RealConnect Service for Skype and Teams

October 31, 2018 by Jeff Schertz · 31 Comments

This article is the first in a series which covers Polycom’s RealConnect service, a Microsoft
Azure-based video interoperability service for Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams
meetings.
1. RealConnect Service for Skype and Teams – introduces the overall solution and the steps to
activate the service for use with Skype for Business Online meetings and/or Teams
meetings. (A future article will cover the additional configuration steps required to support
Skype for Business Server or Hybrid deployments with the service.)

2. Polycom One Touch Dial Service – explains what this ancillary service is, how it works, and
provides detailed configuration steps for using it with Polycom VTCs. (A separate
article covers the additional configuration for Cisco VTCs.)

3. Polycom Cloud Relay – outlines the purpose of this component, how it works, and then
walks through the steps for deploying a Cloud Relay virtual server on-premises. This on-
premises server is an optional component to the RealConnect service, only needing to be
deployed when using Skype for Business Server and/or supporting Cisco endpoints with the
One Touch Dial service.

This Microsoft partner-provided service, commonly referred to as Cloud Video Interop (CVI),
allows various standards-based Video Teleconferencing (VTC) endpoints to join scheduled
Skype for Business and Teams meetings. While an earlier article outlined all of the different
RealConnect offerings available this series will focus solely on the cloud-based service model of
RealConnect.
The original service offering is referred to as RealConnect for Office 365, but supports Skype for
Business Online, Skype for Business Server, and Skype for Business Hybrid environments. The
recently released offering entitled RealConnect for Microsoft Teams added support
for Microsoft Teams meetings. Access to both services are provided together using the same
consumption license, meaning that RealConnect can be used with any Skype and Teams
meeting scheduled by any user in the organization. A free 60-day trial license is available today
for most Microsoft Office 365 tenants worldwide. Availability can depend on the tenant type
(public multitenancy versus various government clouds) and the region (some countries are not
currently able to leverage this service).
The licensing consumption model is simply based on concurrent usage. While the trial comes
with 5 concurrent licenses nearly any number of licenses can be purchased as
needed. Regardless of the number of Skype and/or Teams meetings occurring at the same
time, and regardless of the number of Skype or Teams participants, guests, or PSTN callers, only
a VTC connecting into any of these meetings would consume a license and only while the call is
active. So, with a trial license as many as five different VTCs can use the service at one given
time to join any number of scheduled Skype or Teams meetings.
Background
The heart of a Cloud Video Interop meeting that allows RealConnect to function is a scheduled
Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams invitation. In an organization which has enrolled and
provisioned the service an enabled user’s scheduled meetings will natively include additional
instructions (seen in the image below) for joining the meeting from any standards-based
endpoint. At minimum the provided calling option can be manually dialed from a VTC, but
additional configuration like local speed dials, infrastructure dialing rules, or ideally the Polycom
One Touch Dial service can be leveraged to provide a single ‘Join’ button on supported
endpoints to place the call.

The RealConnect Service is comprised of a number of Polycom-managed, Microsoft Azure-

