Microsoft Teams optimization for Amazon WorkSpaces is now in Public Preview

We are excited to share that Microsoft launched a public preview of Microsoft Teams optimization for Amazon WorkSpaces. This new capability significantly enhances the Teams experience for Amazon WorkSpaces users by optimizing audio and video streaming performance.

A Strategic Collaboration

AWS and Microsoft have worked closely together to bring this highly requested feature to WorkSpaces customers. Customers who rely on both Amazon WorkSpaces for their virtual desktop needs and Microsoft Teams for their collaboration requirements benefit from this optimization. This enhancement confirms AWS and Microsoft’s dedication to delivering an optimal user experience for customers who choose to run their Microsoft 365 workloads on Amazon WorkSpaces.

What is Teams Media Optimization?

Teams optimization for Amazon WorkSpaces is a feature that improves real-time audio and video performance in virtual desktop environments. When you run Teams in your WorkSpaces, this feature redirects Teams audio and video streams to your local device, instead of processing them within the WorkSpace. This approach significantly reduces latency in audio and video communications by allowing media streams to flow directly between your local device and Teams services. By offloading media processing to your device, CPU consumption on the WorkSpace is significantly reduced, optimizing the cost and performance of your WorkSpaces deployment. You can now participate in Teams meetings on your WorkSpace with the same quality and responsiveness you experience when running Teams on your local device.

Join the Public Preview Today

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience optimized Teams performance on Amazon WorkSpaces. You can start testing today by enrolling into the Microsoft Teams public preview program. More details about system requirements can be found in the New VDI solution for Teams documentation. Teams media optimization is only available for Amazon DCV powered WorkSpaces connecting using the WorkSpaces client application for Windows.

What’s Next?

During the public preview phase, AWS and Microsoft teams will work closely with customers to gather feedback and optimize performance. This ensures a smooth experience before making the feature generally available. We’re committed to delivering the best possible Teams experience for WorkSpaces customers.

Stay tuned for updates as we progress through the preview phase. We look forward to your participation and feedback on this exciting new capability.

Paolo Maggi is the Director of EUC Streaming Foundations at Amazon Web Services. He has more than 15 years of experience building remote display protocol products such as Amazon DCV.