Joining a Microsoft Teams meeting via Google Meet hardware

Pexip Connect for Google Rooms enables Google Meet hardware to make video calls into any internal or externally-hosted Microsoft Teams meetings via Pexip’s interoperability service.

It provides users with a familiar Teams-like video experience when connecting into Teams from Google Meet hardware. Currently, this is a guest join experience, therefore someone has to be in the Microsoft Teams meeting to admit you from the lobby.

This article covers:

How it works

Here's a summary of how to join internal or external Teams meetings from Google Meet hardware devices:

  1. Schedule the meeting by creating a Google Calendar entry with the Google Meet hardware device as a participant, and with the meeting join details from the invite to the Teams meeting. See Meeting join options for details.

  2. Join the meeting from the native Google device touch controller via:

    • One-Touch Join from the details provided in the Calendar entry (recommended method), or
    • Ad hoc join by entering the meeting ID and passcode
  3. The call automatically routes through Pexip when the meeting is identified as being hosted by a compatible third-party.
  4. Pexip operates transparently in the background ensuring calls connect and users have the meeting experience they expect.

Supported Meet hardware

All Meet hardware devices are supported (ChromeOS and Android-based).

Licensing requirements

Pexip Connect for Google Rooms has the following licensing requirements:

  • Your Pexip Connect for Google Rooms license count must match your Meet hardware device count.

Additional information:

  • Pexip's CVI licensing is not required for Meet hardware interoperability with Teams meetings. However, if the invitation is from an organization that does have Pexip CVI enabled on the Pexip Service, this will be utilized and used to join the meeting.
  • Pexip needs to know your Google account number.
  • Pexip reserves the right to audit your Meet hardware device count twice a year.

Microsoft Teams/Exchange settings

To allow Meet hardware to join Teams meetings, the Teams tenant that is hosting the meeting must have enabled the "Anonymous users can join a meeting" setting (Teams Admin Center > Meetings > Meeting Settings) or alternatively set up a policy to bypass this restriction.

Configuring Google Workspace settings to enable Teams interoperability

The hosting Google Workspace environment must be configured appropriately to allow interoperability with Microsoft Teams via Pexip.

The following steps must be completed by a Google Workspace administrator:

  1. Go to admin.google.com.
  2. Select Devices > Google Meet Hardware > Settings > Device Settings.
  3. Select the desired organizational unit folder.
  4. Click to edit the Built-in interoperability options.

  5. Enable Microsoft Teams (powered by Pexip), enter your organization’s Pexip customer ID (36 character UUID) and Save.

  6. Repeat steps 3-5 to enable Meet hardware devices in different organizational units.
  7. The devices may need to be rebooted if they do not pick up the Teams invitation details.

Firewall rules

These are the port usage rules for Google Meet hardware interoperability.

Source Transport Service/Application Destination ports Rule Destination
Google Meet hardware TCP HTTPS 443 Outgoing gmh-proxy.pexip.io
Google Meet hardware UDP* TURN server 3478 Outgoing turn.pexip.io

*For TURN connectivity, UDP 3478 is preferred, but TCP 3478 and TCP 443 are also supported.

Meeting join options

The Pexip solution seamlessly integrates with your Meet hardware device and Calendar to provide a familiar user experience when joining Microsoft Teams meetings. There are three different options for joining Microsoft Teams meetings: scheduled guest join, ad hoc guest join, and scheduled CVI join.

Note that if a meeting invite includes both Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meeting details, the Meet hardware device will prefer the Google Meet meeting over the Teams meeting.

Scheduled Guest Join

The easiest way to join a Teams meeting from a Meet hardware device is to include the device in a calendar invite that contains the Microsoft Teams meeting details.

When you receive a Teams meeting invite from an external party:

  1. Use Google Calendar’s Duplicate feature to duplicate the event.
  2. Add the Meet hardware device(s) to the duplicate event.
  3. Deselect all other meeting participants from the duplicate event.