hosted virtual servers. These globally deployed services can receive video calls over standards-
based SIP or H.323 protocols and the connect that call into a Skype for Business or Microsoft
Teams meeting, where that meeting is hosted. Note that the service does not connect Skype
for Business meetings to Teams meetings in any way, those are two completely separate
Microsoft meeting platforms. The service essentially provides up to three different solutions
which can all be leveraged simultaneously.
This basic call flow diagram shows two VTCs joining the same scheduled Skype for Business or
Microsoft Teams meeting.
 Each VTC which calls into the service will be routed to the logically closest Azure datacenter
where Polycom services are deployed and the call will land on a dedicated transcoding MCU
(B).
 The RealConnect service will then locate the target meeting, as identified by the Tenant
ID, Conference ID and Domain provided in the call string
(e.g. [email protected]).
The Tenant ID is a globally unique string assigned to the tenant during service enrollment and is
the same on every meeting scheduled by any user in the tenant; it never
changes. The Conference ID is dynamically created by the Microsoft scheduling services and is
different for every scheduled meeting. The Domain name in the call string will be one of three
options denoting which of the three flavors of the service the call will be directed
to: t.plcm.vc for Microsoft Teams meetings, v.plcm.vc for Skype for Business Online meetings,
and h.plcm.vc for Skype for Business Server meetings. (The original instance of the service was
launched for Skype for Business and ‘v’ was used to denote ‘video’. When support for Skype for
Business Server/Hybrid deployments was later added then ‘h’ was used for ‘hybrid’. As one can
guess the ‘t’ refers to Teams in the latest iteration of the service.)
 Now that the service has located the Microsoft meeting then the Polycom MCU (B) will
connect to the Microsoft MCU (A), transcoding all video, audio, and content sharing sessions
between standards-based codecs (e.g. H.264 AVC, H.239, BFCP, etc.) into Microsoft codecs
(e.g. SVC, RDP, VBSS, etc).
 When another VTC joins the same call, using the same call string, it will land on a different,
dedicated Polycom MCU (C). That MCU may reside in the same Azure datacenter or a
completely different datacenter, depending on the geographical location of that VTC. Either
 way, all the cascaded traffic will be routed within Microsoft’s global network to locate the
same Teams (or Skype for Business) meeting.
The remainder of this article details the steps required to enable the service after purchase or
enrollment in a trial, and should only be performed once calls into the service have been
successfully tested and any optional components like the Cloud Relay have been deployed, or
additional configuration like One Touch Dial has been completed. This is especially important
when working with a trial license as the 60-day period can disappear rather quickly when
potentially dealing with firewall configuration changes or anything else which may take time to
address in a production network.
So while this is the first article in the series it may very well be the last article used in the actual
configuration, depending the timing of events and desired capabilities. For example,
supporting Polycom VTCs can be 100% cloud-based and thus the recommended route is to
simply activate the service and then setup the endpoints for One Touch Dial, after validating
connectivity to the services.
But if there are Cisco VTCs which need to leverage One Touch Dial then that service and the
Cloud Relay should be dealt with first, before activating the service. The same guidance goes
for supporting Skype fir Business Server or Hybrid deployments. Essentially, any feature or
topology which requires the Cloud Relay server means that one should always get that
deployed and functioning before activating the service. Understand that there is no
requirement to activate the service first or last, this guidance is simply related to maximizing
usability during the trial period. If this is not a concern then performing the steps in this article
to activate and configure the service is typically done first.

Activate Service
When service licenses are purchased (or a trial is issued) an automated email will be sent to the
primary contact email address provided during the original order. This email is sent from
"[email protected]" with the title "Polycom License notification email for Polycom
for Order No. 0000000/domain.com" and includes a pair of attachments. Both the .PDF and
.TXT attachments include the 16 character license activation key which is tied specifically to the
tenant domain for which it was ordered. (Meaning, for example, that if the exact license key
shown in this article were to be used by another Office 365 tenant it would fail to apply.)
 Open the mailbox for the account provided as part of the service order
(e.g. [email protected]) and look for the email described above. (If this email is not found
than the order may not have been processed yet, which could takes 1-2 days.)
 Download the attached text file (e.g. 1607678.txt) file or simply open the attachment and
copy the license key to the clipboard. (The numeric order number is the name of the
attachment.)


 Go to the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams web portal
(https://webapp.plcm.vc/) and then select Sign in with Microsoft.

 Enter the credentials of a Global Administrator account and then click Yes on the the Stay
Signed in prompt which will simplify the configuration as different portals are accessed. (Any
account with Global Administrator permissions in the Office 365 tenant can access this
portal for service activation.)

 Click each down arrow to expand the individual permission requests to review the additional
details. Leave the Consent on behalf of your organization setting unchecked and then
click Accept.
 This step is simply allowing the RealConnect service the rights required to insert service-related
information into the tenant during the configuration process managed by the portal.
Also Microsoft has recently changed these permissions request prompts to include a new
option to accept the change on behalf of the entire organization, meaning that other users
accessing the portal not receive this prompt. As only the Global Administrator can access this
portal than there is typically no added value in preemptively accepting these permissions for all
other Global Administrators accounts which may potentially also decide to sign in to this portal
for some reason. And if another authorized account did sign in it would still be presented with
this same prompt.)
 Once successfully signed in to the portal then the current status should indicate that the
account is inactive and no licenses are applied. Click the Activate New License link.
 Enter the License Activation Key (e.g. C1937-5846-9980-3352) from the previously
downloaded file (or paste it from the clipboard), accept the terms of service request, and
then click Submit.
 If the license key is successfully applied then the page will refresh to display a host of new
information.
 As seen above this is a 60-day trial license of which the timer has now started, indicated by
the End date. Also the trial includes a limit of 5 concurrent VTC Call Licenses for use with any
number of Skype for Business or Teams meetings at one time. The remainder of the
information above will be broken down in the remaining configuration steps.
Now that the service has been activated for the tenant it would be a good time sign up for
status alerts related to the service availability.
 Go to the Polycom Cloud Service Status webpage (https://status.plcm.vc/) and click
the Subscribe to Updates button, select the preferred notification type tab and then enter
the desired contact information.


