The Cisco calling integration for Microsoft Teams has been available from the Microsoft Teams app store for just over a month now. This month we have extended it with new features and functionality. In addition to supporting Microsoft Teams desktop and web users, this month we added support for mobile and tablet devices. Learn how Cisco Webex interoperates with Microsoft Teams and helps solve your realtime business communications challenges. See how Webex Meetings ties in ti.

Industry Giants Join Together to Drive Open and Seamless Collaboration

Collaboration: The act of working with someone to produce or create something.

It’s a word we use all the time. But, have you thought about what it really means? “The act of working with someone to produce or create something.” That statement carries a lot of weight.

Collaboration is the heart of how my team and I take bold steps every day to connect employees to each other, transforming workforces and the future of work itself. Delighting employees and customers is central to Cisco Webex, what we do and why we do it.

Shaping the Future with Employee Experience

Microsoft Teams Cisco Video Interop

Our digital workplaces are more innovative and agile than ever before. People are at the forefront of shaping the way work is performed and they need the right collaboration technologies to get work done even faster. These tools must work seamlessly together to really be impactful in enabling teamwork that leads to better results, higher productivity, and engaged employees.

Today Microsoft and Cisco are announcing a partnership that enables Cisco’s Webex video devices to connect to the Microsoft Teams meeting services in multiple ways. First, Cisco Webex will introduce an interop solution that will be certified as a Microsoft Cloud Video Interop (CVI) offering to allow Cisco Webex Room devices and SIP video conferencing devices to join Microsoft Teams meetings with a reliable interop experience.

Frictionless Collaboration in Multivendor Environments

Cisco and Microsoft are working together on a new approach that enables a direct guest join capability from one another’s video conferencing device to their respective meeting service web app (WebRTC based) – ability to join a Microsoft Teams meeting from a Webex Room Device and the ability to join a Cisco Webex Meeting from a Microsoft Teams Room. These capabilities will be supported on the latest generations of meeting room devices that can run via embedded web technologies. Cisco will support additional vendors in the future. With today’s announcements, we hope to simplify and accelerate interoperability options for our customers as they adopt Cisco Webex Teams and Webex Meetings solutions within their organizations.

Why are these integrations important? We both have a large base of customers who use Cisco and Microsoft products. Customers will benefit from a reliable interop solution using their existing Cisco video conferencing devices to seamlessly join a Microsoft Teams meeting or using Cisco Webex Meetings to join a Microsoft Teams Room. The solutions are expected to GA in early 2020.

Building the Bridge for Meaningful Experience-Centric Collaboration

We are listening and are working together to build these bridges to provide the best user experiences with the tools desired to get the job done. Today’s news further showcases Cisco’s and Microsoft’s joint commitment to openness by creating these enriched experiences for meeting participants in multivendor environments by providing frictionless collaboration without boundaries.

See how easy it is to join a Microsoft Teams meeting from a Webex Video Device:

Microsoft Teams And Cisco Interop

Today Microsoft and Cisco are announcing a partnership that enables Cisco’s Webex video
devices to connect to the Microsoft Teams meeting services in multiple ways.

Learn More

Arraya Insights | November 19, 2020

Are you a Cisco shop or a Microsoft shop? When it comes to collaboration, many organizations – Arraya included – reside somewhere in the middle. The appeal of a diversified, multi-vendor collaboration footprint isn’t lost on Cisco and Microsoft. Even though they are competitors at heart, the tech giants have a history of making their solutions play nicely together in order to help keep their customers connected and productive. That partnership was on full display earlier this year, although it may have gone overlooked due to coronavirus-necessitated lockdowns.

Late last year, Cisco and Microsoft pledged to move toward a new era of interoperability between their Webex and Teams solutions. Specifically, that idea would materialize in a couple of different forms. The companies planned to release a Microsoft Cloud Video Interop (CVI) certified solution that would allow Cisco Webex Room and SIP video conferencing devices to join Microsoft Teams meetings. Additionally, they also proposed creating a direct guest join pathway connecting their respective video conferencing devices with their meeting web apps. This pledge of greater interoperability has started coming to fruition with the release of a pair of solutions: the aforementioned CVI offering and another option called WebRTC.

Let’s take a closer look at these offerings and what they could mean for organizations pursuing reopening their facilities.

Cisco Webex Microsoft Teams Interop

Microsoft CVI

First up is the Cloud Video Gateway (CVI-enabled) option. Those looking to connect to a Microsoft Teams meeting hosted internally, by their own company could do so using this pathway. It delivers a Cisco Webex-based experience to those making the connection, including multi-screen capabilities, flexible layouts, and wired/wireless bi-directional content sharing. In terms of devices supported, this route is travelable by all Cisco and SIP-capable video devices, registered either on premises or in the cloud. Users can connect via this path through one-button-to-push (OBTP) join which includes calendar service, direct dial-in complete with an interactive voice response (IVR) experience. Lastly, it is worth noting that this service will require additional licensing to make it operable.

Microsoft Teams Skype Interop

WebRTC

Then, there’s the WebRTC application. This allows users to connect to any other type of Microsoft Teams meeting. Connecting via this method delivers a Microsoft Teams-oriented meeting experience, including a single-screen Teams layout with only the ability to be on the receiving end of shares. This pathway is accessible from Cisco Room Kits, Room series, Boards, and Desk Pro devices. These devices can be cloud connected. Once again, this method offers OBTP join with calendar service. Webex Room registration, which is part of Flex licensing, is required. As of right now, WebRTC is one way only as Microsoft Teams doesn’t support any browsers compatible with the tool. User can, however, add the Webex bot to their Teams client, which, in turn, will enable them to access a Webex Meeting.

Cisco Webex Microsoft Teams

Next Steps: Put the joint power of Microsoft and Cisco together for you

Hopefully, we’ll all be able to dust off our Cisco Room devices sooner rather than later and start putting these new abilities to work. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about how your organization can benefit from the above advances or from Cisco and Microsoft’s ongoing partnership in general, our collaboration experts can help. Reach out any time to get the conversation started.

Visithttps://www.arrayasolutions.com/contact-us/ to connect with our team now.

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