Azure Communication Services September 2024 Feature Updates

The Azure Communication Services team is excited to share several new product and feature updates released in August 2024. (You can view previous blog articles.) 

 

Enhancing Custom App Experiences with Microsoft Teams 

We’re announcing a set of enhancements for developers building custom app and website experiences that connect to users on Microsoft Teams. Azure Communication Services and these new capabilities are especially tailored for business-to-customer (B2C) interactions where an external user (the customer) talks to an employee that is using Teams (the business).

 

In-Teams Enhancements

• Breakout Rooms
• Together Mode
• Enhanced Audio

Joining Teams Made Easier

• Short URL
• Join by Meeting ID

 

Together mode: Bringing Everyone into the Same Room 

Status: Public Preview 

 

Azure Communication Services now supports Microsoft Teams' Together Mode, enhancing the virtual meeting experience for participants joining through Azure Communication Services. This integration allows Azure Communication Services participants to render the Together Mode stream, creating a shared background that makes it feel like everyone is in the same room. It’s a great way to reduce meeting fatigue and help participants feel more engaged and attentive.

 

 

Together Mode is particularly useful for making virtual gatherings more immersive and interactive. Whether you're hosting a team meeting, a virtual event, or a classroom session, this feature can make your meetings feel more connected. Plus, organizations can customize these virtual environments to reflect their brand or meeting context through the Teams Developer Portal. Just a heads-up, Teams users need a Teams Premium license to use custom Together Mode scenes. 

 

For more information, see:

• Together Mode - An Azure Communication Services how-to guide | Microsoft Learn 

 

Breakout rooms: Enhancing Virtual Collaboration  

Status: Public Preview 

 

Continuing our efforts to make virtual meetings a more dynamic and interactive experience, Microsoft Teams has introduced breakout rooms integrated with Azure Communication Services for an optimized experience. This functionality allows you to divide your meetings into smaller, more focused groups, enhancing the dynamism and engagement of discussions. 

 

Breakout rooms are perfect for diving into specific topics without the distractions of a larger meeting. Whether you're working on a team project, hosting a classroom session, or conducting group therapy, breakout rooms help facilitate in-depth conversations and active participation. This leads to more efficient and productive meetings. 

Teams administrators can easily manage the availability of breakout rooms through meeting policies, ensuring they are used effectively. Currently in public preview, this integration offers a glimpse into the future of virtual collaboration, making online meetings more engaging and interactive. 

 

For more information, see:

• Tutorial - Integrate Microsoft Teams breakout rooms - An Azure Communication Services tutorial | Microsoft Learn  

 

Enhanced support for audio conferencing: Ensuring Reliable Connections 

Status: General Availability 

 

Microsoft Teams revolutionized seamless communication during virtual appointments by enabling a single Teams meeting to have multiple audio-conferencing setups. This means that participants can join through the most optimal phone line, ensuring they stay connected even if they face internet issues.  

 

Azure Communication Services now exposes this configuration, enabling developers to provide the most optimal phone line to their customers. This feature not only enhances the reliability of virtual appointments but also ensures that participants can always stay connected, making virtual meetings more efficient and stress-free. 

 

For more information, see:

• Teams Meeting Audio Conferencing - An Azure Communication Services how-to guide | Microsoft Learn 

 

Short URL support - web and native 

Status: General Availability 

Sharing meeting links just got easier with the new short URL format for Microsoft Teams, now supported by Azure Communication Services. This update enables you to share meeting links more conveniently, making the process smoother for everyone involved. 

 

We’ve updated our SDKs to accommodate this new format, so developers need to update their SDKs to take advantage of it. The shorter URLs not only simplify the sharing process but also enhance the overall user experience by making links easier to distribute and manage. 