 For additional information, documentation, or to open service request tickets visit

the Polycom Cloud Services Online Support page
(http://cloudsupport.polycom.com/Services/).


Enable RealConnect for Microsoft Teams

Now that the license has been applied and the service is activated for this Office 365 tenant
there are a few required one-time configuration steps to be performed. The Teams
Configuration section on the portal includes links to either perform or explain how to perform
each of the required sections. (If RealConnect will not be used with Microsoft Teams meetings
then skip this section and advance to the Skype for Business configuration in the next section.)
First, consent must be granted to Polycom to operate as a Cloud Video Interop service provider
and allow Polycom’s bots used in the solution to join any Teams meetings scheduled by users in
this tenant. Secondly, in order to use the RealConnect service a user’s scheduled Teams
meeting invitation must include additional instructions in the invitation for the VTCs to
use. Inclusion of these additional instructions are controlled by a set of PowerShell cmdlets
which can be used to enable the functionality on either all users globally or on an
individual user-by-user basis.
Grant Consent
 In the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams portal click the Consent to
RealConnect for Teams link to open a new page explaining the requested permissions to be
granted to Polycom.

 Click the "here" link at the bottom of the page and sign into Office 365 using the
same Global Administrator account, if prompted.

 Click each down arrow to expand the individual permission requests to review the
additional details. Click Accept when ready.

If successful, then the consent page will refresh to report the results.
At this point a RealConnect for Microsoft Teams app has been added to the Office 365
tenant, which can be confirmed on the Microsoft Apps page
at https://myapps.microsoft.com. Look for the Polycom RealConnect for Microsoft
Teams app in the list.

Prepare PowerShell
 In the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams portal click on
the Powershell Instructions for RealConnect for Teams link under the Teams
Configuration section.

The PowerShell Commands documentation page that opens will include each of the
supported cmdlets. These are not just examples as they include the exact parameters
specific to this tenant so they can literally by copied and pasted directly into PowerShell
to execute them. Among the instructions is guidance for connecting to PowerShell
Online Modules, enabling the service, enabling users, and controlling specific behaviors
of the service.
As explained in this recent article the Microsoft Teams cmdlets are included in
the Skype for Business Online PowerShell Module, so that is the only module required
to complete the following configuration steps.
 Download and install the Skype for Business Online Windows PowerShell Module on
the desired Windows workstation.
 Open a new Windows PowerShell window and then enter the following
commands. These can all be copied and pasted in one single action. Enter an
administrator account’s User Principal Name when prompted in the PowerShell
window, and then the password when prompted in a separate pop-up window.
Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector
$skype = New-CsOnlineSession
Import-PSSession $skype

Enable Video Interop Service

In order to properly configure the service make sure that proper Microsoft-
assigned TenantKey is being used for this step. The command can be copied directly
from the PowerShell Commands page on the portal. (Do not copy the command
directly from this blog article as it includes the TenantKey for msteams.net in the
example.)
 On the PowerShell Commands page highlight and copy the entire command under
the Configure Your Video Interop Service Policy section.

