Move Over Webex: Microsoft Teams To Be Available On Cisco Meeting Devices

Videoconferencing users will be able to choose between running Cisco Webex or Microsoft Teams natively on their Cisco Meeting devices and cameras starting in 2023, the two companies announced.

Cisco Systems and Microsoft are partnering up to give users another videoconferencing option natively on Cisco Meeting Devices.

Videoconferencing users will now be able to access and run Microsoft Teams – not just Cisco Webex -- from their Cisco Room and Desk Devices, which will be certified for Microsoft Teams, the two companies announced at Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference on Wednesday.

The newly forged partnership has Cisco becoming a partner in the Certified for Microsoft Teams program for the first time, the networking giant said.

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Via the terms of the new partnership, Teams will run natively on Cisco Room and Desk devices starting the first half of 2023, giving users the option of staying within the Teams experience while taking advantage of Cisco’s video and camera technology, complete with noise removal and built-in intelligence, the companies said.

Six of Cisco's popular meeting devices and three peripherals will be certified for Teams, with more to come. The first certified devices are slated to include the Cisco Room Bar, the Cisco Board Pro 55-inch and 75-inch, and the Cisco Room Kit Pro for small, medium and large meeting room spaces. The Cisco Desk Pro and Cisco Room Navigator will follow, San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco said.

“Interoperability has always been at the forefront of our hybrid work strategy, understanding that customers want collaboration to happen on their terms — regardless of device or meeting platform,” Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Security and Collaboration business units said in a statement on the new partnership. “Our partnership with Microsoft brings together two collaboration leaders to completely reimagine the hybrid work experience.”

The certified devices can be managed in both the Teams Admin Center and the new Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal, as well as through the Cisco Control Hub device management.