For Google Meet Rooms to provide a join button for scheduled Teams meetings, the entire body of the Teams calendar invite must be included in the calendar event used to schedule the room. Both the Teams "Join the meeting now" URL and "Meeting Options" URL are important for scheduling purposes (as highlighted below).

Upon successful scheduling, users are presented with a join button on the device’s controller, clearly indicating the scheduled meeting is a Microsoft Teams meeting:

Tap the join button when you are ready to join the meeting, and you should see and hear a message welcoming you to the Teams meeting lobby. The Teams meeting host will be notified and prompted to admit you to the meeting.

Ad hoc Guest Join

You can join a Teams meeting from unscheduled devices, using an ad hoc join method:

  1. Tap Enter a code or nickname on the device controller, or Join or start a meeting (devices with legacy UI).
  2. On the top, tap the dropdown, and select Teams.
  3. Enter the numeric Teams meeting ID.
  4. Enter the (case sensitive) Teams meeting passcode.
  5. Tap to join.

You should see and hear a message welcoming you to the Teams meeting lobby. The Teams meeting host will be notified and prompted to admit you to the meeting.

Scheduled CVI join

If the Teams meeting host organization has Cloud Video Interop (CVI) capability then the meeting invite will include details for joining via CVI:

Joining a scheduled Teams meeting via CVI provides a similar meeting experience to Guest Join but with some potential differences, including:

  • Customer-specific Teams lobby branding
  • User profile pictures are used for audio-only avatars, rather than their initials

Meeting experience

Participants using a Meet hardware device in a Teams meeting receive Pexip's Teams-like layout.

This example shows a Teams meeting that includes three other video participants and one audio-only participant (with hand raised from the Teams client):

When content is shared:

The Meet hardware device control panel indicates that the meeting is being powered by Pexip.

Known limitations

The Meet hardware device interoperability features are under ongoing development and improvement, and currently have the following limitations:

  • Dual-screen Meet hardware devices do not use the secondary screen in Teams meetings.
  • Meet hardware devices cannot share content via a HDMI cable into Teams meetings.
  • There is no trusted join / lobby bypass functionality.
  • There are no options from a Meet hardware device to change the layout, raise hand, view the roster, spotlight a participant, add other people, view chat messages, initiate recording / transcription, join a breakout room or join a Teams Webinar.

Troubleshooting / FAQs

Issue Cause / Resolution
I've forwarded the Teams meeting invitation to the room calendar, but there is no "Join" button on my Google Meet hardware.
  • For the Join button to appear, the entire body of the Teams calendar invite must be included in the calendar event used to schedule the room. (You can still join the meeting by keying in the meeting ID and passcode - see Ad hoc Guest Join.)
    		•
    I've forwarded a Teams meeting invitation from my personal Outlook account, but I can't join from my Google Meet hardware.
    • Teams invitations from free / private accounts are not supported (these include teams.live.com in the meeting link).
    • Invitations from business / enterprise accounts are supported (these include teams.microsoft.com in the meeting link).
    I can join some meetings from my Google Meet hardware, but I can't join Teams meetings.

    Some environments use security applications (such as Mimecast, Safe Links or URL Defense) to filter and re-write URLs. Check whether the original domain (e.g. teams.microsoft.com or teams.cloud.microsoft appears in the meeting invitation; if not, it may have been removed / rewritten.

    Resolution

    Ensure that the security application's URL re-write rules include an exception for any URL starting with these domains:

    • https:\\teams.microsoft.com
    • https:\\teams.cloud.microsoft
    • https:\\pexip.me
    Can we receive Teams meeting invitations directly to the meeting room? No, the person receiving the Teams invitation must duplicate it and invite the Google Meet room to the duplicated event. See Scheduled Guest Join.
    Can I enable the feature within an Organizational Unit? Yes, you can enable the feature for certain OUs by following the instructions in Configuring Google Workspace settings to enable Teams interoperability and in Step 3 selecting only those OUs that contain the rooms you want to enable.
    Trial / orderability
    How many rooms can we use the trial in? Is this trial organization-wide or just a single Google Meet device within our org? The trial is for 30 days and covers all devices within your organization.