad Mini's within 3 years.

Copper Contributor

@kyle_spiess A client is asking if more than one panel can be paired with a MS Teams room .. ie they have a large boardroom table and would like 2 panels (one on either end) to control the meeting. From what I can tell this is not supported but wondering if this can be confirmed. Thnx

Copper Contributor

@Smackenzie This topic is about the MS Teams Room panels, roombooking panels outside the meeting room. For these panels it is no problem to configure more than one panel on the same meeting room.

 

For the Microsoft Teams Room videoconference controller, that is another thing. There can be only one main controller with all the functionalities you expect from the device. Poly has the Trio C60 as auxiliary speakerphones (max 3 devices), but it has only the controls for volume, mute and "end call"

Copper Contributor

@PeterDevalez Thanks for clarifying Peter

@Smackenzie Yes that is possible with the Crestron Flex MTR devices. Don't know of any other vendors being able to offer this. Crestron can do it as they are network connected rather than USB connected.

Copper Contributor

When adding two Crestron touch panels, the two will show an identical UI. If you press a button on one panel, it will be reflected on the other one.

You can mix and match different panels, the TS-1070 (black or white) is to be placed on a table and the TSW-1070 (black or white) is for mounting on the wall.

If you use the BYOD mode of a Crestron X system, the BYOD controls will only be shown on one panel and the other one can still be used independently to control (through a control system) an infinte number of cameras, lights, shades, video sources and more.

 

But as said above, this thread isn't really for discussing the panels inside the room but the scheduling panels outside the room showing a scheduling interface with the MS UI.

Copper Contributor

@PatrikLindahl @Graham Walsh Offtopic but nice to know! Multiple control panels works also with the Android based collaboration bars like the Poly X30 en X50. You can pair mixed multiple Poly Trio's and/or TC8 panels. Max is 3 panels if I'm correct.

Copper Contributor

To be on-topic: Just pushed the Teams-app update from within TAC to my test Teams Roombooking panel. 

Updating is very slow and no progress information is shown. A bit annoying.

 

After the update I tried to push my config file again, but it still fails to apply. Trying to set the clock in 24hr mode instead of 12hr mode. But can't change it.

It tried to apply automatically the assigned profile also after the "Teams update", but that failed also. 

I presume my problem here is not unique?

PeterDevalez_0-1619038027156.png

 

Hi @PeterDevalez That is the correct way to update.  I successfully updated my panel that way. 

As for the clock, you need to set that on the panel itself to take effect.  Settings > Device Settings > Admin Settings > Time and Date

Copper Contributor

Thank you again Graham. Found it. The time/date option is however available in the config template. So should expect that you can change these settings also through TAC.

 

Overall, the start is there. But feels it needs still lots of improvement software-wise (WIP)

 

I must also admit to all the remarks that @Gerald Holnburger gave above.

Hi @PeterDevalez I've reported that issue about the time setting via TAC etc not applying so I think it's being investigated.

 

As for a list of improvements, there are many features to come, I can't share anything that isn't on a public roadmap, but updates are coming to bring new features to the Teams panels.

Copper Contributor

Got two Crestron TSS-770 devices for testing in advance of rollout of MTRs, however having similar problem to @PeterDevalez where the devices do not appear in TAC (no devices in the Teams Panels section).  When signing in as the MTR resource account it runs through device registration and company portal steps ok, but the device is missing from TAC.  Poly X50 collaboration bars and the Touch Control 8 devices all appear ok.

 

Need the devices in TAC so we can apply a cfg policy to set the time zone as the calendar schedule on the panel doesn't seem to be using daylight saving, and it's 1 hour out compared to the clock displayed in the top left of the panel.

 

Also not managed to get the LED light bar to work yet

Hi Andy

 

Fastest way for support on the devices is contacting your supplier or Crestron directly.

 

Is the device running the correct firmware? It should be 1.003.0082.001. I've noticed that the time policy from TAC does not apply to the panel, you have to set it on the panel itself.  Also do you have any policies blocking Android versions? 

 

As for the lightbar, if you SSH into the device and issue the command POEPLUS enable and then reboot.  Does the light come on?

 

Cheers


Graham

Copper Contributor

@Graham Walsh The parameter for POEPLUS is "on" or "off". Not "enable"/"disable". :smile:

Copper Contributor

Thanks for the quick response @Graham Walsh

 

We did try Crestron support via our reseller but they weren't very helpful with these problems unfortunately.

