As of July 1st, 2023, Microsoft will be retiring the Teams Rooms Standard license. This means that customers will no longer be able to purchase new Teams Rooms Standard licenses or renew existing licenses after this date.
Customers who currently hold active Teams Rooms Standard licenses will continue to be supported until the end of their current subscription term. After this point or before, your customers will need to transition to an alternative licensing option to continue using Teams Rooms.
The retirement of Teams Rooms Standard licensing is a reminder for customers to review their licensing needs and consider alternative options to continue using Teams Rooms.
Under the new licensing model, customers will need to acquire a Teams Rooms license for each individual conference room or resource that is equipped with Teams Rooms hardware. This means that licenses will be specific to the device and not tied to individual users. This allows organisations to optimise their licensing costs by purchasing licenses based on their room deployment needs, rather than having to license every user who may use the conference rooms.
It is important for your customers to consider their current Teams Rooms deployments and plan accordingly for the transition to device-based licensing. They will need to assess the number of conference rooms or resources that require Teams Rooms capabilities and ensure they have the appropriate licenses in place for each device. There are two options available, Teams Rooms Basic and Teams Rooms Pro.
Note: Teams Rooms Basic cannot be procured through the DD CSP Portal, Microsoft requires that this license is procured directly through the customers Tenant via their Admin Centre / Billing / My Products.
How To Update Licenses:
Updating licenses can be a time-consuming process for so Microsoft have provided both a simple step-by-step process for checking small batches of devices and an automated script for checking licenses in bulk, to help update licenses to Pro or Basic, making the transition as smooth as possible.
To assist you further, they have produced a video on Microsoft Helps YouTube channel. The video is a step-by-step guide on how to audit your customers licenses and ensure that your Microsoft Teams Rooms devices continue to sign-in and run Teams meetings after the enforcement date. We highly recommend that you watch the video to learn more about the license update process and to make the transition as seamless as possible.
In summary, alongside the retirement of Teams Rooms Standard licensing, there is a shift towards device-based licensing for Teams Rooms. Your customers need to obtain licenses specific to each conference room or resource to continue leveraging Teams Rooms capabilities effectively. This change offers greater flexibility and cost optimisation for organisations with multiple conference rooms, allowing them to allocate licenses based on their room deployment needs.
As always guys, if you need any additional information about this upcoming change, don’t hesitate to contact the DD Team.
Remember to sniff the coffee and take a breath!!!
Carol