 Paste and execute the command into the PowerShell window. Note that the
command will look identical to the following example, except for the the
highlighted numeric string indicating the unique TenantKey for the tenant being
configured.
New-CsVideoInteropServiceProvider -Identity Polycom -AadApplicationIds
a39192d4-7b9b-4c07-87d7-cbcd3fd97af7 -TenantKey "[email protected]"
-InstructionUri
"https://dialin.plcm.vc/teams/?key=680450644&conf={ConfId}"
 What this command has done is enabled Polycom as the Cloud Video Interop Service
provider of choice for this tenant, defined the tenant’s unique numeric ID (TenantKey),
defined the globally unique AzureAD application ID for the Polycom service bot
(AadApplicationIds), and finally set the help URI which will appear on the Teams
meeting invite of any enabled users (InstructionUri).
Note that the -InstructionUri parameter can point to any URL, so if desired a custom-
branded webpage can be created and hosted on any publicly available web
server. Simply replace the default URL with the URL of the custom website if this
customization is desired, otherwise leave the default entry which points to a dynamic
page specific to the tenant.
Enable Users
Unlike the Skype for Business configuration which will require an add-on license to be
assigned to each user in the environment the Teams solution simply leverages a policy
which can be enabled or disabled per user or for the entire tenant.
The preferred method when testing or rolling out the service is to enable individual
users instead of enabling every user at one time.
 To enable individual user accounts simply use the Grant-CsTeamsVideo cmdlet as
shown below, entering the User Principal Name for the desired user account as the
target -Identity. Standard PowerShell scripting can be used to run this command
against specific lists of users in bulk in desired.
Grant-CsTeamsVideoInteropServicePolicy -PolicyName
PolycomServiceProviderEnabled -Identity [email protected]
 Alternatively, to enable the service for every scheduled Teams meeting created by
every user in the organization then simply execute the same cmdlet, but without
specifying an identity.
Grant-CsTeamsVideoInteropServicePolicy -PolicyName
PolycomServiceProviderEnabled
For verification purposes the following cmdlet can be used to list all users in the
organization which have the service enabled for their Teams meeting invitations.
Get-CsOnlineUser -Filter {TeamsVideoInteropServicePolicy -eq
"Tag:PolycomServiceProviderEnabled"} | fl UserPrincipalName
 Enable Lobby Bypass
By default any VTCs joining a Teams meeting by way of RealConnect will automatically
be placed directly into the meeting lobby, requiring another Teams attendee to manually
admit them. If this behavior is not desired then all VTCs can be allowed to automatically
bypass the lobby and join the meeting directly. Note that this change has no impact on
other guests joining a Teams meeting, it only applies to VTCs joining via the
RealConnect service. Changing this setting will impact the behavior for all VTCs joining
all Teams meetings as this is essentially a global on/off switch.
 Enter the following cmdlet to enable the lobby bypass behavior.
Set-CsVideoInteropServiceProvider -Identity Polycom -
AllowAppGuestJoinsAsAuthenticated $true
Note that in order for this feature to function the service provider configuration defined in
an earlier step must have the correct service bot ID defined (-AadApplicationIds
a39192d4-7b9b-4c07-87d7-cbcd3fd97af7). If the provider was initially created
without setting this parameter then it can be added to the same cmdlet as shown in the
following example.
Set-CsVideoInteropServiceProvider -Identity Polycom -
AllowAppGuestJoinsAsAuthenticated $true -AadApplicationIds a39192d4-
7b9b-4c07-87d7-cbcd3fd97af7
Validate Configuration
To confirm that the configuration was successfully completed sign in to Microsoft Teams
using one of the accounts which was assigned to the service policy in the previous
steps (e.g. [email protected]).
 Create a new Teams Meeting using any supported method (Outlook, the Teams
desktop application, a Teams mobile app, or even from Teams running in a web
browser).
Confirm that the resulting meeting invitation now displays the additional section of
instructions in the message body pertaining to the video interop service. Note that
this additional video conferencing device details may not immediately appear in new
meetings, as the configuration can take several hours (routinely up to 8) to be enabled
across Microsoft’s cloud service. Also make sure to restart both Outlook and the Teams
client on the workstation if the details are still not appearing.
At this point the configuration for Microsoft Teams is complete and the service is ready
to be used with the Office 365 tenant.

