1. TeamMate PBX Connector - Getting Started
What is TeamMate?
TeamMate is a gateway platform which provides Hosted PBX vendors like Ringlogix integration with Microsoft Teams allowing existing Teams users to have access to additional services like the PBX Connector.
How the PBX Connector works?
The TeamMate PBX Connector is a unique add-on to Microsoft Office 365 which allows you to natively integrate the Ringlogix Voip Platform into Microsoft Teams. It activates the MS Teams built-in softphone allowing users to make and receive calls in the same way as any other softphone, calls will follow the same rules configured in the PBX dashboard (Phone Number, Answering Rules, MOH .. etc), to achieve this functionality the PBX Connector uses a Direct Route between Ringlogix and the TeamMate gateways.
This video shows how the PBX Connector works
PBX Connector Architecture
What is a Direct Route, Enterprise and PBX?
A Direct Route is the connection between the TeamMate platform and
the Ringlogix PBX, you can think of a "Direct Route" as a SIP
Trunk interconnecting TeamMate and Ringlogix, although its
configuration is quite different, SIP signaling and RTP are
exchanged through a Direct Route. The PBX Connector requires at least
one Direct Route configured per Enterprise (customer), without it PBX calls
from the MS Teams app will not work.
An Enterprise is a Customer, Enterprises can be created in the
TeamMate portal and it is the first step in the customer provisioning process,
each Enterprise can have multiple PBXs to accommodate multiple PBX
domains.
In TeamMate a "PBX" is a SIP
configuration template that allows the MS Teams built-in
softphone to obtain the necessary information to achieve SIP registration, make
outbound calls and receive incoming calls.
During the provisioning of new customers, the first component to be created is
the Enterprise, next is the Direct Route, after that the PBX and finally
the users.
What Licenses are required for the PBX Connector?
The PBX Connector uses two Microsoft components, Users and Direct Routes, each one of these components require the following licenses:
Notes.
- While "Teams" is a regular license, "Microsoft Teams
Phone" is an add-on license, it complements the "Teams" license
by adding additional features.
- In the case of users, the Microsoft Enterprise Admin must assign the
required licenses to each one.
- In the case of Direct Routes, TeamMate will create a Microsoft
user at the moment the new Direct Route is provisioned therefore the
Microsoft Enterprise Admin has to make sure there is at least one
unassigned "Teams" and "Microsoft Teams Phone" licenses or comparable
for the new Direct Route user, TeamMate will auto assign the required licenses
to the new Direct Route user, if available licenses cannot be found the
creation of the Direct Route will fail, there is more information about the
user created during the Direct Routing provisioning in the following
link: https://docs.connecttoteams.com/en/articles/13
"Teams" License
In most cases customers will already have the Teams app operational,
therefore each one will have this license assigned, if that's not the
case customers will have to purchase a "Teams" license for each
user.
The following links show some Microsoft license bundles, new users will require
one that include "Teams", these links are only examples about
from where "Teams" licenses can be purchased, there are
more ways to buy Teams licenses but is not the objective of this article to
cover all possible sources.
Small Business Licenses: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-business-options
Corporate Licenses: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/government-plans-and-pricing
"Microsoft Teams Phone" License
Previously known as "PHONE SYSTEM", be aware that in multiple documentations it is still called "PHONE SYSTEM".
This add-on license complements the previous Teams license, each user must have
it assigned, the same as each Direct Route.
There are some variants of the "Microsoft Teams Phone" license, they
include different features, have different prices and different names, the one
TeamMate recommends for direct routing is the "Microsoft Teams Phone
Standard" which can be found in the following link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-phone
If other than the "Microsoft Teams Phone Standard" is used with
TeamMate it could create internal API conflicts because the set of
features included will be different than the ones expected by
TeamMate, besides the price of the other variants is also higher.
Inclusive Licenses
Finally, there are some Microsoft licenses that include "Teams" and
"Microsoft Teams Phone" (PHONE SYSTEM), they are called
"Inclusive Licenses"
The "Microsoft Teams Shared Devices" is an example of an inclusive
license, however Microsoft has decided to set some limitations to this
license, it cannot be used to login into the Teams app therefore it can
only be used to license Direct Routes, as previously explained Direct Routes
are only connections, there is not an actual Teams user login,
chatting or using the Teams App, although a "Teams"
licensed is required.
Microsoft Licensing Rules
It is very well known that Microsoft changes the licensing rules from time to
time, bundles are break down, renamed or terminated and conditions
modified, the explanations provided in this article are according to the
current licensing rules. During 2024 Microsoft made some license package
changes affecting the "Teams" license, more details can be found in
the next paragraph.
Since April 1st 2024 all Microsoft Business Licenses no longer include the
"Teams" license as described in the following article:
Customers who purchased those licenses after that date will have
to purchase the "Teams" license separately.
Business Licenses acquired before April 1st 2024 will keep including MS Teams, users can continue using them and renew their licenses as usual
Business Licenses acquired before April 1st 2024 will keep including MS Teams, users can continue using them and renew their licenses as usual
TeamMate also provides additional information regarding Microsoft
licenses, if you want to check it please use the following link: https://docs.connecttoteams.com/en/articles/11
Microsoft Slow Propagation
Microsoft sometimes takes between 24 and 48 hours to propagate
changes in their systems which TeamMate requires to reflect the new
license assignments, therefore buying and assigning licenses in
advance can streamline the installation process, see more details about
the Microsoft slow propagation in this link: https://docs.connecttoteams.com/en/articles/12
If the Microsoft Admin makes changes to some user(s) licenses please wait some time before making additional license modifications to the same user(s), continuous license modifications of the same user(s) can create platform inconsistencies produced by the slow Microsoft propagation not allowing TeamMate to work properly.
If the Microsoft Admin makes changes to some user(s) licenses please wait some time before making additional license modifications to the same user(s), continuous license modifications of the same user(s) can create platform inconsistencies produced by the slow Microsoft propagation not allowing TeamMate to work properly.
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