Fuse2 CTO Wayne Mills-Kidals is planning to put Microsoft Teams’ direct routing capabilities to the test by making a call from one of the highest mountains in Nepal.
Mills-Kidals will be embarking on a climb of Nepal’s Lobuche East and scaling heights of up to 6,119 metres. The expedition will include a climb to Mount Everest’s base camp before setting off for Lobuche. Along the way he will be testing out Teams’ direct routing service to its limits.
“We thought it would be good to do something different and this idea came up and we decided to put a Microsoft Teams spin on the climb,” he told UC Today.
“We'll be testing Microsoft Teams out in Nepal using their infrastructure – whether that be WiFi or cellular. They do appear to have a reasonable WiFi and internet system across the Everest base camp route.
“As far as we are aware, this will probably be the highest Teams call made anywhere on the planet on terra firma.”
Mills-Kidals will be using Fuse2’s global SBC estate throughout the process and testing the different latencies.
“The challenge also fits well with our own global footprint, as having points of presence (PoPs) in the Asia-Pacific region ensures the best possible quality of service and experience, regardless of the terrain involved,” he said.
“What does that call latency look like if we're using the UK PoPs as opposed to Singapore? So we're going to be doing all of that along the route.”
The CTO is the only member of Fuse2 undertaking the climb, but has the support of the team and vendors, including sponsors Netaxis Solutions, Infinitel Communications, and Ribbon.
Mills-Kidals hasn’t decided on who will be the first recipient of the call from Lobuche’s summit, but said it would likely be family, the Fuse2 team or potentially a sponsor event if the timing is right.
