NEW YORK – Verizon today announced a new collaboration service which will enable the company’s network customers to integrate their compatible voice infrastructure to a Microsoft Teams environment across 80 countries.

The service leverages Direct Routing and Verizon’s SIP Trunk connectivity, giving users access to Microsoft Teams’ collaboration features including calling to and from traditional phones, VoIP, or mobile phone lines. Powered by Verizon’s Session Border Control as a Service (SBCaaS), the virtualized, cloud based service reduces the need for organizations to invest in additional hardware.

Microsoft Teams is a unified communications platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files) and application integration. The service is built on Office 365 Groups subscription office productivity suite and features extensions that can integrate with non-Microsoft products. The company recently announced that its Teams platform is now being used by 500,000 organizations worldwide including 91 companies in the Fortune 100.

“Enterprises are always looking for tools and solutions for better productivity and collaboration,” said Shawn Hakl, SVP Business Products for Verizon. “By integrating Verizon’s SIP Trunking into Microsoft Teams, users get the best of both worlds. They are able to have reliable communication services from Verizon, seamlessly integrated into their Microsoft Teams collaboration software.”​