Enable RealConnect for Skype for Business Online

Configuring RealConnect for Skype for Business addresses the same concepts as
covered above in the Teams configuration, yet with a completely different methodology
for enabling the service and users. The steps in this section are only applicable to
supporting Skype Meetings scheduled by Skype for Business Online users. (Supporting
RealConnect for Skype Meetings scheduled by Skype for Business Server users require
a different configuration which is not in the scope of this article.)
While the required permissions to utilize the service were already granted when first
connecting into the portal, Polycom needs to also be established as a Cloud Solution
Provider (CSP) via a partner relationship with the Office 365 tenant. By default
Microsoft grants all CSPs full delegated administrative rights to the tenant, which is in
no way required (or even desired) for this service. Thus those rights should be promptly
removed, leaving only the Cloud Solutions Provider relationship.
1. The Partner Relationship is required to insert the needed user licenses into the
tenant.
2. Delegated administrative permissions are not required and should be removed.
While the Teams functionality leverages a basic policy setting to enable the service per
user, the Skype for Business functionality uses the older Office 365 Add-On license
 model. The Skype Configuration details below include an additional user license count
which is completely separate from the base Call Licenses which are actually measured
for concurrent usage of the service. These additional Skype Outlook Licenses are
simply entitlements which can be given to all users so that their Skype Meeting can be
populated with the needed VTC details. These are essentially included free with the
service.
Authorize Cloud Solutions Provider
 In the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams portal click
the Accept Partner Relationship link under the Skype Configuration section.

 Click Sign In on the Cloud Solution Provider invitation.

 Select Yes to agree to the terms of delegated administration (this level of permissions is unneeded by the service
and will be promptly removed) and then click Authorize CSP.
If completed successfully the following message will be displayed.
 Return to the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams portal and
refresh the page. If any of the required (*) Microsoft Partner Billing Profile fields are
blank then the portal will now require those be completed.
Otherwise the main page will be displayed with the updated Skype Configuration status
now reflecting that the partner relationship has been established. Note that it should
also report "Delegated Admin Permission detected".
 Click the View Microsoft Partner Relationship link which will open the Microsoft
365 admin center in a new tab and should go directly to the Settings > Partner
Relationship menu.

 Click on the Polycom, Inc. entry to open that partner relationship. (Note that
the Relationship is described as "Cloud Solution Provider and Admin".)

 Click the Remove delegate admin button and then click Remove when prompted to
confirm.
 Click Close to return to the Partner relationships page. (Note that the "and Admin"
portion is no longer shown in the description.)

 Return to the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams portal and
refresh the page.
Verify User Licenses
 In the Microsoft 365 admin center navigate to the Billing > Licenses menu.

As soon as the licenses are applied to the tenant they will be listed here as "Skype
Meeting Video Interop for Skype for Business". It can take a little as a few minutes to as
 long as several hours before the licenses are applied to the tenant, so check back later
if they do not yet appear.
Enable Users
Once the licenses have been assigned to the tenant and appear in the previous step
then it is now possible to assign the service capability to specific user’s meetings.
Note that the amount of Skype Meeting Video Interop licenses which appear in the
tenant will exactly match the total number of core Office 365 user licenses currently in
the tenant that include Skype for Business Online Plan 2 capabilities. This essentially
means that all Standalone, Business, and/or Enterprise licenses which include to ability
for that user to schedule a Skype for Business Online Meeting are added together and
an equal amount of video interop licenses are added to the tenant. For example, a
tenant with 25 E3 licenses, 100 E5 licenses, and 10 standalone SfB Online Plan 2
licenses would be be given 135 video interop user licenses. This ensures that every
user in the tenant is allowed to create meetings capable of using RealConnect.
If additional Office 365 user licenses are added to the tenant in the future then simply
sign-in to the Polycom RealConnect for Office 365 and Microsoft Teams portal which
will trigger the service to recalculate the current user licenses and update the available
amount to match.
Assigning a license to a user can be performed using either the Microsoft 365 Admin
Center or PowerShell, no differently than any other Office 365 license.
 In the Microsoft 365 admin center browse to Users > Active Users and then select
the desired user or users, and the click Edit for Product Licenses. (If editing multiple
users then select Add to existing product license assignments.)
 Click on the slider next to Skype Meeting Video Interop for Skype for Business and
then click Save.
 Validate Configuration
To confirm that the configuration was successfully completed sign in to Skype for
Business using one of the accounts which was assigned to the service policy in the
previous steps (e.g. [email protected]).
 Create a new Skype Meeting using Outlook 2016 (Click-to-Run installations only) on
a Windows or Mac workstation. Confirm that the resulting meeting invitation now
 displays an additional section of instructions in the message body pertaining to the
video interop service.
Note that this additional video conferencing device details may not immediately appear
in new meetings, as the configuration can take several hours (routinely up to 8) to be
enabled across Microsoft’s cloud service. Also make sure to restart both Outlook and
the Skype for Business client on the workstation if the details are still not appearing.

