Microsoft Teams introduces new plan that will allow meetings with 20,000 participants

Microsoft has introduced several new updates and features for its Teams app. Now users will be able to change their background during office meetings and online workshops and add as many as 20,000 members in a Teams meeting.

The updates will be part of the new Advanced Communications add-on license , as introduced in the company blog. The license has to be paid for and offers several other benefits. The new plan can be “added to any Microsoft 365 or Office 365 paid subscription”. It is available from this week. Users can also avail a 60-day free trial version via the Teams Admin Center now.

Although it’s less likely to have 20,000 members in a team, this new feature will help users conduct multi-office events like online seminars and workshops. In order to help manage the audience and active participants of a meeting properly, the firm has limited the “size of interactive meetings to 1,000 participants”.

A new calling feature in Teams is also being worked upon that will give users a cloud-based phone system to make, receive and switch calls on any device, according to SlashGear.

Users will be able to use their existing Skype for Business phones even after making the move to Teams. Core calling facilities on SIP phones from companies such as Polycom, Yealink and Cisco will be available by next year, the blog said.

There are options for users wanting to enhance their phones as well. “For customers looking to modernize their phones, we are bringing a new line of Microsoft Teams phones with physical buttons, high-quality audio, and core calling features at an affordable price”.