The Redmond tech giant is continuing to heavily push Microsoft Teams with new Teams-certified ancillary devices designed for hybrid work.
Microsoft has been really pushing Teams, its flagship unified communications and collaboration platform, ever since the world shifted to remote work.
Teams still appears to be behind videoconferencing market leader Zoom, but Microsoft is trying to change that with new Teams-dedicated personal conferencing devices for remote work the company announced Tuesday.
The devices include headsets, headphones, speakerphone and webcam.
“Today, as people adapt to a spectrum of unique work environments, we’re responding with a new assortment of audio and video accessories certified for Microsoft Teams and great across all your favorite video conferencing apps,” the company said in a blog post.
Zoom has the benefit of reliability and being extremely easy to use, but purpose-built hardware with built-in Teams buttons is one benefit Microsoft may have over Zoom.
The new products include the Surface Headphones 2+ For Business, which include 13 levels of active noise cancellation, an eight-microphone system and 15 hours of voice calling time. They are now certified for Teams with on-ear Teams controls and improved remote calling, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft also announced the Microsoft Modern USB and Wireless Headset that also boast the Teams button and a physical mute button with an LED mute indicator light.
For non-headset wearers, the company introduced the Modern USB-C Speaker designed with similar controls as the headsets. Features include a powerful speaker drive, dual microphones and a compact design with integrated cord storage.
For video calls, the company is introducing the Microsoft Modern Webcam, which features 1080p quality, HRD and a 78-degree field of view.
These ancillary devices were announced along with the Surface Laptop 4, the latest edition of one of Microsoft’s flagship computing devices.
For business customers, Teams seems to be the main product push over in Redmond. Could this Teams blitz help encourage more employees to use Teams-certified devices and convince enterprises to ditch Zoom Rooms and instead build their conferencing and meeting spaces around Microsoft? That certainly appears to be the goal.
Zachary Comeau. (2021, Apr 23). Commercial Integrator. Retrieved from https://www.commercialintegrator.com/communications/video_conf_telepresence_systems/microsoft-continues-to-push-teams-announces-new-teams-certified-ancillary-devices