At this point the configuration for Skype for Business Online is complete and the service
is ready to be used with the Office 365 tenant.
Next Steps
As outlined earlier depending on the existing topology, desired workflow, and available
VTCs there may be a need to perform additional configuration steps. The additional
articles in this series are outlined in the beginning of this article.
Filed under Office 365, Skype for Business, Teams · Tagged
with Cloud, CVI, Polycom, RealConnect, VTC
About Jeff Schertz
Site Administrator
Do the on prem Polycom endpoints join as authenticated Skype / Teams users in the RealPresence for Office 365
service? We have an issue with on prem RealConnect today where the VMR joins and can open an on prem Skype
meeting, but because it’s not considered an authenticated user, if no one joins as a Skype authenticated user, the
meeting times out after the grace period. Thank you!

No, there is no registration or authentication in video interoperability. But the behavior you mentioned is related to
full on-premises deployments where thee Polycom video infrastructure must leverage the Skype Trusted Application
model. Trusted Applications are seen as trusted, authenticated connections, but NOT as full enterprise users. This
behavior is not applicable to the cloud solution though as connections between the Polycom service and SfB
Online/Teams is all within Azure and not subject to that limitation.

Hi Jeff,

Excellent blog post as usual.

I have one query around migrations, I know that it is possible to run both SfB Online and Teams on the same PC
client at the same time for migration purposes, is it possible to also run RC for SfB online in O365 and RC for Teams
at the same time? Does the Outlook client give the user the choice of scheduling a SfB online or a Teams meeting
button?

Best Regards
Steve

Outlook will by default show both scheduling buttons but you can always control that behavior by hiding Outlook
plugins/ This is common practice during migrations. You can join meeting on either platform in RealConnect, but in

Hi Jeff,
This is a wonderful post. I have a quick question

Is it required that the endpoints that would join the Realconnect for Teams meetings be registered to any call control
server to enable them dial or can any endpoint that is not registered join this meetings via the click to join button?

No registration required. You can place unregistered H.323 or SIP calls directly into the service.

Hi Jeff,

Excellent Blog Post. Trying to enable the trial license but I keep getting ” An unknown error has occurred while login
in to o365 portal with global Admin.

I viewed the source page and could see an information that “the location of your company is not supported.”. Does it
mean th service is not available for Nigeria?
Any headups?

Theo

Correct, there are a few regions which are not yet supported so please contact your Poly or partner sales rep for
more details.

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the great article.
I have a question about calling into one of these RealConnect for Teams meetings from a Polycom RealPresence
310. The device already has the Skype option enabled and can call into Skype meetings without RealConnect, but
when calling into a Teams meeting using the Join button, it joins audio-only, even though the RealConnect alternate
dialing info is in the invite. The Calendaring settings on the RealPresence were updated to use the One Touch Dial
service, but the Join button still just calls in with audio only. If I manually dial the alternative dial in number, then the
video and content sharing works. Any idea why the Join button isn’t using the alternate dial string with OTD
enabled?

Thanks,
Tom

Check that the mailbox used by the Group Series is configured correctly; it sounds like the -DeleteComments
parameter on the mailbox is set to ‘$true’ which would prevent OTD from seeing the VTC details for RealConnect.
Then the GS would only have the SfB Meeting URI to leverage, which would connect via the audio-only gateway.
(look at this article: http://blog.schertz.name/2018/11/polycom-one-touch-dial-service)

I wonder how would we all do, if you weren’t posting your awesome articles
Is there a method to access RealConnect tenant report without global admin rights in O365 tenant? It’s very unsafe
to use full admin account, when the task is just to collect some usage statistics.
Thanks,
Vadim

The tenant reporting (https://rc-reports.plcm.vc) is part of the overall Poly Cloud Services portal, not the
RealConnect portal. Any user can be allowed access to the reporting portal and it has nothing to do with their O365
permissions. Just assign the Device Operator role to a new user account added to the Cloud Services portal.

Hey Jeff, long time listener, first time caller.

We’re getting ready to implement RealConnect and there’s one question that’s unanswered for our rollout:
Do existing meetings get updated with the VTC configuration info? If so, what mechanism updates the meetings?