 

For more information, see:

• Quickstart - Teams interop on Azure Communication Services - An Azure Communication Services quickstart | Microsoft Learn 

 

Join a Teams Meeting by ID – Native 

Status: General Availability 

Azure Communication Services now supports joining Microsoft Teams meetings using a meeting ID and passcode. This feature enables developers to build native applications for iOS, Android, and Windows that connect to Teams meetings with simple, manually entered credentials found in the event invite. 

 

By enabling this straightforward method of joining meetings, Azure Communication Services makes it easier to stay connected and collaborate across various platforms. This update enhances security and convenience, ensuring seamless access to your Teams meetings. 

 

 For more information, see:

• Manage calls for Teams users - An Azure Communication Services how-to guide | Microsoft Learn

   

Additional Features and Enhancements

• Real-time transcription
• Real-time audio streaming
• Server programmability for Rooms
• Rich text support

Real-time Transcription: Instant Insights from Your Calls 

Status: Public Preview  

 

Azure Communication Services now offers real-time transcription, providing developers with immediate text output from call audio. This feature is incredibly useful for analyzing conversations and gaining insights that can inform business decisions or assist agents in real-time. 

 

With integration into Azure AI's Speech-to-Text service, real-time transcription supports over 140 languages, making it easy to incorporate speech recognition and transcription into your applications. This capability enables you to capture and transcribe audio seamlessly, providing a valuable resource for various use cases 

  

By combining these transcriptions with large language models (LLMs), you can gain additional insights such as suggested next steps, summaries, intent, and sentiment analysis.  

 

 

For more information, see: 

• Generate real-time transcripts - An Azure Communication Services concept document | Microsoft Learn 

• Add real-time transcription into your applications - An Azure Communication Services how-to document | Microsoft Learn 

Real-time Audio Streaming: Capture and Analyze Conversations  

Status: Public Preview 

Building on the power of real-time capabilities, developers now have access to real-time audio streams. This enables the creation of server applications that capture and analyze audio for each participant on a call as it happens. 

 

By integrating audio streaming with call automation actions or custom AI models, you can unlock various use cases. These include natural language processing (NLP) for conversation analysis, voice authentication using biometrics, and providing real-time insights and suggestions to agents during active interactions 

 

 

 

  

For more information, see: 

• Audio streaming overview - An Azure Communication Services concept document | Microsoft Learn 

• Audio streaming quickstart - An Azure Communication Services quickstart document | Microsoft Learn 

 

Server Programmability for Rooms: Enhancing Virtual appointments 

Status: Public Preview 

Real-time programming support for Rooms calls through Azure Communication Services is now in public preview, enabled through the Call Automation API.  The first feature being previewed is to enable PSTN dial out from Rooms, which enables independent software vendors (ISVs) to integrate multiple third-party professional services over PSTN into virtual appointments. For example, interpreters, social services representatives, and other professionals can join telehealth appointments or virtual courtrooms over PSTN. With this new capability, developers can manage these scenarios efficiently, providing robust audio-conferencing features for virtual appointments. 

 

This is just the beginning. Over the coming year, we plan to enhance this integration further, adding AI features to support various virtual appointment scenarios, making the process even more streamlined and effective. 

 

For more information, see: 

• Azure Communication Services Rooms overview - An Azure Communication Services concept document | Microsoft Learn 

 

Rich Text Support  

Status: Public Preview 

Azure Communication Services Chat now supports Rich Text Editor and inline image upload in both the chat SDK and web UI library. With this release, the chat experience is more dynamic and visually appealing. The following features are now available: 

• A variety of text styles, including bold, italic, and underline, to make messages stand out. 

• The ability to create bulleted and numbered lists for better organization. 

• Options to adjust text indentation for better readability. 

• Adding and updating tables to structure data better. 

Additionally, the Web UI library now supports the Rich Text Editor in both the ChatComposite and the CallWithChatComposite. 

 

 

 

 

 

To get started: 

• Rich Text Send Box 
• Rich Text Editor Support for Editing Messages 
• Rich Text Editor Support for ChatComposite and CallWithChatComposite 
• Or just check our storybook on aka.ms/acsstorybook