On July 14, 2022, IGEL announced the general availability of Microsoft Teams optimizations in Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) using IEGL OS endpoints. IGEL OS is the first Linux-based OS to support Teams optimizations with AVD. Prior to this, the Teams optimizations were only available in the AVD clients for Windows 10/11 and macOS.
The media optimizations for Teams allow for local offloading of audio and video for calls and meetings. This means that the audio and video traffic bypass the virtual desktop session and are sent directly to the local device to be rendered. This provides a much better user experience and better performance on the virtual desktop session. Without these optimizations, users could experience delayed audio/video, screen sharing issues, and high CPU and bandwidth usage inside the virtual desktop session.
The offloading of the audio/video traffic is handled by the Remote Desktop WebRTC redirector service, which runs locally on the endpoint. WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) is an open-source technology that enables real-time voice, text, and video communications capabilities between web applications and devices.
To take advantage of these optimizations, you need to be running IGEL OS firmware version 11.07.110 or newer. The optimizations are enabled by default, and there is nothing to configure on the IGEL side. From the AVD side, make sure you follow the latest instructions from Microsoft, which explain how to set up Teams in a virtual desktop session. This includes installing the latest versions of the Teams for VDI application and WebSocket Service.
Once you have everything setup, there are several ways to verify that the Teams optimizations are running. If you go to your profile in Teams and select About, then Version, you should see a banner that shows you if Azure Virtual Desktop Media is optimized. You can also check by verifying that your audio and camera devices are optimized. If these devices are optimized, they will be enumerated in the device menu. This means that they are being redirected properly by WebRTC.