Teams Rooms

[Myles Gallagher]

There are some good answers to questions on here already that got me close to understanding teams rooms, but I have a few specific questions I can't seem to gather answers for yet.

Using without a certified room system:
For a "Room" is it possible to set up some custom hardware to act in the place of a "Room System"?  Really the entirety of the need is a device that is internet connected, and can connect to some video/audio equipment, and run the teams app.  I suspect this is not possible, but it's pretty much the deal-breaker for us.  Room systems are crazy expensive, and we would basically like to "hack it" with something like a tablet/conf room computer and some peripheral devices!  Can the "Room License" be used outside of a proper certified room system?  

Audio conferencing call-in (normal phone number):
It seems like this is possible, to license audio-conferencing to ONLY the teams room "user" and allow 3rd parties to call in via phone, but I don't fully understand all the pieces needed to get that working.  What kind of licensing is needed?

Even some pointers on documentation to read might help me a lot, though I have been sifting through most of it I can find.  Thanks in advance.

[#2]

Hi,
I can't recommend trying to "hack it".
Of course, you can run the regular Teams app on a windows system and this can be on any device.
But you will lose all the functionality that the Teams room app offers. This app is optimized for this use case and allows your users to easily join and attend meetings.
Your request comes normally up when firms are also attending WebEx and Zoom meetings and want to attend the meetings with these devices as well. One solution for this can be the NEC infinity board. Other solutions like the Logitech Tap can also be used for other meetings but you have to decide before provisioning which to use.
The pricing for the teams room devices is pretty interesting. You can have look here to get an idea.
https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/across-devices/devices/category?devicetype=20

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/room-systems/index
https://www.nec-display-solutions.com/p/eeme/en/Launch.xhtml?id=InfinityBoard
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/tap

As you said you can license a room system for audio conferencing. This is needed for ad-hoc meetings and meetings planned with this account. In general, you use your personal account to plan the meeting and invite the meeting room.
Audio Conferencing can be licensed through a suite (E5) or an add-on (E3). More details can be found here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/deploy-audio-conferencing-teams-landing-page

Regards,

Paul

[#3]

@Paul Lange Appreciate the response.

I have seen the microsoft page on device offerings, and understand that the "room" version of teams is very custom to support specific use cases of a shared device for meetings.  They could offer the room application for download and integration with any normal computer I imagine, but that would likely be directly against the interests of selling teams room devices for $1000-4000.  I sure the quality of these systems is impressive, but for now it's not a great value proposition for us.  

The audio conferencing is interesting, but seems like it's meant for the individual to have the license, since you must plan the meeting as the user.  Thanks again, good info.