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It’s hard to believe it has been a few months already since we launched the new SlimCore-based optimization for Microsoft Teams in VDI, and with the adoption growing at light speed, we think it is a good time to have a checkpoint of where we are today, and where are we heading.
When Microsoft embarked on this Teams re-architecture, there was one main principle: make VDI a first-class citizen and bring it to parity with native Teams.
As mentioned in previous blogs, the new optimization is where all innovation will be delivered.
So, in this article, I want to give you an overview of all the feature we have delivered after GA.

Why migrate to the new SlimCore-based optimization?

Before we go down the feature rabbit hole, let us emphasize WHY you should be all-in with the new optimization. Having now demonstrated the solution at scale with large customers, we have received positive feedback from a variety of demanding user bases (e.g., day traders in the Financial vertical) that can help you convince your organization is time to upgrade. 
Call setup times are reduced drastically; quality and performance improvements are noticeable to the naked eye, and a myriad of new features are now available (larger Gallery views, newer codecs, HID headsets, noise suppression, and the list goes on).
If you did not start your journey, make sure you give it a try today!

New Features

Custom Backgrounds: long awaited feature! Look like a hero to your users. Now they can upload corporate backgrounds or pictures of their cat to their background effects. A true user-delight, great for company branding too.

VDI Status Indicator: my favorite feature – no more guessing or clicking around Settings/About in order to find if you are optimized or not. We put it in front of your users, in prime UI real estate.

A simple mouse hover even tells you if you are on SlimCore or WebRTC. 
If things fail, we put a warning sign alerting the users, so they can even attempt self-repairs.
If that also fails, we put in the error code so they can relay to IT Help Desks. This five-digit code should suffice for further troubleshooting, no logs required!

Restart Dialogue: as we add support for other platforms like MAC, or users roam between different endpoints that support / don’t support SlimCore, it is sometimes necessary to restart Teams to either upgrade the user from WebRTC to SlimCore, or downgrade from SlimCore to WebRTC. 

Having said that, we know nobody likes to restart apps – so …  spoiler alert: we are working on a seamless stack transition, on-the-fly. No more restarts. Stay tuned.

Monitoring API: Do you like to customize? This feature is for you. Create a custom script on the VM that processes a json file that is updated in real time. Now your script knows if the user is optimized or not, the peripherals they are using, versions of all the components (e.g. Citrix Workspace app or Microsoft Windows App, plugin, SlimCore, etc.), and create your own warning/alerts (e.g. “You are using a non-corporate peripheral. Audio quality might be impacted”).

Call Quality Dashboard/Teams Admin Center: If you have not been using these 2 dashboards(a.k.a CQD and TAC) in the past, it is time you demand role-based access from your organization!
You are able to monitor, in real time, optimized calls/meetings with a plethora of session information. Bad home Wi-Fi causing robotic audio? Not VDI’s fault – now you have proof.
Built-in PowerBI templates provide even more visibility into your deployment.

Cross Cloud: users on SlimCore can now join optimized meetings hosted in other Clouds (like GCC, GCCH, DOD). Cross Cloud Anonymous join, Guest Access and Authenticated Meeting joins are now supported.

Screen Capture Protection: Azure Virtual Desktops and Windows 365 customers can now utilize this feature with the new optimization. Share your screen

Citrix Remote PC: we added additional logic in Teams to better handle roaming scenarios (console to HDX, HDX to console). Now, when users connect via Console, their Teams session is identified as a ‘non-VDI’ connection, making the experience equivalent to native Teams on Windows.

GigaOM: a third party report on new Teams plus SlimCore optimization performance that quantifies why you should move to the new optimization stack.
TLDR; 20% reduction on client-side RAM and CPU, a better user experience under constrained networks, 30% faster meeting join times.
These improvements are achieved by introducing newer codecs with hardware acceleration, and by moving the signaling agent to SlimCore (instead of relaying back from WebRTC to Teams in the virtual machine).

Windows 365 Link: a simple, secure, purpose-built device for Windows 365. An affordable thin client that boots a persistent VDI fast, with full peripheral support and of course out of the box SlimCore-based optimization.

Next Steps

And that’s a wrap up. As you can see, all innovations are now delivered on the new SlimCore-based optimization. While we have not yet announced WebRTC deprecation, 
we encourage every Azure Virtual Desktops/Windows 365 and Citrix customer to start the adoption as soon as possible, so you can delight your users with the best experience Teams has to offer in Virtual Desktops.

For the next steps to start using the new SlimCore-based optimization for Microsoft Teams in VDI, please check the system requirements and full documentation.