Tata’s tier-1 global network will be used for the New Microsoft Teams Direct Routing capability, Calling in Microsoft Teams, to support enterprises connecting their existing voice infrastructures directly to the Microsoft Teams environment anywhere in the world.
The service will utilise Tata Com’s Global SIP Connect service along with its global network, which can reach more than 240 countries and territories across more than 500 PoPs.
Tata’s new offering comes with telephony interoperability and support for legacy analogue devices, allowing integration with existing enterprise platforms. It has labelled the service – its latest partnership with Microsoft – as Direct Routing by Tata Communications.
Tata already partners Microsoft services through its IZO Private Connect, which offers Microsoft enterprise customers improved network performance through a hybrid cloud solution: Azure ExpressRoute. This includes the likes of Azure and Office 365.
“This breakthrough for cloud-based collaboration means that our customers will be able to make the most of the flexibility and scale of Microsoft Teams, whilst leveraging their existing voice assets,” Peter Quinlan, Vice President, Business Collaboration, Tata Communications.
“It’s all about enabling enterprises to plan a smooth transition to the cloud and other digital platforms at a pace that works for them, and paving the way for truly borderless, seamless collaboration. In this age of flexible working and globally dispersed teams, our leading-edge performance monitoring tools will also ensure that users everywhere will have the best possible collaboration experience with Microsoft Teams.”
In March, Microsoft unveiled its plans to launch Direct Routing in Q2 this year, joining Calling Plans as an option for making calls through Microsoft Teams.
The service can be integrated with an existing PBX to ease the transition process, with options to coexist along with call centre applications. It also includes support for analogue devices with traffic staying within the organisation, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft said: “Direct Routing is a capability of Phone System in Office 365 to help customers connect their SIP trunks to Microsoft Teams. In the simplest deployment model, customers start with SIP trunks from their telecommunications provider. Next, customers will use and configure a supported Session Border Controller (SBC) from one of our certified partners. Finally, they will connect their SBC to Microsoft Teams and Phone System.”
