Zoom supports two types of integration with Skype for Business Online and Skype for Business Server, 1) Native Federation using your Lync or Skype for Business Edge Server, or Skype for Business Online and 2) CTI -software based- integration using a client side plugin that launches the Zoom client.
Microsoft Teams only supports Microsoft Teams Desktop client Zoom integration today using the Zoom Meeting BOT. Much like the SfB CTI Plugin this BOT merely launches the Zoom client via the BOT commands below:
You can use the following commands:
1. start – Start an instant meeting, uses your Personal Meeting ID if it’s turned on in your Zoom account setting
2. start [topic] – Start an instant meeting with a topic
3. join [meeting ID] – Join a meeting with a meeting ID
4. help – Show all supported commands
5. logout – Logout from Zoom on all your Teams’ channels
The Zoom BOT can be installed directly from the Teams App Store.
Thus the integration as of this date isn’t native and ultimately still requires the Zoom client to be present on your desktop so users can host meetings as well as join them.
Interestingly Microsoft Team Rooms -although unsupported- can use Federation via SfBO or SfBS to join a Zoom meeting. The following thread shows a number of IT Pro’s experiencing varying degree’s of success trying to join a Zoom meeting from an MTR.
Providing your SfBS or your SfBO/Teams Tenant is enabled for Open Federation or has Lync.Zoom.us added as an allowed federated domain inter-org communication with Zoom from the MTR should work as fundamentally this is just a SIP call.
From the MTR you would need to dial the SIP URI of the Zoom Conference in the following format MeetingID@Lync.Zoom.us – Example 123456@Lync.Zoom.us
If you notice from the screenshots above the UI changes to Blue which is the Skype Room System UI. This is of some importance as it would appear the MTR client is still uses the SRS SIP stack rather than REST like its Teams Desktop and Mobile equivalent, which also explains why Zoom MTR interoperability works natively when leveraging federation.
Essentially the MTR is just a re-skinned SRS client that still uses the same SRS SIP stack under the hood. Bearing in mind SfBO will be retired in 2021 its possible the MTR client may need to be re-platformed to support REST assuming the supporting SfBO Federation infrastructure is also deprecated which will affect any customers using Azure AD resource accounts with their Microsoft Team Room Video Conferencing Units.
Incidentally this also explains why the MTR can join a Zoom meeting regardless of the selected ‘Mode’ be that SfB Only or SfB Teams mode.
I decided to do some testing via a Skype for Business Client registered to SfBO in SfB Only mode which yielded some peculiar results regarding the join experience. For reasons i cannot fathom if the Zoom Conference is started first via a Zoom client or if the Zoom Personal Meeting ID is not used the SfB Client will not join the meeting. Instead the client will appear to join and then will drop the call.
If the Zoom Meeting is started from the SfB Client using the Personal Meeting ID (Which is your static meeting ID) then the meeting can be opened successfully after entering the host key or in SfB nomenclature the host pin.
The SfB desktop client obviously works as this also uses SIP for call control and signalling. Conversely despite the Microsoft Teams Desktop client supporting SIP Federation as this client is REST based native integration with Zoom fails. When dialling the Zoom Meeting URI the Zoom Federation Gateway answers the call but unlike SfB nothing is displayed on the screen that allows you to enter your host key. Using the dial pad though if you enter your host pin the meeting will start but the video stream from the Zoom attendee is not displayed though the audio stream does work.
As Zoom supports conference join via a web browser i decided to experiment with adding a ‘Website’ Tab in a Teams team to see if i could get a native A/V experience from within Teams. This actually worked via Chrome as Chrome was able to recognise my microphone and webcam peripherals.
Unfortunately via the Teams Desktop Client while i was able to join the Zoom Conference A/V was unavailable as the embedded web page couldn’t detect my microphone or webcam.
@Graham_Walsh on Twitter has published a useful Youtube video that demonstrates Zoom Teams interoperability using a Pexip bridge. Essentially this is a similar integration but in the reverse direction leveraging Teams Cloud Video Interop. As Zoom supports SIP connectivity via their H.323/SIP Connector which requires a valid license the Zoom Desktop Client or a Zoom Room can dial into a Pexip bridge using the SIP URI assigned to the bridge and then enter the conference by using the Conference ID.
Zoom Teams interoperability is an interesting conundrum considering the increasing popularity of both platforms. A native user experience is preferred in my opinion in order to reduce user confusion and to provide a friction free user experience that doesn’t necessitate launching an additional client which much like legacy CTI integration has its own EUC and desktop build implications. Hopefully in time we will see the Microsoft Team Room and Microsoft Team Desktop Client interop with Zoom improve from where it is today.
