In This Article |
The information in this article is meant to be used in the sales process. |
This article provides guidance for running Microsoft Teams in the Evolve IP Cloud. Specifically, Workspaces (powered by Citrix) and DaaS (Powered by VMware).
While most applications will function in a properly sized virtual desktop or hosted application environment, below are considerations for any real-time audio / video compatibility (RTAV).
Microsoft Teams can be used within a web browser on nearly any device that includes real-time audio and video. For information and limitations of the browser based Teams client, please see link here.
For customers wishing to utilize the fully installed Microsoft Teams client within an Evolve IP Workspace or DaaS product, please refer to the following compatibility information.
The Citrix Workspace app makes use of a technology called WebRTC. This open standard is capable of redirecting video, voice, and also data in a peer-to-peer fashion from one instance/endpoint to another. In Teams, this works by making a connection for the audio and video streams directly to/from the end-users’ workstation. Because the connection is made directly between the devices, the audio and video streams do not have to be re-encoded to/from the VDA, which would add latency and degrade quality.
WebRTC is an open standard and is available for all major OSes. However, at this time, Citrix has only deployed the technology in the Windows 10 version of the Workspace app. Mac and Linux are on the roadmap, but there is no release date yet.
It is not just a matter of simply including or enabling this open standard. Citrix has made WebRTC aware of Teams and Jabber so that the applications can provide feedback regarding the experience. Finally, WebRTC performance seems to also be dependent on media capabilities of the peers and because of all of the components and connections involved, reliability establishing the connection is less than perfect.
VMware’s new optimizations also use the WebRTC components to accomplish the same effect, but this solution is not yet officially recognized by Microsoft as optimized.
Resources
The table below provides guidance w/ general end-user experience running MS Teams inside DaaS and Workspaces. VMware (DaaS) and Citrix (Workspace) have a different approach to handling RTAV, see experience estimates below.
Metric | DaaS (Windows 10 Endpoint*) | DaaS (Thin/Zero Client***) | Workspace Elite (Windows 10 Endpoint**) | Workspace Elite (Thin/Zero Client***) | WVD w/ RDP (Win 10 Endpoint) | WVD w/ RDP (Thin/Zero Client***) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Outbound Video Quality | Not Supported ***** | Not Supported **** | Not Supported **** | |||
Inbound Video Quality | Not Supported ***** | Not Supported **** | Not Supported **** | |||
Audio Quality (In/Out) | Not Supported ***** | Not Supported **** | Not Supported **** | |||
Screen Sharing | ||||||
File Sharing | ||||||
Chat |
*Win10 Home w/ VMware Horizon 5.4.2, w/ Media Optimization for MS Teams, DaaS View Agent 7.3.1
**Win10 Home w/ Citrix Workspace Client 20.2.0.25, MS Teams HDX Optimized on VDA
*** ThinOS or ZeroOS, Win10 IOT thin client not in scope for testing. ThinOS version 8.x, used for testing.
**** Based on 3/19/20 Azure WVD KB
***** Does not support RTAV or RTA for Dell Wyse 3040
Evolve IP recommends client testing of any RTAV experience before purchase via sales demo platform (available for DaaS and WS). |
The details below are specific to Workspaces and DaaS seat levels. Certain seat types will be a better choice for clients depending on their user behavior / work habits. Also there are several differences and caveats of each solution noted below.
Workspaces Desktop | RTAV Support | Microsoft Certified | Optimized for MS Teams | Important Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Workspaces Std | NA | NA | NA | Microsoft does not support Microsoft Teams as a Published application. |
Workspaces Pro | Workspace Pro meets the minimum requirements for MS Teams WITHOUT RTAV enabled. | |||
Workspaces Elite | Workspaces Elite supports all MS Teams features. |
Feature Limitations
Resources
The below VMware Horizon DaaS support matrix provides information as it relates to MS Teams. Note, Evolve IP DaaS is a dedicated one-to-one deployment model providing clients with a dedicated CPU/RAM desktop.
Desktop | Specs | RTAV Support | Optimized for MS Teams | Important Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
DaaS Standard Seat | 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM | MS Teams will function. However, RTAV performance will saturate the DaaS standard seat. Multi-tasking is not recommended while on a video call and will be slightly slower and grainy compared to a native MS Teams RTAV experience. Audio quality is excellent. | ||
DaaS Premium Seat | 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM | DaaS Premium meets the minimum requirements for MS Teams WITHOUT RTAV enabled. DaaS premium seat can be used for RTAV with minimal multitasking. | ||
DaaS Ultimate Seat | 2 vCPU, 16GB RAM | DaaS Ultimate runs all of the features of MS Teams including RTAV but does not meet VMware's recommendation of 4vCPU. |