Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams by TELUS

What is Operator Connect?

Operator Connect is a recent addition to the options a customer has access to connect Microsoft Teams Phone System to the PSTN and provide DIDs, emergency services and SIP Trunk channels to its Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams subscribers.

While TELUS already has Direct Routing as a Service in its portfolio to offer similar options, Operator Connect is a key addition to our portfolio to have connection methods that align with the scenarios and designs our customers choose to enable Microsoft Teams Phone System.

Operator Connect allows for a select group of operators to offer their PSTN services directly in the “Operators” tab of the Teams management portal. This way, customers can easily access their PSTN provider’s services and are able to add/remove, with a few clicks, DIDs and SIP channels or make changes to the 911 info.

Operator Connect provides the operator with deeper integration into the Microsoft Teams platform to enhance and streamline the Microsoft Teams Phone experience around networking, provisioning, management, and reporting APIs. Doing this provides customers with a simplified Microsoft Teams Phone experience delivered by operators that have parity with Microsoft offerings.

While it relies on the same technology and components for the most part, Operator Connect differs from Direct Routing largely because the customers do not need to acquire an SBC or subscribe to one as a service like what TELUS is currently offering. The SBC assembly is owned and hosted directly by Microsoft in Azure, where operators deliver their SIP services over Microsoft Azure Peering Service for Voice (MAPS).

Benefits

TELUS can make your Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams environment even better

• Chat. Collaborate and now, call. Adding TELUS Operator Connect to connect Teams to the global telephone network and enjoy exceptional call quality and world-class reliability by leveraging the TELUS Network. Leverages an end-to-end solution, high-quality services, and a dedicated TELUS fibred connection to deliver an SLA of 99.9% uptime for Operator Connect.

• We make it easy. With assigned project managers and 24/7 support, TELUS makes planning, implementing and supporting your Teams deployment fast and worry-free. Convenient, self-serve administrative management of voice services in the Microsoft Teams portal.

• Helping you thrive in a digital world. Compliment your Teams deployment with other TELUS communications, security and networking solutions to help your teams thrive in this new era of hybrid work.

• Replace your traditional phone system with Microsoft Teams, using the TELUS network. Operator Connect enables your Microsoft Teams infrastructure via a TELUS-managed network appliance to the PSTN to make calls anywhere in the world.

• Enterprise-grade voice network. Enjoy enterprise-grade voice on Teams with unlimited North American calling, bundled with superior quality and reliability through the TELUS IP Network. Simplified capacity planning.

• Compared to traditional IP trunking solutions, our predictable, per-user price for Operator Connect includes all the SIP channels you need. Teams devices for everyone.

• Enable your workplace to succeed with personal Teams headsets and meeting room systems, all managed by TELUS. Managed services and premium support.

• Receive managed services that include incidents and account changes, backed up by extensive ongoing premium support. Teams custom development Leverage TELUS resources to build a bespoke Teams experience that works for your enterprise and tangibly adds productivity to your workplace.

Operator Connect is not intended to replace Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams but to augment our Voice offering for Teams.