Thanks in advance,

The changes will only apply to newly scheduled meetings, so users would need to manually update any reoccurring
meeting in their calendars to insert the RealConnect information.

That’s a shame. I’m assuming that meetings that get updated via the Meeting Migration Service in SFBO would
include the VTC configuration info. Is that the case? If so, would manually kicking off the MMS for a user achieve
the same thing? As a practice I’m looking for an way to automate the adoption of this technology for our users.

I haven’t tested the MMS yet to validate whether it adds the VTC details when applied to a user which is enabled
for the CVI service.

Fair enough. We will be going through this process soon enough and I will report back with the results. I see no
difference, logically, between what I understand MMS does and what the user does when creating a new Skype
 meeting. If the MMS does add the VTC details, for existing users who are in Skype Online, I was thinking I could
use the MMS to migrate their meetings to Teams, kicking off the MMS process and adding the VTC with minimal
work by the end user.

Unfortunately the MMS does not add the VTC details, even if you manually kick it off.

Thanks Jeff,
Always on point!

I have a question. We have a multidomain tenant in o365. If i use the global command it will enable realconnect for
teams for ALL users which includes 10 different domains across all continents.Is there a way to enable the
realconnect license for users in a specific domain on the tenant?

No, you can only enable users globally or individually. IF you want to limit it by domain then you’d have to parse
members and apply the license and/or policy individually to each.

Hi Jeff,

Good post as usual. I just have a quick question about the Click-To-Run version of Outlook. Is it needed for Teams
configuration too? Thanks,

No, as the Teams application is not part of Office (or at least wasn’t originally). The C2R requirement only applies to
Skype for Business, although even that is no longer a requirement as there is a new plug-in available to provide the
solution to MSI-based deployments: https://rc-docs.plcm.vc/blog/2019/09/24/RealConnect_Invite_Add-in

Jeff,
How is Real Connect licensing works?
If we have 100 users in O365 who will use MS Teams and only two RPG 700 units we need only 2 Real Presences
licenses right?

Correct, as the licensing is concurrency-based so if you only have two endpoints then you’ll never have more than
two in any meeting (same or different) at one time. Incidentally 2 licenses is also the minimum purchasable amount.

I am looking to configure it so that ONLY my Polycom Trio appliances use the Interop service in the Hybrid
configuration. Do I only assign the licenses to those user accounts? If normal users schedule meetings will the Trio
still be able to join and recognize them?

Yes, enable the users so their invites include the VTC details, and then configure the Trio to use RealConnect for
both Skype and Teams meetings. The Trio will then use RealConnect to join a Skype meeting, ignoring the native
meeting details, even when still registered to Skype for Business. I’m not sure their are detailed instructions online
to do this, but PDMS does include templates to accomplish this.

Hello Jeff, I just wanted to know. I have finished the configuration of the RealConnect on my tenant and its now
active. It displays the additional information as required. My question is, what do i do with those details and how do i
join the meeting with them using one of these devices?
 You can simply dial the string provided in the invite (or the additional formats on the link) from a standards-based
video system. Or you can configure One Touch Dial if the system supports calendaring.

1. Verifying Users Enabled for CVI : Jeff Schertz's Blog says:

March 13, 2019 at 4:53 am

[…] This brief article includes a few tips on how to verify which Office 365 user account have been enabled to use a
partner-provided Cloud Video Interop (CVI) solution, like the Polycom RealConnect Service. […]

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2. RealConnect for Clariti : Jeff Schertz's Blog says:

March 23, 2019 at 7:33 am

[…] In regards to the call flow The primary difference between Skype and Teams here is that Polycom Servers do
not need to perform and meeting discovery, as the Teams meeting invitations already include all the necessary
standards-based details. This information is provided in the original Teams meeting as described in this article. […]

REPLY

3. Poly Trio with Microsoft Teams : Jeff Schertz's Blog says:

August 6, 2019 at 4:56 am

[…] The mode is the only option which is supported by Microsoft for interoperability when the Trio is deployed as
video-enabled when paired with a Poly Visual Plus (Visual+) or Visual Pro solution. This is because the Trio will
leverage the supported Cloud Video Interop (CVI) approach by joining Microsoft Teams meetings using the Poly
RealConnect Service. […]

REPLY