Last Updated on May 19, 2019 by GrahamWalsh
Background
Do you have a few or even hundreds of Polycom Trio devices? You want to move to Microsoft Teams, but where do you register them? So the official option is to put the Polycom Trio into Teams Only mode and it will have the look and feel of a Teams client on the device. However, this is for voice only. Polycom released the Microsoft Teams software available here.
Polycom Trio with Skype for Business today
One option today is to have your Trio registered to Skype for Business (on-premises, hybrid or Skype for Business Online) which many users have today. Polycom support the Visual+ element for video, It is not supported by Microsoft. It supports content sharing too. A note from the Polycom release notes
The Polycom Trio solution can only receive Skype for Business RDP-based content. You cannot transmit RDP-based content from the Polycom Trio solution.
A Trio is registered to Skype for Business can do Video Based Screen Sharing (VbSS).
Note: Polycom Trio systems can only receive Skype for Business VbSS content. You cannot transmit VbSS content from the Polycom Trio systems.
Content sharing will work regardless. It will get nice VbSS content when registered with Skype for Business. Other ways of sharing content directly to the Trio is via the Polycom RealPresence Desktop or Mobile app or even the Polycom People+Content IP application. Full details here. When the Trio is paired with a Polycom Group Series, it will use the HDMI input of the Group Series, details here.
With the latest release of Trio, it now supports the RealConnect workflow for Skype for Business and Teams. This is 5.7.2.3205, there are some config lines you need to upload via the features.cfg file and then reboot. This means that the Trio can dial the RealConnect service using the native invite and join a meeting using Cloud Video Interop with audio, video and content.
What about registrations? Polycom Trio needs to be registered. If you are going all in with Teams, then you don’t have a registrar available as it can only do voice when taking to Teams. If you leave it in Skype for Business mode, then how long will that last?
Pexip Configuration
One option is to register the Trio to the Pexip Infinity Platform. You can TCP or TLS. On the Pexip side, the setup for a Device Alias is super simple. Give it a name, enable SIP
Polycom Trio Configuration
Moving over to the Polycom Trio, you can log in via the web interface and then enter some of the credentials. I am using TLS on port 5061 to register my Trio to the Pexip Infinity platform hosted in Microsoft Azure.
Checking the Registration Status on Pexip
We now have the Trio registered to Pexip. You can check the registrations in the Pexip platform to see it registered
With the Polycom Trio registered to Pexip, you can use it as a SIP device. It can call any other VTC device whether it is SIP or H.323 or even other Skype for Business Users. When you make a call to a Skype for Business for example, if the Skype user shares their Desktop, it will send VbSS and automatically convert to RDP if someone shares a Window. It automatically converts, there is no need to drop the call. In addition, when you use say RealPresence Desktop to share Content into the Trio, it will be 1920x1080p resolution at 20 frame per second. So a great experience all around.
You can also start a Skype Meeting and add the Trio into that meeting too just like you would add another participant.
So there you have it, a Polycom Trio registered to Pexip Infinity for Call Control. There are most posts in this series with the Polycom Trio. Pexip Cloud Video Interop is detailed here.