Room Kit Plus - Microsoft Teams - Dual Monitor

[exadmin]

Hello,

We have been using the Cisco room kits for about 4 years now and really like them. We primarily use them with webex. However, over the years we've started using Microsoft Teams more and more. We recently got a new Room Kit Plus and have it running 2 displays. It works awesome with webex, but with Teams, it puts everything (shared content, multiple particpants) on the single display.

These are my questions...

Is there any way to get the Room Kit plus to use both screens when running a Microsoft Teams meeting?

Is there any indication that this might change? For example, it is just a matter of time until Cisco updates it well enough to do this?

We have been using the WebRTC protocol. Is there another way to do integration that might support the dual screens? Maybe through a 3rd party?

Should Zoom and Google Meet work the same as Microsoft Teams for dual display purposes?

It's just really nice to have the dual screens, but a little awkward when only 1 is running.

Thanks,
Ben

[Matt_W · Accepted solution]

Hi Ben,

Yes, you can get dual screen in RoomOS when running MS Teams meetings buy purchasing and implementing CVI (VIMT) licenses on your account. This will work for meetings you host. If you also use Zoom you would need licenses from them to support Dual screen on Zoom hosted meetings. Otherwise the system falls back to WebRTC which works over a browser back end which only supports one screen.

If you switch to MS Teams OS on the new devices you would still need a Microsoft Room Pro license (a Microsoft license) for each room you want to support Dual screen from.
Last I checked Google Meet only supported dual display on google meet hardware/computer. So you could get it to work by cabling a PC to the codec HDMI inputs and USB -C to the computer to use the room's camera and microphone. However, the amount of setup normally causes people to just deal with the single screen on those meetings.

[exadmin]

Okay, cool. Thanks! More questions...

This CVI (VIMT) license, is that something on the Cisco side or the Microsoft Side?

Assuming it is on the Cisco side, I would assume it would work regardless of which organization is hosting the meeting?

If it is on the Microsoft side, would it only work with teams meetings hosted by our own 365 tenant?

[Jonathan Schulenberg]

VIMT is Cisco’s implementation of CVI so you would procure the licenses through your Cisco partner. They are typically added to your Flex subscription for calling/meetings.

Cross-org support was released this month so it now works with meetings hosted by another org.

A few things to clarify from Mark’s response:

• Zoom doesn’t use WebRTC, at least not with Cisco endpoints; it’s always a SIP call. Zoom customers can enable free SIP video interop for meetings they host but it’s single screen. Dual requires paid CRC ports, either on the host’s account or the attendee using a pairing code.
• Google Meet is WebRTC only and therefore single screen. Remember that all WebRTC joins on a Cisco endpoint also cannot share content from the codec; users must join from their laptop to share.
• The RK+ doesn’t have native USB-C support for Call from Laptop but the current generation endpoints that have it do not support MST so the connected laptop only sees a single external display, not dual.

[lzhu]

If MS Teams is the primary meeting platform you use, i would suggest moving to MS Teams rooms. Cisco Room bars/room bar pros, Room Kit EQ, etc. are certified for MS Teams rooms. This way you can run native teams meetings on these Cisco device. This way you can easily join MS teams meetings and you don't need to purchase CVI licenses. However, you do need a Teams Room Pro license per device. We have deployed a dozen Cisco Room Bar Pros in MTRoA mode and they work great with MS teams meetings. 

[exadmin]

great feedback, thanks everyone.