Certified Skype for Business Online Phones and what this means for Microsoft Teams
Published Oct 25 2017 01:22 AM 94.4K Views
Microsoft

Update April 11, 2018: The update reflects the latest plans on Lync Phone Edition (LPE) as well as updates on the supported features.

Update April 18, 2018: We added links to the update offers of our partners.

Update July 5, 2018: Updated note in regards to using LPE with Skype for Business Server or Lync Server.

 

Certified Skype for Business 3rd Party IP Phones (3PIP) for Skype for Business Online will be supported by Microsoft Teams.

 

Skype for Business Online has a wide range of IP Phones that have been tested and certified as documented in Getting phones for Skype for Business Online. Since we just announced at Ignite, that “Teams will evolve as the primary client for intelligent communications in Office 365, replacing the current Skype for Business client over time” (source: A new vision for intelligent communications in Office 365) customers are wondering, if their Skype for Business Online phones will work against Microsoft Teams as well.

 

This FAQ should answer the many questions raised at Ignite and post around Skype for Business Online phones and Microsoft Teams.

 

3rd Party IP Phones (3PIP) Devices

 

3PIP.png

 

Q: Will my 3PIP (3rd Party IP Phone) continue to work when I switch to Microsoft Teams?

A: Yes, we plan to support all Certified Skype for Business Phones (3PIP).

 

Q: When will these 3PIP phones be supported with Microsoft Teams?

A: We are planning to support these phones with Microsoft Teams in the second quarter 2018.

 

Q: What features will be supported on these 3PIP phones after switching to Microsoft Teams?

A: We plan to support the following Skype for Business Online existing features with no change in user experience:

Supported capabilities

  • Authentication: All Skype for Business sign-in capabilities will remain unchanged.
  • Calling: Skype for Business users will be able to make and receive calls on their phones with no change to their current experience.
  • Presence and picture information: Presence information will work.
  • Corporate and local directories: Users will still have access to their corporate and local directories.
  • Joining Skype for Business scheduled meetings (Online or Server): All existing Skype for Business meeting capabilities will continue to work.

Additionally, the following IP phone features are expected to be supported when an IP Phone user is enabled for Teams:

  • Incoming/outgoing P2P calls (when calling a Teams-enabled Skype for Business phone user)
  • In-call controls via UI (mute, hold/resume, transfer, end call)
  • Phone notifications about upcoming meetings
  • Calendar access and meeting details
  • One-click join for prescheduled meetings
  • Mute/unmute for conferences
  • List of meeting participants
  • Hold/resume for conferences
  • Hang up from conference calls
  • Ability for IP phones to add another Skype for Business user to an ongoing meeting by using the Add Participant feature

 

Q: Will 3PIP phones user interface change (i.e. branding to Microsoft Teams) once I switch the user account?

A: The user experience on 3PIP phones will not change when a user moves to Microsoft Teams.

 

Q: Will Skype for Business Server connected 3PIP phones get affected?

A: There will be no change to 3PIP phones connected to Skype for Business Server. They will be able to join Microsoft Teams scheduled meeting with the experience detailed above.

 

Q: What tenant-admin or user action is required for 3PIP phones to support Teams? 

A: No tenant-admin or users action or configuration is required when users are switched to Microsoft Teams.

 

Q: Will there be any Teams specific devices?

A: Yes, we are working with partners to create new personal devices for Teams. Please refer to Bringing Intelligent Communications in Microsoft Teams across devices for more information.

 

Lync Phone Edition (LPE) Devices

 

LPE.png

 

Q: What about Lync Phone Edition (LPE)?

A: While we originally planned to support LPE against Teams, there are multiple factors that prevent us from enabling them to work with Teams:

Q: Which LPE Phones will be affected by the change to TLS 1.2?

A: Devices impacted:

  • Polycom: CX500, CX600, and CX3000
  • Hewlett-Packard: 4110 and 4120
  • Mitel-Aastra: 6721ip and 6725ip

Q: Can I connect to on-premises deployments of Skype for Business Server or Lync Server?

A: LPE device users can continue connecting to on-premises deployments that use TLS 1.0. However, compliance requirements—such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)—may force your customers to upgrade to TLS 1.2.

 

If you are using Exchange Online features like Calendar and Voicemail will also be effected by the enforcement of TLS 1.2 and will not be supported after October 31.

