GovTEAMS is pleased to announce the trial of our new Meeting Room Connect feature which will let you use your existing video-capable meeting room equipment to meet on GovTEAMS. The free trial is available until August 2023. If there is sufficient interest upon completion of the trial, this feature will be offered as a paid service.
Meeting Room Connect will improve the meeting experience for many users, particularly as we move to a hybrid working model where some staff are working from the office and some staff are working from home.
We are trialling Meeting Room Connect because we know that many workplaces already have meeting rooms with video conferencing equipment (such as CISCO, Poly and LifeSize) that isn't compatible with the Microsoft Teams meetings we use in GovTEAMS. During the trial, your existing video conferencing equipment can be used to join GovTEAMS meetings. Options and instructions will appear in every GovTEAMS meeting invitation under the title “Join with a video conferencing device”.
GovTEAMS is trialling Meeting Room Connect until August 2023. All GovTEAMS OFFICIAL users will have access to the trial, there is nothing you need to do. All meeting invites from GovTEAMS during the trial period will now include instructions to join via Meeting Room Connect.
Meeting Room Connect uses Cloud Video Interop (CVI) to provide connections between existing on-premises video conferencing devices and GovTEAMS. It enables standards-based meeting room devices using SIP and H.323 protocols such as CISCO, Poly and LifeSize to join GovTEAMS meetings.
No configuration will be required unless your agency has blocked external SIP dialling. You might need to designate an outbound location for your SIP route. Meeting Room Connect is being provided by BlueJeans.
If you are unable to connect to the meeting, contact your internal IT team and let them know you’re trying to connect to a meeting using Meeting Room Connect. They can get in touch with us via the contact us page if required.