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Microsoft Teams Rooms Users Get Tool To Help Comply with July Licensing Deadline
Microsoft this week reminded organizations using Microsoft Teams Rooms devices of a coming July 1 deadline to get their licenses compliant with its relatively new Basic and Pro plans.
In essence, Microsoft is disallowing the use of Microsoft Teams Rooms devices with "Shared Devices" licenses and "Per User" licenses. The licensing is now "per device," and based on two plans introduced in September, namely Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro and Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic. Those plans replace the now defunct "Standard" and "Premium" offerings that had been introduced back in 2020.
Organizations using Microsoft Teams Rooms devices will need to convert any old Per User licenses over to the Pro or Basic plans or risk users not being able to sign in on July 1. Here's how Microsoft explained that scenario to customers:
User licenses aren't supported for use with meeting devices. User licenses that have been assigned to teams meeting devices need to be replaced by a Teams Rooms Basic or Teams Rooms Pro license prior to July 1, 2023. Meeting devices that have a user license after July 1, 2023 will be blocked from signing in until a Teams Rooms license is assigned.
Shared Devices licenses won't work with Microsoft Teams Rooms devices, the notice added.
Microsoft's announcement was mostly a deadline reminder to organizations. However, it did mention that Microsoft has created an unsigned PowerShell script that IT pros can copy and use to find the unsupported Microsoft Teams Rooms licensing.
"We recognize that updating licenses can be a time-consuming process for organizations," Microsoft's announcement noted, in a rather broad understatement.
Microsoft swapped out the Teams Rooms plans in September while also ending Per User licensing. It then tasked IT pros with a compliance mandate. The PowerShell tool for finding noncompliant licenses appears to be a new effort by Microsoft to help busy IT pros.
Microsoft Teams Rooms devices are built by Microsoft's partners, but Microsoft provides the software. Much of the user enhancements described for Microsoft Teams Rooms devices falls under the Pro plan. The Pro plan notably drops Microsoft's direct oversight involvement with incidents, which had been part of the Premium plan. Incidents under the Pro plan now get automatically remediated or handled by partners.
If organizations have more than 25 rooms using Microsoft Teams Rooms devices, then they have to buy the Pro plan, which costs $40 per device per month, based on an annual subscription. The Basic plan is free with certified devices. Microsoft shows those details at its pricing page.
A good explanation of the plan changes for Microsoft Teams Rooms systems was provided by Tom Arbuthnot, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, in this September blog post.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.