 

Q: What are my options for new devices?

A: We have offers available from our partners (AudioCodes, Jabra, Plantronics, Polycom and Yealink) to support a transition plan to new devices:

 

 

Hopefully this covered the most important questions – if not, let us know in the comments section!

31 Comments
Microsoft

Super blog Thomas, thanks ....

How about the plan to support Common Area Phones on SfB as well as on Teams ?

Would u mind share more on the roadmap plan particularly on the licensing side as well as what will be the basic features of common are phone ?

Since this is very much needed in every customer.

Microsoft

@Adrian Rozaq, yes, we plan to support Common Area Phones with Microsoft Teams.

Copper Contributor

Are LPE devices being tested for TLS 1.2?  Since O365 will be TLS 1.2 only starting March 1 2018. From all the articles I can find LPE only supports TLS 1.0 with limited cipher support.

Microsoft

@Mark Fleming, we are aware and looking into the issue. I hope to have an answer *soon*.

Microsoft
Copper Contributor

@Thomas Binder Thank you for the update that is extremely helpful. 

Copper Contributor

@Thomas Binder Has there been any update with regard to LPE phones and the TLS 1.2 transition? 

Microsoft

@Eric Paschal, we updated the article.

Hello, Thomas,

 

This will effect Exchange Web service (EWS) connections with Exchange Online for on-premises Lync/Skype for Business devices as well, not just Skype for Business Online users, correct?  Lync/Skype for Business Integration with Exchange Online, e.g. Presence Information based on your Calendar, Meetings Tab, etc.

 

Nick

Nick, yes it will.  So while there may be a fair amount of Lync Phone Edition devices used with Skype for Business Online today there are probably a much higher amount of them using Skype for Business Server (and even Lync Server), yet are connecting to Exchange Online mailboxes.  In this event the phones would still register to SfB Server (given that TLS 1.2 is not manually enforced by the administrator) but the phone's connection to Exchange Online for calendaring, call history, personal contacts, etc would fail.

Microsoft

The article has been updated with links to our partner offers.

Brass Contributor

@Thomas Binder any update on the 3PIP support timeline? 

 

This page says Q2 but the O365 roadmap looks like it was just silently updated to say Q3.

 

 

Microsoft

@Nicholas Semenkovich, the pdf version of the roadmap shows Q2 as well, but I will follow up.

Steel Contributor

@Thomas Binder I think this article needs to be updated as it still mention.
"For Skype for Business Online users, you can choose from several models within the Certified for Skype for Business Phones and phones running Lync Phone Edition (LPE) listed under the Skype for Business Online category in the Skype for Business Device Catalog."

 

/Markus

Microsoft

@Markus Johansson, I'll ask the documentation team to add a note regarding TLS 1.2.

Iron Contributor

 

@Thomas Binder @Nicholas Dambrosio  Any update? Q2 is over tomorrow.

 

Calling between SfBO 3PIP certified phones and Teams clients/meetings is now live: https://twitter.com/jdscher/status/1016689167705702400

I'd expect an official update from Microsoft on this page soon.

Iron Contributor

@Jeff Schertz, Hi

 

what is the best recommended practice for Phones certificate from TLS1.2 and GDPR point of view, should we continue with Factory installed/default certificate from Polycom/AudioCodes/Yealink or replace same with CA-Signed certificate, Thanks!

Brass Contributor

What about the Polycom CX300 USB phones that use the desktop client?  This really seems like a glorified headset and since all the functionality seems to be driven by the SfB client, will this phone continue to be able to work with the SfB client to join O365 Exchange Online meetings?  We're currently Lync 2013 (Enterprise Voice) on premise but using O365 Exchange Online for our Outlook and UM voicemail.  I see a lot being written about the LPE IP phones (CX500, CX600, CX3000), but haven't seen anything specific about the CX300 USB phone. 

@Barbara Pouliot You will be ok with the CX300, it will not be impacted by the TLS support change.  It’s essentially a USB peripheral/audio device.  You may run into some call control issues when you move those users to Microsoft Teams in the future.  More details on that here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/control-calls-using-a-headset-in-teams-65d6e104-444d-4013-b...

 

Steel Contributor

Can I get a little more clarification please?  If I want to have incoming PSTN calls directed to my Teams desktop client and be able to use a Polycom VVX310 at the same time. Do I need to change the Default Client Policy?  This blog FAQ says no tenant admin or user changes are needed for 3PIP SIP phones to work.

