Microsoft is pushing another major update to Teams and this time, it’s focusing on speed and performance. The tech giant says it has “made a ground-up investment to overhaul the platform” to make Teams two times faster and slash its memory usage by 50 percent. The update is currently available in a public preview on Windows, with Macs to follow later.
The new changes will lay the foundation for AI-driven features, such as Microsoft’s Copilot. The company worked with GigaOm to benchmark the performance improvement, who reported that Teams launches and joins meetings two times faster, with half the memory usage compared to classic Teams.
Microsoft has also made quite a few enhancements to the core Teams experience, making it simpler and easier to use with fewer clicks. It also made Teams more flexible for users on multiple accounts, with better sync and notification systems.
Microsoft customers can participate in the Public Preview program if they have opted in. Once the opt-in is successful, they can toggle between classic and new Teams. Microsoft intends to make the new Teams generally available later this year.
In addition to the Teams upgrade, Microsoft has achieved much success in the software industry over the years. It is best known for its flagship operating system, Windows, as well as its Office productivity suite. Microsoft is also pushing into cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things.
The brainchild behind Microsoft’s novel innovation is Satya Nadella, who has served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer since 2014. Nadella has spearheaded a vision to reinvent the company’s product offerings and push into new technological markets. He has diversified Microsoft’s product portfolio, forming partnerships with other tech giants, and investing heavily in research and development.