Microsoft overhauled Teams to make it two times faster

Microsoft Teams is getting a fresh coat of paint and performance improvements, available in a new public preview on Windows.

In a blog post, Microsoft detailed some of the improvements headed to Teams, including up to two times faster performance, a 50 percent reduction in memory use, and more. Microsoft also says the improvements lay the foundation for new AI features on the way, such as the company’s recently announced Copilot.

Microsoft says its “north star” for Teams was making it twice as fast. The company made a “ground-up investment to overhaul the platform” that will optimize the data, network, chat and video architecture to improve speed and performance. Microsoft says it isn’t done optimizing the performance of Teams, but it has already seen “very promising data” from the public preview that’s rolling out today.

Moreover, Microsoft working with an independent benchmarking firm, GigaOm, to quantify the performance gains. GigaOm reports that launching Teams and joining meetings are twice as fast and use half as much memory compared to classic Teams.

Meanwhile, Microsoft also made a number of enhancements to the core Teams experience that will make it simpler to use and require fewer clicks to get to the things you need to use. At the same time, Microsoft says it made Teams more flexible for people who use it across multiple accounts, with better sync and notification systems.

Microsoft aims to make the new Teams generally available later this year, but for now, it’s available in public preview on Windows, with Macs coming later. Users in the Public Preview program will have access to the new Teams right away, but commercial users will need an administrator to opt in first, and then a toggle will appear, letting users swap between classic and new Teams.