The documentation on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/configuring-teams-calling-quickstartguide has a big Warning.

The UCS firmware from Polycom says that it supports Teams but provides no guidance on how to sign using web authentication (aka.ms/sphone) 

Is there a Step by Step around that I can use to set myself and no other users on tenant to use Teams as the default PSTN routing?

Iron Contributor

@Forrest Hoffman

 

We use VVX phones on Teams by simply signing into the phones the same way you did for Teams. For testing purposes, try setting this particular user as Teams only mode instead of “Legacy or Island” mode.

 

Steel Contributor

@Fred Franks Well although it is not clear I was able to set myself as a TeamsOnly user for getting the phone to sign in.  All labeling and indications are that I am actually signing into Skype but it does connect to Teams.  I am not thrilled with the InterOp though.  Many times people in Skype are not receiving messages but e-mails telling them I am trying to reach them in Teams and they should install Teams to reply.  I know this is MS way of promoting but it is confusing a lot of staff that are not part of Teams pilot. Since I am IT support I have to interact with staff every day and to set myself in Teams only mode to get the VVX310 to ring is something I may not stay with much longer. I feel I had a better experience in Islands mode and running both SfB and Teams clients.

Iron Contributor

@Forrest Hoffman Thanks for the update. You should have all messages (S4B and Teams being delivered to your Teams account if you are in Teams only mode. If they use both Teams and S4B, then yes, your messages will go to Teams. However, if they S4B message you and you reply, that will show up properly. You can pin folks that run Skype.

 

Agreed, living in hybrid is not the smoothest way. I recommend folks be either Teams only or Skype only. The Hybrid approach is brutal.

Brass Contributor

well this was certainly oversold.

 

let me know when rigel and surface hub work on TLS 1.2 and I'll know it's actually time to replace LPE devices.

Brass Contributor

I'm curious what this means with Polycom BTOE and Microsoft Teams. I haven't found a single article stating that they will support this.

Copper Contributor

We just upgraded our old phone system to SfB Online less than a year ago and replaced all our phones with Yealink SfB phones.  So now, in order to take full advantage of Teams, we have to buy all new phones (of which few were available and too expensive) and throw out all the SfB ones??

Brass Contributor

Hey Fobinson!

 

I don't think technically you will need to replace your Yealink SFB phone as long as it's a Skype for Business Certified ip phone handset. You don't get all of the functionality if you would be using SFB only, but a lot of the features still stay around on that phone. Here is a breakdown of what you still get to keep:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Skype-for-Business-Blog/Skype-for-Business-Certified-IP-Phone...

 

 

Copper Contributor

@Chad Rowe 

I am aware of the interop capabilities, that's not the issue though.  We were waiting years for them to add call park (and auto-attendant transfer to external number, which still isn't implemented and requires wasting licenses to achieve) to SfB online and when they finally did add it, it just works in Teams Only mode.  Therefore in order to be able to pick up those calls from any phone, we would need to replace them all with Teams phones and, as you can imagine, management wouldn't be too happy about having to buy all new phones already.

Iron Contributor

This article no longer seems to be receiving updates, here is some more recent information to close the loop.  (I would suggest any future comments to be posted in the active discussion in the article linked below:

 

1. As Chad mentioned above additional details like supported features via the gateway services and lengthy discussions on unsupported features like BToE, Boss/Admin, and others can be found in this newer article:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Skype-for-Business-Blog/Skype-for-Business-Certified-IP-Phone...

2. No new functionality or features will be added to the existing gateway services, as stated by Microsoft in the discussion linked above.
"3PIP phones will continue to work with Teams for "the foreseeable future" but only with the functionality above. They will not support any new Teams capabilities, ever."

 

3. In the light of the recent announcement that Microsoft will be retiring Skype for Business Online on July 31, 2021 the gateway services providing basic Team functionality to 3PIP-qualified phones will continue to operate and be supported by Microsoft through July 31, 2023.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/faq-journey#device-compatibility

 4. Microsoft just posted this article today which also summarizes the latest messaging:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/Skype-for-Business-phones-3PIP-support-w...

 

Brass Contributor

Nice way to finish off this thread Jeff :stareyes:

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