Microsoft to Certify Cisco Hardware for Teams Rooms, Premium Version Planned
An enhanced Microsoft Teams Premium will be available next year for $10 per user, per month.
October 12, 2022
![Cisco Room Kit Pro Cisco Room Kit Pro](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt570110892e41ae34/652413bb28ff125a9581d59e/Cisco-Room-Kit-Pro.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Cisco
Interoperability has been the name of the game for analysts and executives discussing the announcement.
Take for instance Kristyn Hogan, Cisco’s vice president of global collaboration partner sales.
“Cisco has always been focused on interoperability, and today’s announcement takes this a step further,” Hogan told Channel Futures. “By enabling Microsoft Teams to run natively on certified Cisco Room and Desk devices, Microsoft customers will benefit from access to Cisco’s unparalleled video quality, noise cancellation, People Focus and ease of management through Control Hub.”
She added that Cisco partners will still “profit handsomely” from the Webex suite.
“This new partnership allows them to meet customer demands for a multi-platform experience while benefitting from Cisco’s industry-leading endpoints,” she said.
Anurag Agrawal, founder and chief global analyst at Techaisle, called the partnership a “brilliant strategy” on the part of Cisco Webex. He said both Microsoft and Cisco both want to elevate value for customers.
“Customers demand interoperability, one device for multiple platforms because more than two-thirds of customers use more than one video-collaboration solution—a trend we see in the industry with video-collaboration device makers who do not have a platform. However, eyebrows get raised when Cisco, the supplier of Webex, a competing platform, offers the same level of universality,” he told Channel Futures.
“Cisco’s objective is to help provide the interoperability that customers need – providing devices that operate in Microsoft Teams Rooms mode plus Webex services that complement Teams – calling, polling, contact center, and events.”
He pointed out the difference between this integration and Webex’s integration with Google Meet. And that difference is a complete native Microsoft Teams Room experience that co-exists with complete native Webex meetings on Cisco endpoints.
“This is different from Webex’s integration with Google Meet, which uses WebRTC technology to Webex devices to join Google meetings. WebRTC has some limitations, such as no dual-screen support,” Agrawal said.
World Wide Technology (WWT) generates more than $5 billion with Cisco each year. It’s also a Microsoft Gold Platform Partner.
Brandon Echele, senior manager of WWT’s collaboration practice, explained why his firm sees big positive in the announcement.
“The partnership between Cisco and Microsoft offers a new level of flexibility for existing Cisco video endpoint customers,” Echele told Channel Futures. “These organizations can now combine the power of Microsoft Teams Rooms’ rich feature set with Cisco’s cutting-edge hardware and management suite, so employees can seamlessly join Teams and Webex meetings.”
The premium edition will manage the entire appointment life cycle by offering pre-appointment SMS reminders, a branded lobby and post-appointment follow-ups.
Extending on the base webinar features in Teams, the premium version will offer a registration wait list, manual approvals, automated reminders and a virtual green room for hosts and presenters. Presenters will be able to manage what attendees see.
Meeting organizers can safeguard sensitive sessions such as board meetings, financial discussions and other confidential discussions. Options will include watermarking to prevent leaks.
Microsoft 365 E5 customers will be able to use Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels, which will automatically invoke meeting protection options.
This feature is designed to remove language in meetings.
Users can receive personalized highlights of a meeting. When replaying a meeting, Teams will automatically generate chapters that organize key topics.
Customers can embed custom logos and backgrounds for the Teams lobby, including custom scenes for Together mode.
Customers can embed custom logos and backgrounds for the Teams lobby, including custom scenes for Together mode.
MICROSOFT IGNITE — Microsoft will certify Cisco’s conferencing and communications devices with Teams Rooms, a move that will let partners ensure compatibility. The certification is one of a broad set of announcements on Wednesday kicking off the Microsoft Ignite conference.
Further, Microsoft introduced Teams Premium, which will bring enhanced collaboration and conferencing capabilities for an added $10 monthly fee. Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella announced Teams Rooms enhancements during his opening keynote address at Ignite.
“Cisco will become a Microsoft Teams Rooms-certified device partner and run Teams Rooms on Android natively on their room systems,” Nadella said during the keynote. “The certified device portfolio will include multiple meeting devices and peripherals — and more to come.”
Nearly a year ago, Cisco promised to ensure interoperability with Teams and Google Meet. Cisco and Microsoft have formed a partnership agreement to provide that compatibility with Teams. Cisco’s general manager of Webex devices, Snorre Kjesbu, noted that 85% of its customers use multiple meeting room platforms daily.
Cisco’s Snorre Kjesbu
“For the first time ever, Cisco will become a certified Microsoft Teams Rooms devices partner,” Kjesbu wrote in a blog. “Our mutual customers will benefit from the option of running Microsoft Teams or Webex meetings natively on their Cisco devices. Microsoft Teams users get to leverage the powerful machine learning and AI included in our devices.”
Initial Interoperability Plan
Microsoft initially will certify six of Cisco’s most popular meeting room systems, along with three peripherals, by early next year. Among them are the Cisco Board Pro 55-inch and 75-inch, the Cisco Room Bar and the Cisco Room Kit Pro. To follow will be the Cisco Desk Pro and Cisco Room Navigator. Both will offer the option of setting Microsoft Teams Rooms as the default setting, though will continue to support Webex.
The first peripheral that Microsoft will certify is the Cisco Desk Camera 4K, an intelligent USB webcam, available this month. It will also enable Microsoft Teams as its default user experience, though it will also support Webex meetings. Early next year, two Cisco headphones with Teams buttons will ship.
Microsoft Teams Premium
The new Microsoft Teams Premium is an add-on to make meetings and webinars more personalized and secure. Nicole Herskowitz, VP of Microsoft Teams, noted that virtual and hybrid meetings have become prevalent.
Microsoft’s Nicole Herskowitz
“Virtual and hybrid meetings continue to take up the lion’s share of time spent at work,” Herskowitz wrote in a blog announcing the premium edition. “Now, more than ever, leaders need an integrated solution that combines all the advanced meeting capabilities, takes meeting culture to the next level, and allows them to do more with less.”
Microsoft will release a preview of Teams Premium in December. We show some Teams Premium features, as well as discussion from a Cisco analyst, partner and collaboration executive in the slideshow above.
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