 

But on the plus side we've created a new Android compliance policy so the devices now appear in TAC (our fault for using the existing policy for the Poly hardware, which is Android 8.1 and we needed an Android 9 policy as well)  

 

We're on the correct firmware version you suggested, however once in the TAC we were prompted to update the Teams application on the Crestron and doing so fixed the issue of the booking schedule being one hour out compared to the actual time on the clock.  Interesting that checking for an application update via the Crestron web interface it said it was already up to date, but not the case according to the TAC.

 

We still have the problem of the LED light bar not working.  But I don't seem to be able to SSH onto the Crestron IP to try the POPPLUS command, and I can't see any obvious setting to enable/disable SSH???  Did you mean SSH onto the Crestron, or were you referring to the switch? 

 

cheers

 

Andy

Copper Contributor

@Andy_W you should be able to SSH onto the IP-address of the device. Standard IP address 22 should do it.

There is also a tool called Crestron Toolbox that can log on to the device in a similar way but your dealer need to help you with that.

I ran the commands on one of our panels and it produced the following output:

just ran "ssh admin@ipaddress" to the device (it is a TS-1070 but the procedure is the same)

PatrikLindahl_0-1619542462983.png

 

Sorry my mistake @Andy_W , as Patrik points out, the command is POEPLUS ON (to turn it on).  The panel should accept a connection via SSH (putty or Mac Terminal for example)

Copper Contributor

Hello, everyone. After logging in the account and password to Microsoft panels, the interface stays at"Verifying a few things...", FW: 1.003.0082.001. Have you ever encountered the same situation?

Copper Contributor

Hi @Graham Walsh & @PatrikLindahl 

 

Thanks to your help the LED lightbar is now working for me :smile:

 

SSH still wasn't working, and further to conversation with Crestron, it seems 3 failed logins blocks your IP for 24 hours.  I think my attempts yesterday using PuTTY GUI and just the Crestron IP address must have blocked my PC IP (wasn't getting prompted for username or password, just connection error).  When I tried again today using putty.exe -ssh admin@IP from another PC this worked ok and I was able to run POEPLUS ON and reboot... and light appeared!

 

For reference, we are using HPE Aruba PoE switches, not sure why we need the POEPLUS ON command, but very grateful for your assistance with this.

 

cheers

 

Andy 

Copper Contributor

Default setting is to request PoE so that we don't ask for more PoE budget than needed. But when adding the accessories, we need more than what PoE can give us in some cases so then we need to ask for PoE+ from the switch.

@Jefff_Sun Sounds like a policy or authentication is preventing the device from signing in fully.  Do you have test tenant with no policies to test again?

Copper Contributor

@Jefff_Sun check the logins in Azure to. Do you get any failed login attempts or policy blocks when you look at the login?

Användare - Microsoft Azure

Copper Contributor

Would really like a Teams Panel App available within the iOS store as mentioned above.  Our company purchased a significant number of iPads mounted outside of rooms before "Teams Panel" was announced in late 2019.  Due to our depreciation cycle, we're keeping the iPads around for the next 3 years at minimum.  I've not experienced the iPad battery ballooning problem yet and we have another deployment going since 2017.  The only damage has been screen burn ins and vertical/horizontal pixel lines.  Our signs are only at 80% brightness from 7a to 6p then it goes to a low 20% to minimize burn-in as possible.  No sense in paying a double license subscription for an external room booking software and MTR on the same conference room monthly.

Copper Contributor

I echo the lack of features like - release room booking if meeting ended earlier or not possible to book room via Teams panel for later if the room is already occupied. This is very frustrating if the room you want to use is booked for 6 hours... 

My biggest constraint is lack of central management (turn features off and on, push firmware updates, see device health for multiple sites at once etc.).

As of now Teams panel is at beginning of journey to catch-up with alternative solutions which are on the market for years. I'm looking forward what will Microsoft shows us in the next months. We use Microsoft Teams rooms as VC solution a lot therefore having similar UE with booking room tablet is great for end users.

Copper Contributor

Got some new Crestron Teams panels for test and they work straight out of the box with the correct room account, but what is the admin password for the additional settings? Not stated anywhere in the user manual from Crestron and support tells me that these settings are MS specific and links me to a bunch of places at MS websites. Not much is stated here either but you might think you need Teams admin rights in the environment and that this is the password?

as stated in this thread I also tried to push out some settings from the TAC, but failed every time. 
suggestions? 

@Nothop I think it's either blank or admin within the Teams app.

Copper Contributor

@Graham Walsh Thanks. Know it’s not blank but will test admin tomorrow. 
do you also know if settings in TAC for the panels doesn’t work for the time being? 

Copper Contributor

@Nothop the password is admin the first time you login to the admin page from the MS UI on the panel. When you first login, you are prompted to set a new password.

There is also another password you may want to set and that is for the panel Web UI itself. Point your webbrowser to the IP of the panel (https://<ip-address>) and set an initial username and password. The password need to be atleast 8 characters so admin won't do. This is the password for the hardware device where you can switch to for example Crestron native booking interface and set things to do with the hardware as well as upgrade the firmware of you want to do it manually that way. After you have set that password you can also SSH to the panel to do settings and use Crestron Toolbox.

@Nothop Setting the timezone etc works from pushing that down from TAC

Copper Contributor

Any chance we can get a Teams Panels iOS / Android app? iPads are much easier to deploy or replace and more cost effective than Crestron.

Brass Contributor

We were using iPad Mini's but wound up pulling them out as they have a high incident rate of 'battery ballooning' if left on charge for long periods of time.  (ie. Battery Ballooning is where the battery expands, pushing open the case and damaging the screen)

Copper Contributor

@Wayno, do you have them at full brightness 24/7? I only have the maximum one at 80% otherwise most of them are 60% and they all don't run for more than 9 hours a day. For the other 15 hours it's usually 0% or 10% brightness. They also get plugged in at install and stay plugged in all the time. The only damages we have are from someone excessively pressing in the same spot and shatters the screen.  But in an already established environment of just over 500 iPads, we just can't make the significant reinvestment to 500 Crestron panels.

Brass Contributor

No.   Have a power management profile that reduces screen brightness outside of business hours.  Heat build up inside the caddy could also have played a part in the issue.  Have had about 400 iPad Mini 2 deployed now over 5 years and most have suffered from the issue.  Lenovo pitching an alternative (retail) tablet claiming the device can be configured to not continually charge the battery (and hence avoid the problem seen on the iPads).  We are yet to verify this in testing.

Copper Contributor

We use a discontinued mount from ArmorActive.  About 300 iPad Mini 4s and no battery damage so far after 3 years.

Copper Contributor

I think one of the reasons there is no iPad app is that there is not a way to guarantee the end user experience when it comes to other apps, Apple updates to new OS versions etc.

This is how it works on for example MTR systems where the the user experience need to be consistent across manufacturers.

Copper Contributor

Do you experienced a Time shift between the displayed time and the scheduling Time on the Teams panel (3 completely differents environment gots the same behaviour) ? Thanking you in advance. 

Copper Contributor

If I used an account that didn't have a Teams Standard license applied but was instead only licensed for Exchange (because all this panel needs to do is access an Exchange calendar, right?) to sign into the panel, would the panel still work?

I agree with commenters above that charging for a full MTR license to make this work where their is not actual MTR is a bit steep!

Copper Contributor

I'm not following Patrik since an app would be at the front and InTune can app lock it into single app mode.

 

I concur with you murray, however there's additional features around check in and whatnot connected to the room MTR itself.  So realistically a teams panel plus MTR for a single room license is a good deal if it fits the environment and have the right devices.  Teams Room Accounts will be more appealing once it supports password rotation if that is brought back as a feature.

Copper Contributor

@ChadHaag but is there a way to guarantee Apple will not change something that breaks that feature or anything else in the system? With a certification and a comitment from the manufacturer of the hardware it becomes a more reliable solution.

Copper Contributor

@murray79 @ChadHaag I'm afraid it wil not work with only an Exchange license as the Teams app on the panel will probably check for the right license. However, in theory you're right. All non-native MS Teams roombooking panels which are on the market for years and connected to O365 just demands a resource mailbox ($0) and 1 service-account with an E1/3 license applied.

These panels has also all the whistles you want like check-in, check-out, reporting tools, authentication, AD integration, etc...

 

The only thing is that the management of those systems is or cloud-based which requires also a subscription per room. Or some are self-hosted solutions, with no recurrent fees.

But it's all managed in a separate environment, while the Teams Room panels can all be managed and monitored from within O365.

 

So it all depends what you or the customer prefers :smile:

The panels sign into Teams, so you must have a license for that.

Copper Contributor

Hi Everyone,

 

I have just started installing and setup Teams Room Panel devices.

Could someone please advise if the Nearby Rooms functionality is available or is it still in development stage, as I could not find the app in Teams admin center for my created policy.

Also, Is there any plans to develop future bookings app from the panels itself?

 

Many thanks

Hi @Normss The Nearby Rooms function is not available yet to anyone.  As for future bookings, not sure if that is on the roadmap or not. Nothing public

 

Cheers

 

Graham

 

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